The active participle in a passive sense is employed by many excellent writers and is condemned by others.
“Corn is selling for fifty cents a bushel.”
“Corn is being sold for fifty cents a bushel.”
The commercial world evidently prefers the former sentence. There is a breeziness and an energy in it that is lacking in the latter. It must, however, be used with caution. In the following examples the passive form is decidedly better than the active: “The foundation was being laid,” “They are being educated,” “While the speech was being delivered,” etc.
CHAPTER XII
Prepositions
Clearness and elegance of style are, in no small degree, dependent upon the choice and right use of prepositions. Many rules have been formulated, some of which are deserving of consideration, while others are nearly or quite useless. Among the latter may be mentioned, by way of illustration, the oft-repeated rule that between or betwixt must invariably be used when only two things are referred to, and that among must be employed when more than two are named. While it is true that the order could not be reversed, that among, when used, must be employed in reference to three or more persons or things, and that between may always be employed in speaking of two objects, yet the practice of many of the best writers does not limit the use of between to two objects. In fact, there are cases in which among will not take the place of between; as, “I set out eighty trees with ample space between them.” “The stones on his farm were so plentiful that the grass could not grow up between them.”
“The seven children divided the apples between them.” Two children may divide apples between, them, but in this case it is better to say, “The seven children divided the apples among them.”
George Eliot, in Middlemarch, says: “The fight lay entirely between Pinkerton, the old Tory member; Bagster, the new Whig member; and Brook, the Independent member.” In this case, between or with is more satisfactory than among, although three persons are referred to.