Re: [Phys-L] passive or active voice

[brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

Passive voice is rather old-timey, and so are mercury thermometers [NIST 
no longer offers mercury thermometer calibration, and hasn't  since 
2011].  A direct exposition is my preference. Using Marx's example:
A mercury thermometer indicated that the water temperature was 150 deg C.

Brian Whatcott   Altus OK

On 9/11/2013 4:30 PM, marx@phy.ilstu.edu wrote:
> I much prefer passive voice and demand my students learn to write in it.  Many of today's
> journals do not seem to mind active voice, but my belief is that the focus should be on the
> experiment and not on the particular experimenters.  Therefore, writing "The temperature of
> the water was measured using a liquid-in-glass thermometer and found to be 150 C." is
> better than "John found the temperature of the water was 150 C when he measured it using
> the thermometer."
>
>
>
> On 11 Sep 2013 at 16:06, Bill Nettles wrote:
>
> From:           	Bill Nettles <bnettles@uu.edu>
> To:             	"Phys-L@Phys-L.org" <Phys-L@Phys-L.org>
> Date sent:      	Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:06:19 -0500
> Subject:        	[Phys-L] passive or active voice
> Send reply to:  	Phys-L@Phys-L.org
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>
> > When you have students write a report of an experimental activity, do you expect them to write primarily in active voice, passive voice, or do you let them choose?
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