Bad Writing and Bad Thinking - Do Your Job Better - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Rachel Toor recap's George Orwell's essay on "Politics and the English Language, notiingl: "In bad writing, Orwell continues, 'The passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the active, and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds ('by examination' of instead of 'by examining').'"
She then surmises: "Most writers know they should avoid the use of the passive voice. Few do. Sometimes it's more expedient to say that the bomb was dropped, or that the war ended, rather doing the work of assigning blame or awarding credit. I know the arguments for the use of the passive voice in science and agree that at times it's appropriate. Often, however, I think it's a result of conventions that are wrong and outdated."
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