Writers:
You keep being told to write clearly, actively, directly, so that readers know exactly what you’re saying. Not always. There are times when you don’t want readers to know what’s going on — when blame or responsibility is involved, when you don’t want to name names.
“Errors have been made and others will be blamed.” This is passive writing.
Passive writing says “something happened, but we’re not saying what”; someone did something, but we’re not saying who”. Notice that the general order of subject-verb-object has been reversed. Rather than “Bob erred with the estimate; his information was faulty”, the message may appear as: “The estimate was in error because of faulty information”. No foul; no blame!
Who would write this way? Those who wish to add complexity or obfuscation to their words (think: legal documents, insurance policies, financial information, apologies). Passive writing has its place; but most often, something is being hidden.
How many sentences in this posting are passively written?
What the hell is a Grammar Anarchist? You can be one! Since we don’t have a U.S. language, feel FREE to set your own rules -- interpret grammar YOUR WAY. You’re not in England anymore. Join the anarchy of U.S. grammar! Make your choices and preserve them in YOUR STYLE MANUAL. —The Grammar Anarchist
Contact the Grammar Anarchist with your questions about grammar and language at grammaranarchist@gmail.com
Get a personal reply at Val@valdumond.com
Get a personal reply at Val@valdumond.com
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment