I wonder why the writers of the CBE Style Manual are opposed to using the passive voice. Is it the usual Strunk & White stuff? It's interesting that they say " 'I' may embarrass the writer", but not, " 'I' may startle the reader".
There's an excellent article on "The Passive in Technical and Scientific Writing" at <http://www.jacweb.org/Archived_volumes/Text_articles/V2_Rodman.htm>. You might also want to check out the Language Log piece, "How long have we been avoiding the passive and why?" <http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003380.html> The essay in which Orwell recommends avoiding passives itself has 20% passives! Language Log, a blog run by linguists, is generally excellent on the topic of passives. See <http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=54> (material posted since April 8, 2008) and <http://tinyurl.com/yldaltf> (prior to that). Jane On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 2:28 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Again quoting from the third edition (but the admonishment has persisted) of > the CBE Style Manual (page 6): > > "Avoid the 'passive of modesty,' a favorite device of writers who shun the > first person singular." The authors devote a whole paragraph to explaining > why. Further down in the paragraph they state: "" 'I' may embarrass the > writer, but it is less likely to be ambiguous." > > Look up the instructions to authors for the journals published by ESA or any > other scholarly organization in our field, or simply consult publications in > those journals to satisfy yourself on this matter. > > David > > > On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 1:12 PM, Jane Shevtsov wrote: > >> I've always thought the main reason for avoiding "I" in scientific >> papers was to prevent self-aggrandizement. It's not about you -- it's >> about the research. "We" may be ok, but the passive voice serves a >> moral/social purpose in single-authored works. >> >> Jane >> >> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 11:10 AM, David L. McNeely wrote: >>> >>> Bill, thank you. Not to hammer a dead horse, but I wrote my dissertation >>> in >>> the seventies. I was encouraged to use active voice and first person. >>> The >>> most recent edition of the CBE Style Manual that I actually own is the >>> third >>> edition (copyright 1972), though I have generally had access to more >>> recent >>> (and massive) versions over the years since. >>> >>> From my third edition (page 5): "Write in the active voice unless you >>> have >>> a good reason for writing in the passive. The active is the natural >>> voice, >>> the one in which people commonly speak and write, and it is less likely >>> than >>> the passive to lead to ambiguity." >>> >>> There follows a series of explanations and examples detailing why first >>> person is generally preferable to other persons, especially in describing >>> methods where it provides clear explanation of who did what, rather than >>> the >>> ambiguity of the third person passive, where one might wonder who at all >>> did >>> the experiments described. >>> >>> Thanks, David >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 3:29 PM, William Silvert wrote: >>> >>>> Several subscribers have disagreed with my statement about >>>> passive/active >>>> voice, and I stand corrected. Perhaps the case was best stated by >>>> someone >>>> who wrote me off-list to say "I have noticed a change in the last 4 >>>> years...I was instructed by many to use the passive voice and to shy >>>> away >>>> from the active voice which very often required the use of first person >>>> pronouns. But in the last year, a growing trend has led away from the >>>> use >>>> of passives. Just today, when haphazardly choosing 3 abstracts from the >>>> most recent issue of Science, I found all to be written in the active >>>> voice >>>> and found the first person 'we' in two of them...I think 'modern >>>> scientific >>>> writing' may indeed be evolving again." >>>> >>>> I am pleased to be shown wrong and commend the scientific community for >>>> this stylistic improvement. >>>> >>>> Bill Silvert >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> ------------- >> Jane Shevtsov >> Ecology Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia >> co-founder, Check out my blog, Perceiving Wholes >> >> "The whole person must have both the humility to nurture the >> Earth and the pride to go to Mars." --Wyn Wachhorst, The Dream >> of Spaceflight > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia co-founder, <www.worldbeyondborders.org> Check out my blog, <http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com>Perceiving Wholes "The whole person must have both the humility to nurture the Earth and the pride to go to Mars." --Wyn Wachhorst, The Dream of Spaceflight
