2006.03.16
Active Voice v Passive Voice
The most common change copy-editors perform on my prose is the conversion
of passive voice constructs into active voice.
By now I've become accustomed to it, and I now try to use active voice
whenever possible.
It turns out that the proverbial coin has in this case two faces.
Continue reading "Active Voice v Passive Voice"Last modified: Thursday, May 4, 2006 12:17 am
2006.03.01
Bug Busters
Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.
— Pericles of Athens
Popular folklore has our profession's use of the word bug originating from a real insect found in an early electromechanical computer. Indeed, on September 9th of 1947 the Harvard Mark II operators did find a moth obstructing a relay's contacts. They removed it and dutifully taped it in the machine's logbook. However, engineers were using the term "bug" many decades before that incident. For example, in a 1878 letter Edison used the term referring to the faults and difficulties he was facing while moving from an invention's intuition to a commercialisable product.
Continue reading "Bug Busters"Last modified: Friday, December 15, 2006 12:32 am
