{"id":114388,"date":"2024-10-15T11:22:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=114388"},"modified":"2024-10-15T11:22:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:22:04","slug":"why-everyone-even-grammar-experts-gets-it-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=114388","title":{"rendered":"Why Everyone (Even Grammar Experts) Gets It Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"player-wrapper player-wrapper-lg\"\/>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-0\">The passive voice: despised by teachers, maligned by editors, and misunderstood by almost everyone. For over a century, this grammatical construction has been the bogeyman of English writing, blamed for everything from weak prose to political evasion. But here\u2019s the kicker: Most people railing against it couldn\u2019t spot a true passive if it tap-danced across their keyboard. So why has this humble verb form become public enemy number one in the world of grammar?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-2\">Active Voice vs. Passive Voice<\/h2>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-3\">Let\u2019s start by clarifying what we\u2019re dealing with. In many English sentences, you have an agent as the grammatical subject, doing something to a patient, the grammatical object. Active voice would give you a sentence like <em>the cat <\/em>(agent\/subject)<em> chased the mouse <\/em>(patient\/object)<em>.<\/em> In the passive voice, the syntactic functions are shuffled, putting the patient ahead of the agent: <em>The mouse was chased<\/em> <em>by the cat<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-4\">To quickly determine whether you\u2019re dealing with passive voice, try the peculiar but practical \u201czombie test.\u201d Popularized by Marine Corps University provost <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/johnsonr\/status\/259012668298506240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rebecca Johnson<\/a>, it\u2019s a simple rule of thumb for identifying the passive voice. Try adding <em>by zombies<\/em> after the verb in your sentence. If it makes sense, congratulations! You\u2019ve probably got yourself some passive voice. For example:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-5\">\n<li><em>The letter was sent<\/em> (<em>by zombies<\/em>) \u2014 Passive voice confirmed!<\/li>\n<li><em>She was feeling (by zombies) tired<\/em> \u2014 Nope, not passive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-6\">The Blame Game: Who\u2019s Getting It Wrong?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-7\">Popular grammar guides have contributed both to what linguist Geoff Pullum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0271530913000980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">calls<\/a> the \u201cfear and loathing of the English passive\u201d and to the confusion around it. Take <em>The Elements of Style<\/em> (1918) by William Strunk, the book that activated the passive antipathy. Strunk <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/cu31924014450716\/page\/n21\/mode\/2up?q=%22There+were+a+great+number+of+dead+leaves+lying+on+the+ground.%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> this sentence is in the passive voice: <em>There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground.<\/em> Plot twist: The zombie test shows it\u2019s not passive at all! Nothing is done to the leaves; they\u2019re just &#8230; there.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(min-width: 768px) 775px, 92vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_354\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 354w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_708\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 708w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_376\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 376w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_752\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 752w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_731\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 731w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_675\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 675w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_1350\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_2025\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg 2025w\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_480\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99ydbjb4xrh7987bn.jpg\" alt=\"There\u2019s nothing passive about the sentence \u2018there were a number of dead leaves lying on the ground.\u2019\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" loading=\"undefined\"\/><figcaption>There\u2019s nothing passive about the sentence \u2018there were a number of dead leaves lying on the ground.\u2019 \/ 130920\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-9\">Pundits aren\u2019t immune to this confusion either. <em>The Washington Post <\/em>columnist Alexandra Petri once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/compost\/wp\/2014\/01\/13\/enter-the-concern-troll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> that \u201cconcern trolls thrive on passive constructions.\u201d The sentence she objected to was <em>But her decision to live her cancer onstage invites us to think about it, debate it, learn from it<\/em>. \u201cNot passive,\u201d say the zombies (<a href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=9947\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">and Pullum<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-10\">Even an old <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20051102021039\/http:\/www.bbctraining.com\/pdfs\/newsStyleGuide.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC style guide<\/a> misidentifies <em>There were riots in several towns in Northern England last night, in which police clashed with stone-throwing youths <\/em>as employing the passive voice. Of course, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-11\">Why the Confusion?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-12\">So why do so many people, even supposed experts, get it wrong? Part of the blame surely lies with the terms <em>active <\/em>and <em>passive <\/em>themselves. In the Strunk<em> <\/em>example above, the leaves aren\u2019t exactly juggling chainsaws, but it\u2019s a mistake to equate physical passivity with the passive voice: <em>I slept <\/em>is an active sentence, while <em>I was mauled by zombies<\/em> is pure passive.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(min-width: 768px) 775px, 92vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_354\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 354w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_708\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 708w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_376\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 376w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_752\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 752w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_731\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 731w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_675\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 675w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_1350\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_2025\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg 2025w\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/w_480\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/mentalfloss\/01j99yg3qks6h6r6vhak.jpg\" alt=\"George Orwell wasn\u2019t a fan of the passive voice ... but he did use it himself.