From time to time we all need to be reminded of these important rules for establishing common ground. And particularly new people are anxious about not doing the wrong thing. My dad wrote to me in caps for years 'till I told him, dad, you're raising your voice. And yikes!! ain't it the truth we should use good grammar and proper punctuation and spelling and sentence structure and... but that is the hard part for many of us who struggle to get our ideas across by any means necessary. On the one point, few people would know what the "passive" voice is (it's when there is no subject, as, "... a word was spoken." The subject (the one who spoke) is not identified -- that's all that "passive" means, but not to worry, it's very minor. To be kind, to be straightforward, to be considerate... the world has a potential to be a great place for everybody.