I am Terrified!

I have never been scared of sentences, until I read chapter 4. I am terrified! Who made up all those names and rules anyway? And really, whoever heard of a 4,391-word sentence? Most importantly, I finally found out what a passive voice is. If I write passive sentences then people will think that I am listless, stagnant, and leaden. However, if I write sentences with an active voice then people will think that I am lively, agile, and spirited. The big difference is when I use an active voice, the subject acts, thus making him lively. In a passive voice, the person or thing performing the action does not act, but is acted upon by the verb. He is not lively. I learned that it is easy to fix passive sentences. First I have to find the verb. Then I have to identify the actor in the sentence. The final step is to construct the sentence so that the real actor performs the action. It isn’t nearly as hard as I thought.
I was surprised as I read this chapter to find a very awkward sentence on page 23. I cannot believe that it was an actual editing mistake, as this is a grammar book. But take a look and see what you think. In the second paragraph there is a sentence that says, “The sentence is essential building block of memorable prose.” I wonder if the sentence would be less awkward if it read, “The sentence is an essential building block of memorable prose.” That is how I would have written it. But then, I am not the expert.