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Re: [Phys-L] passive or active voice




Thanks, Roy. I readily admit that my example sentences left a lot to be
desired. I send my apologies to the list for not taking time to come up with
better sentences. I appreciate those that have made the effort to do better
than I did.



There is increasing acceptance of the active voice in academic
writing, which is a good thing for science. A minor correction to
David's statement: the passive voice focuses on the action, but the
active voice focuses on conduction of the action. The active voice
does not require inclusion of the first person. It is common to write
an active sentence without including John (or Dick or Jane).

David's examples are flawed: both sentences have passive components,
there is different information in each sentence, and, humorously, it
is a bloody bomb if you have liquid water at 150 °C (4.72 bar). I'm
hoping he is measuring steam temperature at a controlled pressure. :)

[passive] "The temperature of the water was measured using a
liquid-in-glass thermometer and found to be 150 °C."
[active & passive] "John found the temperature of the water was 150 °C
when he measured it using the thermometer."

[active] "A thermometer registered the water at 150 °C."
[active] "John measured the water temperature as 150 °C."
[active] "The water was 150 °C."

Better still, unless the entire experiment was to measure the
temperature of water, the temperature measurement could be reduced to
a subordinate clause, "When the water reached 150 °C, ___"

Going more into academic writing, David's sentences look like those of
a student desperately trying to get that one page discussion in their
laboratory report. They amount of redundant information (filler) is
high:
* "using a liquid-in-glass thermometer"
* "when he measured it using the thermometer."
Unless there is something unique about the measurement process, this
information is obvious or not important to an equally trained person.

Dr. Roy Jensen
(==========)-----------------------------------------¤
Lecturer, Chemistry
E5-33F, University of Alberta
780.248.1808




On Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:30:20 -0500, you 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
<mailto:phys-l-request@phys-l.org?subject=unsubscribe>
<mailto:phys-l-request@phys-l.org?subject=subscribe>

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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