Comments on: Word Passive Voice Highlighting Revisited: Now for Word 2003

By: Global Language Monitor’s debate analysis nonsense (Part 2) « Motivated Grammar

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:46:19 +0000

[…] evasive, too wimpy. Strunk & White opposed it, George Orwell opposed it, and Microsoft Word opposes it. It’s opposed by just about any prescriptivist you can find shouting drivel. According to […]

By: Hoover

Hoover — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:10:32 +0000

Both these examples are active voice. They have different but equally valid meanings. The Fonz was standing against the wall is past continuous (imperfect tense). It allows you to create a context for other events. (e.g. ‘when Joanie arrived, the Fonz was standing against the wall’ means he was already there when she arrived).

The Fonz stood against the wall is past tense. It’s ambiguous on its own, but clear in context (e.g. ‘when Joanie arrived, the Fonz stood against the wall’ means he wasn’t standing against the wall when she arrived but did so soon after).

By: Lisa Hendrix

Lisa Hendrix — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:00:48 +0000

For Word on Mac OS X:

Use the directions for Word 2007 to highlight the phrases you want. If you have trouble getting the highlighting to “stick,” try changing the highlight color while the Find window is still open (and before clicking on the document itself).

To remove the highlighting, simply set highlight color to None, then Select All (Command + A) and hit the highlight button (in the Formatting Toolbar).

By: Dustin

Dustin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:45:25 +0000

Stephanie: Added the link. I meant to do it when I was writing the post but I forgot.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:42:51 +0000

It’s not about who is doing the action, I think, but about what the action is. In the first, the verb is “to be”; it tells us something about the way Fonzie is. The second tells us what he’s doing.

By: ProfessorWalrus

ProfessorWalrus — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:49:32 +0000

“The Fonz was standing against the wall.” “The Fonz stood against the wall.” are both active. In both situations ‘The Fonz’ is the one doing the action. Neither of them are passive, at all.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:53:58 +0000

GREAT tip. Maybe link from here to the 2007 article?

By: Douglas

Douglas — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:36:07 +0000

I was inspired to comment merely because the Fonz was referenced.

Er…

You inspired me to comment merely by referencing the Fonz.

Ayyyyy!

By: What Happens to an Author When She Finishes Editing? » Worderella Writes

What Happens to an Author When She Finishes Editing? » Worderella Writes — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:13:25 +0000

[…] (Need help discovering passive writing? The Writer’s Technology Companion wrote a tutorial to highlight passive writing in Microsoft Word 2003.) […]