Timeline for What is the purpose of active and passive voice?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2014 at 21:06 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @choster Perzackly. Passive permits the speaker to acknowledge the malfeasance without identifying its Agent. | |
| Jan 24, 2014 at 21:05 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @snailplane Fersher. BUT: it only focuses there if it is already known that the patient was murdered and the identity of the Agent is new information. | |
| Jan 24, 2014 at 20:52 | comment | added | user230 | An example of using the passive voice to focus on the agent, courtesy of Geoffrey Pullum: "Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor!" | |
| Jan 24, 2014 at 19:38 | comment | added | choster | Despite the blogosphere's obsession with the frequency of I in political speeches, I find public figures the most enamored of the passive. William Schneider called "Mistakes were made." an example of the "past exonerative." | |
| Jan 24, 2014 at 19:00 | history | answered | StoneyB on hiatus | CC BY-SA 3.0 |