Re: Grammar (was Ages in GN)


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Posted by Dave Thewlis on January 10, 2010 at 02:06:18 user dthewlis.

In Reply to: Re: Grammar (was Ages in GN) posted by John Lambert on January 10, 2010 at 00:40:02:

Active voice is indeed more personal and suggests some kind of direct involvement; it is therefore generally avoided by bureaucrats and bureaucrat-speak. Richard Mitchell refers to this in Less than Words Can Say as the "Divine Passive" which avoids all responsibility, all assignation of responsibility, and any assumption of blame.

We've all seen "Mistakes have been made" or that kind of baloney more times than we can count. Credit card companies and any corporate to personal relationship have been particularly guilty of the Divine Passive until recently, but it is getting better. I believe (in the U.S. at least) this is a result of federal regulations requiring such language to be comprehensible.

I strongly recommend Less than Words Can Say. Brilliant collection of essays from the man who published "The Underground Grammarian" for many years. I am particularly fond of this one observation:

"English may let you say something like that, but it doesn't let you mean anything by it."

Dave


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