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Passive voice is also a bland, meek way to avoid using gendered pronouns. I much prefer using an active verb if I can think of one, and singular them. I have a
by SimHacker 13y ago
Passive voice is also a bland, meek way to avoid using gendered pronouns. I much prefer using an active verb if I can think of one, and singular them.
I have a question for you: how can you be actively evasive -- care to demonstrate by not actually answering my question? ;)
- dllthomas 13y agoInteresting. It seems passive voice can be used that way. I don't see any reason to complain unless the usage is strained, though (including, possibly, through the destruction of diversity in sentence structure - a crime that insistence on the active can also commit). As to your last point, I am not proving witty enough to abide by your request in an amusing manner, so I will simply address your question: it is completely possible to avoid assigning blame with the active. A classic example would be, "They say...". Or compare the active "Someone made a mistake" with the passive "Mistakes were made by Steve."
- SimHacker 13y agoIt might date me, but my English teacher explained the passive voice, and its nefarious uses, by quoting Ronald Reagan on the Iran/Contra Scandal: "Mistakes were made."
- dllthomas 13y agoYes, that's quite explicitly what I was referencing. It was weasely and it used the passive voice, but that is more or less coincidental. Your English teacher was wrong.