The hardest part of advising Ph.D. students is teaching
them how to write.

Fortunately, I've seen patterns emerge over the past couple years.

So, I've decided to replace myself with a shell script.

In particular, I've created shell scripts for catching three problems:

1. abuse of the passive voice,

2. weasel words, and

3. lexical illusions.

And, I've integrated these into the build system of our LaTeX documents.

The point of these scripts is not to ban all use of constructs
like the passive voice.

(When it comes to writing, there are exceptions to every "rule.")

The point of these scripts is to make sure that my students and I make a
conscious choice to use these constructs.

When these scripts highlight a sentence, my students should ask
themselves, "Is there a better way to say what I said--a way to make
the text read with more clarity and precision?" Often enough, the
answer is "yes."

The meta-point of this article is that writers should learn their
individual weaknesses.

And, when writers are programmers, we should enlist automation to
combat these weaknesses.1