please, no passives

[cbmvax!uunet!GNU.AI.MIT.EDU!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!bob]

In lojban you can say

        mi klama      le             zarci
        I  come/go to the (specific) market/store (I have in mind)
or
        le  zarci cu  se klama      me
        The market    is gone to by me

In English, the second sentence is passive.  Manuals of style
recommend you avoid the passive.

In lojban, the second sentence illustrates conversion of places.

I hope that people will avoid presuming that you should avoid
conversion in Lojban just because you should avoid the passive in
English.  The two constructions are not parallel.

Indeed, we have the opportunity to consider "le zarci cu se klama me"
as an _active_ sentence with places switched so as to provide
rhetorical emphasis.  This makes lojban different from English.

Please, do not use the term `passive' when you can use the term
`conversion' and not drag with it an English presumption.

thanks

    Robert J. Chassell               bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu
    Rattlesnake Mountain Road        (413) 298-4725 or (617) 253-8568 or
    Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA   (617) 876-3296 (for messages)