Legal Writing: From the Mailbag
The difference between a "tense" and a "voice"
Q: In your article, "Finding the Perfect Tense," in
the April issue, you provide an example in the center column on page 28.
In the example, isn't "will be incapacitated" a future passive rather
than future perfect tense?
A: Actually, "passive" and "active" are considered
"voices" rather than tenses, so there is no passive tense. Tenses have
to do with the timing of an action with respect to the time current to
the text, while voices have to do with the perspective from which the
verb is stated. Nevertheless, you are absolutely right that this was not
a perfect tense. It should have read "will have been incapacitated" to
be the future perfect tense, passive voice. "Will have incapacitated"
would be the future perfect tense, active voice. I apologize to my
readers, and thanks to the other sharp-eyed readers who also caught my
error!
Wisconsin Lawyer
