First (this is a signal, I learned this technique in my legal writing class, it indicates the start of a "road map" which I may or may not continue), it is my (and my guest contributors) first semester at law school.
I became frustrated today with my legal writing final project (an annoying memo involving a whiny mother who may have found a loophole in product liability law and an even whinier teenage son who may have suffered some scratching from a wild water tube ride...like I said...annoying). I became so frustrated, in fact, that I just put my head down on the pages. Hoping that by sheer mind power I would be able to change my paper's clear errors (that seemed to only be clear to my Legal Writing professor and certainly not to me).
I opened my eyes just a tiny squint, enough to see the boxed comments my professor had left trailing along the side of what I thought was really pure gold work. A work of sheer legal beauty. I noticed a phrase that frequently peppers her comments to me: "make sure to have real actors doing real things." This is my professors cheeky and slightly condescending way of telling me to avoid passive voice in my paper. Turns out I am very good at writing in the passive voice. I started to feel sorry for myself, then I realized this may not be so bad. After all, President Clinton almost saved his reputation by passive voice alone. The more I thought, the more convinced I allowed myself to be. This passive voice was not a weakness...it was powerful...much like a super power. And I possessed it. Who am I to turn my back on this powerful gift?
Perhaps tomorrow I'll be less powerful and will be able to employ active voice in my paper then.
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I was surprised at just how powerful passive voice can be.
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