\" width=\"701\" height=\"701\" loading=\"undefined\"\/><figcaption>George Orwell wasn\u2019t a fan of the passive voice &#8230; but he did use it himself. \/ adoc-photos\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-14\">Another issue is the association of passive voice with weak or evasive writing. George Orwell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orwellfoundation.com\/the-orwell-foundation\/orwell\/essays-and-other-works\/politics-and-the-english-language\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decried it<\/a> as a tool for avoiding responsibility. If you\u2019ve ever heard someone non-apologize by saying, \u201cMistakes were made,\u201d you might have asked yourself, \u201cby whom? Zombies?\u201d But blaming the passive voice for evasive writing is like blaming hammers for sore thumbs\u2014it\u2019s all in how you use it. And, when given the opportunity, Orwell <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/merriamwebstersd00merr\/page\/720\/mode\/2up?q=%22orwell%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chose<\/a> to use passive verbs 20 percent of the time in his essay \u201cPolitics and the English language.\u201d Who\u2019s evasive now, George?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-15\">The Secret Power of Passive Voice: Information Packaging<\/h2>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-16\">So, what is the passive for? It\u2019s all about how we structure information in a sentence for maximum effect. Consider this paragraph where the subject and topic of each sentence is underlined:<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-17\"><em>\u201c<\/em><u><em>XYZ Corporation<\/em><\/u><em> has been a leader in the tech industry for over a decade. Founded in 2010, the company quickly gained a reputation for innovation. In 2015, <\/em><u><em>XYZ Corp<\/em><\/u><em> was awarded a prestigious industry prize. <\/em><u><em>The company<\/em><\/u><em> was praised for its commitment to customer satisfaction.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-18\">The passive voice in the last two sentences keeps XYZ Corporation as the focus. But there\u2019s a catch: The trusty zombies test stumbles a bit here. The sentence <em>XYZ Corp was awarded <\/em><em><strong>by zombies<\/strong><\/em><em> a prestigious industry prize<\/em> is a little off. Is this not a passive?<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-19\">It is indeed passive, but we\u2019re dealing with a tricky construction known as a ditransitive. In active voice, this sentence would have not one object but two: <em>The industry awarded XYZ Corp <\/em>(indirect object)<em> a prize <\/em>(direct object). The passive version moves <em>XYZ Corp<\/em> to the subject position but retains <em>a prize<\/em> as an object. This is why we can\u2019t actually put <em>by zombies<\/em> immediately after the verb\u2014the object is in the way. But we can still confirm the sentence is passive by putting <em>by zombies<\/em> at the end: <em>XYZ Corp was awarded a prize by zombies.<\/em> The zombie test is useful, but it\u2019s not foolproof.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-20\">Regardless of how we identify it, the passive voice serves an important function in information packaging. Here\u2019s another example of how it does this: Where active voice would separate key ideas, passive voice can unite them. Compare these sentences:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-21\">\n<li><strong>Active:<\/strong> <em>A <\/em><u><em>stack<\/em><\/u><em> of distinct layers that transform the input volume into an output volume through a differentiable function <\/em><u><em>forms<\/em><\/u><em> a convoluted neural network architecture.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Passive:<\/strong><em> A convoluted neural network <\/em><u><em>architecture<\/em><\/u><em> <\/em><u><em>is formed<\/em><\/u><em> by a stack of distinct layers that transform the input volume into an output volume through a differentiable function.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-22\">The active version separates the subject <em>stack<\/em> and the verb <em>forms<\/em> with a 16-word canyon, while the passive version keeps a cozy neighborliness<em> <\/em>between the subject <em>architecture<\/em> and <em>is formed<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-23\">Strunk\u2019s passive voice example <em>My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me<\/em> is admittedly awful. The problem, though, isn\u2019t about the sentence being less direct or bold, as he claims. Instead, it\u2019s about violating basic rules of how we structure information. In a well-crafted sentence, the beginning bridges the known, while the end blazes the new. This principle explains why Strunk\u2019s example feels so awkward: The speaker\u2014<em>I <\/em>or <em>me<\/em>\u2014is almost always common ground, yet the sentence ends by highlighting the speaker\u2019s role as if it needed introduction. Placing <em>by me<\/em> at the end draws unexpected attention to the speaker\u2019s participation, creating a jarring effect that defies our sense of natural language flow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-24\">So whether you\u2019re writing about your memorable trips or surviving a zombie apocalypse, remember it\u2019s not the passive voice that\u2019s the enemy, but rather the misuse of information structure that will really eat your brains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-text\" id=\"inline-text-25\"><strong>Read More About <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalfloss.com\/section\/language\"><strong>Language<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><mm-embeds-content-enrichment><\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-enrichment-embed\">\n<blockquote class=\"mm-content-embed\" data-type=\"GroupOfLinks\" data-embed-name=\"Language (Feed Page)\" data-configuration=\"{&quot;limit&quot;:10,&quot;topic&quot;:&quot;language&quot;}\" data-url=\"https:\/\/content-enrichment-service.mmsport.voltaxservices.io\/properties\/mentalfloss\/embeds\/01j99y8hza71wxm\/data\" data-with-images=\"false\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">feed<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/mm-embeds-content-enrichment><\/p>\n<aside class=\"related-topics\">\n<h2 class=\"topics-title\">Related Tags<\/h2>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalfloss.com\/posts\/passive-voice-why-everyone-gets-it-wrong\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The passive voice: despised by teachers, maligned by editors, and misunderstood by almost everyone. For over a century, this grammatical construction has been the bogeyman of English writing, blamed for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=114388\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}