Color their prose gray

Though surrounded by fascinating and challenging subjects, too many engineers and scientists write dull reports and papers. More attention to verbs can help alleviate dullness and can promote such qualities as vividness, directness, force, and interest. Passive verb forms can be changed to active; combinations of passive verbs with other lifeless verbs can be reduced through subordination and elimination; and nominalized verbs (verbs forced into noun functions) can be used as true verbs. Unfortunately, as unnatural as the resultant style will seem to many technical writers and as manipulative as the suggested methods for improvement are, this situation will change only as a new philosophy of style evolves, when the historical adverse Influences are overcome. As we hope for this new philosophy, we can at least guard against the squandering of our language's potential.