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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Investor2 who wrote (1629)	11/27/1998 8:03:00 AM
From: Anaxagoras	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 4711

Ahhh, very nice. Now I see why you raised the issue. You were recalling Stylistic Dictum #4339: One should not use the passive when s/he can use the active instead, or, to put it in the passive, The passive shouldn't be used when the active can be used instead. ;-) Anyway, we could cast your original phrase in the passive. Ed: "Who was being referenced [by him]?" Kinda gives ya the willies, don't it? But note the proper use of "who" here, not "whom", since "who" is in fact the subject of the sentence unlike the case of the earlier examples where "he" was the subject. Now look at this nasty thang: Fred: "To whom was reference being made [by him]?" Now the funky "whom" is back again since it is preceded by a preposition. Believe it or not, "reference" is now the grammatical subject. Fascinating stuff. Much more could be said. Any corrections or additions to my comments are welcome. I make lots of mistakes. :-) Anaxagoras