Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
I know. I had to explain the passive voice to someone the other day. I ended up explaining it as I would to a child by saying that, if they appended the phrase 'by monkeys' to the end of the sentence and it still made sense, it was the passive voice and if they added it and it didn't make sense, it was in the active voice. There was no point talking about subjects and objects because they just don't understand the terms and switch off when you use them.

They now all think I'm some sort of pedantic old grammar Nazi of course (and they may not be entirely wrong) but, as I pointed out to one the other day, they work with the written word and it is actually my job to make sure they know how to use it correctly.
Indeed. Of course in some circumstances incorrect grammar and punctuation drastically changes the meaning of the sentence- the Jameson Raid being perhaps the most famous example.

It is quite funny how pedantry has become synonymous with Nazism. Were the Nazis particularly pedantic?