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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

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when is it OK to use passive voice?

In the Garden With the Grammar Geek: Is It Ever OK to Use the Passive Voice?

June 19, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Garden Artisan Jillian Steinberger prunes the camellias in Barbara Falconer Newhall's yard. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Passive sentences can be wordy and vague — or useful. For me, a passive sentence is one that, like it or not, obscures the doer of the action. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

What to Do With Those Battered Old Baby Shoes? Hide Them in a Wall, of Course

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Those battered old baby shoes? Hide them in a wall. It’s centuries old tradition that lets you declutter without giving up your dear old stuff.  Read more.

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