Peer to Peer Magazine

Spring 2015

The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association

Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/480238

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BONUS: Test your skill in spotting and correcting the passive voice by accessing an exercise on my blog at connect.iltanet.org/blogs/randi.mayes. Enjoy Gary's humor and expertise on a regular basis by by subscribing to his Weekly Writing Tips at www.wordrake.com/writing-tips. WWW.ILTANET.ORG 73 … voila! Backward and boring! To ensure you are writing in the passive voice, remember you must have these three components: 1. A "to be" verb: The ball was hit (by me). 2. A verb following: The ball was hit (by me). 3. An object preceding: The ball was hit (by me). So instead of writing… ILTA will hold its 2015 conference in Las Vegas. …we can write: ILTA's 2015 conference will be held in Las Vegas. In the passive world, not only do people do things backward, but sometimes people don't do them at all! Things just happen! Which is a great way to confuse readers. So instead of making it clear by writing in the active voice: The Board approved the site a few years ago. …we can write it so no one has a clue who did the approving: The site was approved a few years ago. See how easy this is? CONFESSION: Sometimes, even exciting people use the passive voice because they: 1. Don't know who hit the ball; 2. Know who hit the ball, but hitting the ball is not nice; 3. Don't want to introduce an actor we will never see again; 4. Want to emphasize the actor by putting it at the end of the sentence; 5. Want to avoid sexist language and have no other way to do it. But those are the only times an exciting person would write in the passive voice. When we couple passive voice with nominalizations, we have a lethal combination guaranteed to put our readers to sleep. object act actor (if there is one) the ball was hit (by me) Randi Mayes is the Executive Director of ILTA where she is responsible for oversight of all operations and serves as editor-in-chief of the association's numerous publications. A member of the American Society of Association Executives and the Texas Society of Association Executives, she has spoken and written on topics related to leadership development and association management. She's more than a little nuts about good writing. Gary Kinder is a lawyer and New York Times best-selling author. He has taught over 1,000 writing programs for the American Bar Association and for law firms and corporate law departments around the country. He is also the creator of WordRake, the clear and concise editing software, which Harvard Law School recently recognized as "Disruptive Innovation."

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