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Topic: A short history of the passive voice
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swallow
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2659
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posted 30 July 2004 02:46 PM
From the latest issue of Maisonneuve, by Nicolas Hune-Brown: quote: 2004 ... "It's also important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy, everything is not perfect, that mistakes were made." -- President George W. Bush on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal1986 ... "Mistakes were made." -- Former President Ronald Reagan on the Iran-contra affair 1940 ... "Vodka was enjoyed, bloody purges were committed." -- Stalin on human atrocity and casual drinking 1536 ... "The Incas have to realize that not all conquistadors are perfect. Natives were massacred. Staggeringly large shipments of gold were expropriated." -- Francisco Pizarro, winning Incan hearts and minds at Caxamalca
And so on. Unfortunately, the article was not posted on-line. Got more? Is the passive voice evil?
From: fast-tracked for excommunication | Registered: May 2002
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Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308
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posted 30 July 2004 03:41 PM
The passive voice is where something gets done but the sentence has no identifiable actor. Grammatically, there's no "subject", only a verb and an object. So, active voice goes "I made mistakes", or "The ratfink I appointed made mistakes", where "made" is the verb, "mistakes" is the object, and "I" or "The ratfink" is the subject. Passive voice goes "Mistakes were made", where "were made" is the verb, "Mistakes" is the object, and apparently nobody in particular actually did it--the mistakes just sort of happened. Nobody to blame. Passive voice can be useful to describe situations where shit just is happening and there isn't a particular obvious cause. But it's used a lot for weaseling and ducking responsibility, and apparently has been for a long long time. Conquistadors? I never would have figured them for responsibility-ducking wussies; I always figured they were more Viking-style, where the fact that they massacred a bunch of natives was just part of the deal, and who cared? But I guess they were a lot like Bush--vicious but sanctimonious, religion excuses everything but let's not get too specific about what it needs to excuse.
From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002
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swallow
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2659
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posted 30 July 2004 04:11 PM
Hm. I'm fairly sure it was a joke, not an actual quote. The last entry is: quote: Paleolithic era ... "Blunt sticks gathered, skulls bashed. Ugh." -- Stig, defending his use of the newly acquired 'opposable thumbs of mass destruction'
However, grammar rules are made to be broken, no? "Mistakes were made by me/my lackey/that monkey over there" is supposed to be the form in English too, isn't it? I like the Todd Bertuzzi "apology" for this form of weaselling: "I regret what happened out there." As if he wasn't involved at all.
From: fast-tracked for excommunication | Registered: May 2002
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 30 July 2004 04:16 PM
quote: I'm fairly sure it was a joke, not an actual quote.
D'oh! quote: However, grammar rules are made to be broken, no? "Mistakes were made by me/my lackey/that monkey over there" is supposed to be the form in English too, isn't it?
I'm not sure. "Mistakes were made," however weaselly, makes grammatical sense in English. As I understand it, the Spanish version simply wouldn't make sense. I could be wrong, of course. quote: I like the Todd Bertuzzi "apology" for this form of weaselling: "I regret what happened out there." As if he wasn't involved at all.
Yeah, that's my favourite. I'm no great fan of Wayne Gretzky, but I was glad when he announced that Bertuzzi wouldn't be on the World Cup team. Of course, the reason he gave was that Bertuzzi would still be under suspension, not that he acted like a sociopathic thug.
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 30 July 2004 04:34 PM
When I was teaching, I used to call the passive voice the bureaucratic voice, and made up all kinds of funny civil-service evasions for my kids, hoping that that in itself would wean them from using it much. For some reason, nervous writers turn to the passive a lot, and it is so wordy, so clunky, even when one is not trying to be evasive or crooked. I mean, often my students would get the active agent in there, in a prepositional phrase following ("That was done by me"), and it was such a struggle to convince them to be brave enough just to write: "I did it!"Once when I was handing back papers, I made a sort of general comment about hoping people would watch the passives, and one resentful young woman piped up from the back of the room, "So is the passive voice ungrammatical? Is it WRONG?" So I was forced to concede no, it isn't WRONG; it is a legitimate construction and it has its uses ... And before I could finish, she sat back smugly and sneered at me, "So it's just your opinion." Sigh.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 30 July 2004 04:38 PM
quote: Paleolithic era ... "Blunt sticks gathered, skulls bashed. Ugh."
