>> The tank filled with hydraulic fluid that powered the fins enabling them to rotate and steer, ran out of fluid before landing.
Nit, but this is the most difficult sentence I've had to parse all year.
Nit, but this is the most difficult sentence I've had to parse all year.
The tank filled with hydraulic fluid, powering the fins and enabling them to rotate and steer, ran out of fluid before landing.
Hopefully the above reads more clearly. It is how I parsed it on first read.
The tank--filled with hydraulic fluid, powering the fins, and enabling them to rotate and steer--ran out of fluid before landing.
A (B C D) E
Or there's the ablative: "The tank of hydraulic fluid having been emptied, the fins could no longer steer the rocket."
BI isn't exactly the bastion of quality journalism.
"hydraulic fluid that powered the fins enabling them to rotate and steer" isn't passive either. Poorly written, certainly.
I double-checked with the examples in http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/passive_loathing.pdf and still didn't see a match. FWIW, that paper also comments "mistaken charges of using the passive voice are commonplace".