Re: [Phys-L] passive or active voice

[Bernard Cleyet <bernard@cleyet.org>]

I was taught never to use the passive in the fifties (prep. school) (except when quoting an ignorant person).  I use the passive when wishing to hide information, i.e.  Who done it.

The syllabus (until I changed it) at UCSC explained the only time to use it is in a lab. report; explaining that who cares who collected the data..  

Not doing the research I suspect UK journals expect passive, while US's are moving to the personal, especially the "The Physics Teacher".

The non-peer review journal Horological Science Newsletter, except for copies of other journals' papers, is nearly always very personal including musings.

bc writes " I " in his submissions.

p.s.  It wan't until a friend at Keele (N. Staffs. Eng.) explained that Y is the letter thorn and pronounced th.   So I've begun writing (not typing) Yat,  Ye, yese, etc.

Thorn (letter) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter) 

Ye Olde - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde  

More:  What about when the paper has a dozen authors?

On 2013, Sep 11, , at 15:21, John Denker <jsd@av8n.com> wrote:

> On 09/11/2013 02:06 PM, Bill Nettles wrote:
> > 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? 
>
> The only real requirement is clarity.
> De gustibus non disputandum.
>
> FWIW it hath been perceived by me that ye olde passive
> voice hath largely gone by ye wayside, along with ye
> electrical "condensers".
>
> On 09/11/2013 02:30 PM, marx@phy.ilstu.edu wrote:
>
> > > the focus should be on the 
> > > experiment and not on the particular experimenters
>
> That may be, but that's mostly a separate question.  Very
> often, you can focus /directly/ on the experiment, with no
> need for active agency *or* passive agency:
>  "In the first set of measurements, the RMS 
>   voltage was 1.23(45) volts."
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On 2013, Sep 11, , at 15:39, Philip Keller <pkeller@holmdelschools.org> wrote:

> It is a matter of taste.  But of:
>
> "The temperature of
> the water was measured..."
>
> and
>
> "We measured the water temperature..."
>
> I strongly prefer the second one. It feels more crisp and honest.  The idea that there is an experiment but no active experimenters on stage is a fiction anyway, not one worth supporting with a less clear writing style.
>
> So, yes, the passive voice is frowned upon in my class  :)
>
>
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