The passive voice is the marked voice ... Note that there is another reading of (15) where by can be modified by a degree word. In this reading, by means 'next to.' (17) The potato was eaten right ...

Writing in the active voice makes the meaning clear while keeping sentences from becoming complicated and wordy. Sentences using passive voice are not necessarily wrong, just less effective than ...

However, a systematic preference for the passive voice is by no means optimal, for at least two reasons. As a second argument against a systematic preference for the passive voice, readers ...

When you are revising, take a good look at each sentence in which you have used the passive voice. If the passive voice clarifies your meaning retain it; if it obscures your meaning, change it. More ...

The passive voice actually gives us both the latitude and the opportunity to focus on what we really need to focus on and to say exactly what we mean. Our prose and our speech will be squandering ...

2. In course assignments, you can increase students’ exposure to passive voice structures by incorporating them into exercises in ways where they might naturally appear and where their meaning is ...