This could be fun. Jacobin history: "Versailles was ransacked. Cake was eaten. Heads were removed. Knitting was engaged in."
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 30 July 2004 04:44 PM
In my line of work, I'm constantly issuing reports containing sentences like "Five (5) boreholes were drilled, three (3) completed with monitoring wells.... Three (3) groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for..." whatever it was.I'm not proud of such uniprose, but the alternative would be "Our field technician [or even "Field Technician so-and-so"] together with so-and-so from Drilling Company X, installed three (3) monitoring wells..." If something went wrong, the implication of such constructions would be that Field Technician so-and-so, or Drilling Company X, was ultimately responsible. So the point of the passive voice in such contexts is not to evade responsibility -- the client knows that our company did the environmental investigation, after all. The point is to place it where it belongs, i.e. on me (if I'm the project manager), and secondarily on the company collectively if (God forbid) something drastic did go wrong. [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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James
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5341
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posted 30 July 2004 04:46 PM
"Perhaps some of my posts have given offence"No, that doesn't qualify as true passive voice, does it ? "Offence has been taken to some of my posts" [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: JamesR ]
From: Windsor; ON | Registered: Mar 2004
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Hinterland
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4014
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posted 30 July 2004 04:53 PM
quote: Grammatically, there's no "subject", only a verb and an object.
Total time-wasting, show-off quibble: Grammatically, there is a subject. In "Mistakes were made", "Mistakes" is the subject according to the grammar of the language. Objectively, there is also a subject, in that it's impossible to imagine a situation in which "mistakes" were made without there being an actual subject (or 'agent' to get really technical). The passive voice is used to shift emphasis from the agent to the action and its consequences. German actually has grammatically "subjectless" verbs in the passive voice: In Im Auto wird nicht geraucht (no smoking in the car), there is no grammatical subject for the verb "wird" (will). It's a very oblique way of saying "you can't smoke in the car", "no one can smoke in the car", "smoking is not allowed in the car", without being personally or directly authoritarian. ...yes, the passive voice is evil. It enables evil. [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: Hinterland ]
From: Québec/Ontario | Registered: Apr 2003
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 30 July 2004 05:04 PM
quote: My students had never been so taught. Never.
Had never been taught to write that way in chemistry labs, or never been taught any chemistry? Sometimes I despair of the education system, in particular that it tends to produce groups of people who don't understand each others' language. Sometimes too I despair of the sort of prose that bosses and clients expect me to churn out. The best thing about it is that it's easy to be considered a good writer in this trade. I mean, here I am, surrounded by... ('lance lowers voice to a stage whisper) ...engineers. Of course, being considered a good writer in this trade, plus $2.00 exact cash fare, will get me on the C-train. quote: Though this can also lead to pompous statements like "This author believes..." rather than passive voice.
Dear Lord, I'm so glad that most print journalists no longer use "This reporter..." or "This reviewer...". I hate, hate, hate that. [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 30 July 2004 05:18 PM
quote: Hey, aren't you guys going to contribute some to swallow's short history of the passive?
Oh, right. 1209, Beziers. "It being determined that God in His Heaven would recognize His own, the inhabitants of the town were dispatched thither." Arnaud-Amaury, Abbot of Citeaux. [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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al-Qa'bong
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3807
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posted 30 July 2004 05:22 PM
There was an arrival, things were seen and were conquered. quote: I mean, here I am, surrounded by...('lance lowers voice to a stage whisper) ...engineers.
Try telling a classroom of engineering students (well, the Electricals and Mechanicals are pretty good, but the Chemicals...yikes!) that they should try to write as if they were human beings. Many kids come out of high school believing that they should extricate themselves from the written page. I tell them that it's OK to say "I" when they write. [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]
From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003
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Hinterland
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4014
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posted 30 July 2004 05:44 PM
quote: 1209, Beziers. "It being determined that God in His Heaven would recognize His own, the inhabitants of the town were dispatched thither." Arnaud-Amaury, Abbot of Citeaux.
God, you must have lactated with stifled anticipation all day waiting to be able to spring THAT on us, eh? ..edited to add: [ 30 July 2004: Message edited by: Hinterland ]
From: Québec/Ontario | Registered: Apr 2003
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