In isolation, yes. In context, not necessarily. At the end of a paragraph of mainly long sentences then the brevity and directness can have a big impact. Especially if a few chapters ago you set up the fact that the people who killed the hero's 11-year-old daughter got away in a red car. Well, maybe it would still be ungraceful, but it could be very very effective.
Ah, thanks very much. I've the first edition of Fowler's and I don't really refer to it as such - though I sometimes pick it up for the caustic asides. Good to know it's thought of highly, though. Generally speaking, the deconstruction of language goes against my natural temperament. My technical grasp does not stretch beyond knowing verbs from nouns etc. Seriously. I go by, 'whether it sounds right.' Thanks for the other suggestions. If I get serious (ever), I might take a look.
Me to - however after saying my SPaG is really rubbish I did some of the online tests and the ones in my book and got nearly everything right. From somewhere in my mind appeared knowledge on different types of verbs, conjunctions even an interjection lol I think between school and reading more sinks in than we realise.
Oh yes, they're wonderful! Well, the Longman grammar would change that, but only if you want it changing. You might still find Style in Fiction because it's a good source of ideas on how to vary things. That's the ultimate test, of course. Unfortunately, it's whether it sounds right to the reader, not to the writer. Drat.
Officer: Did you see what happened? Witness: Well, the car was red. Officer: That is an ungraceful sentence. I can't put that in my report! Would you try again please? Witness: Um, It was running the light... Officer: Passive voice! My English teacher would slap your knuckles! Do you need to haul you in as an uncooperative witness?
Witness: That's not passive voice! It's active voice, past tense, continuous aspect. I'm filing a formal complaint!
"Well I couldn't do nothing, begging your pardon, Officer, 'cause people wasn't giving any help." That's fine, too. Trying to prove me wrong by using dialogue is a waste of time; anything goes there. I'll ignore the lack of understanding with regards to what a passive sentence is, though; that's a lesson for another thread. But since someone else did correct me (thanks, digitig), I'll change my sentence. It is almost always an ungraceful sentence. Simply as a means to describe, always ungraceful. And embarrassing. I seem to recall a similar sentence in Twilight. You're right, digitig, I gave an absolute & that was silly of me.
The car was red will fit perfectly into Gus and Iris lol going to use it as my challenge. I have a challenge to get something weird into each novel usually my friend gives me one but he is away right now.
witness statement to police after a hit and run: "The car was red. The light was green. The old man obviously didn't see either one."
Based on what I was told earlier in this thread, I don't think that's passive. "the light was run by it," would be passive... I think.
Correct. It's not the "was" that makes a sentence passive, it's whether the subject of the sentence is the thing doing it.
