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Scribble1952 Posted 17 years ago
Identify the passives in the following. Explain why the passive is more appropriate than the active form in each case.
"By a curious coincidence my father and mother were both killed on the same night that I lost my hand; they were buried under the rubble of a house in West Kensington while my hand was left behind somewhere in Leadenhall Street."
1. “my father and mother were both killed” is passive. If we knew exactly how they were killed, we could use the active voice, but the author wants to put the focus on the fact that they were killed. In other words, the important information is what happened to the subject.
2. “they were buried”. Here the writer wants to emphasise the fact that the parents were buried. It is also consistent with the previous sentence which is also in the passive form.
3. “my hand was left behind”. Again, the writer wants to stress the fact that the hand was left behind, not how it was left behind. It also emphasises an action that happened to the person which was out of their control.
Are my answers correct? Or do you have any other suggestions as to why the passives are being used in these cases? Thanks.
Grammar
Question about use of the passive form
Identify the passives in the following. Explain why the passive is more appropriate than the active form in each case.
"By a curious coincidence my father and mother were both killed on the same night that I lost my hand; they were buried under the rubble of a house in West Kensington while my hand was left behind somewhere in Leadenhall Street."
My answers:
1. “my father and mother were both killed” is passive. If we knew exactly how they were killed, we could use the active voice, but the author wants to put the focus on the fact that they were killed. In other words, the important information is what happened to the subject.
2. “they were buried”. Here the writer wants to emphasise the fact that the parents were buried. It is also consistent with the previous sentence which is also in the passive form.
3. “my hand was left behind”. Again, the writer wants to stress the fact that the hand was left behind, not how it was left behind. It also emphasises an action that happened to the person which was out of their control.
Are my answers correct? Or do you have any other suggestions as to why the passives are being used in these cases? Thanks.
Top answer
Yes, you are right. It doesn't matter who killed the character's parents, or at least it doesn't matter in that context, in that sentence, etc. It's not important to know who buried them either, or who left the character's hand behind (probably the character himself or herself, and other people too).
- Yes, you are right.
- It doesn't matter who killed the character's parents, or at least it doesn't matter in that context, in that sentence, etc.
- It's not important to know who buried them either, or who left the character's hand behind (probably the character himself or herself, and other people too).
- So the point is that the focus is not on the subjects of the actions, but on the objects or the results.
- In particular "were buried" is very common, much more common than the active version, I think, because usually it's not important who was the guy who buried the coffin in the graveyard, you know.
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1 Answers
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Yes, you are right.
It doesn't matter who killed the character's parents, or at least it doesn't matter in that context, in that sentence, etc. It's not important to know who buried them either, or who left the character's hand behind (probably the character himself or herself, and other people too). So the point is that the focus is not on the subjects of the actions, but on the objects or
It doesn't matter who killed the character's parents, or at least it doesn't matter in that context, in that sentence, etc. It's not important to know who buried them either, or who left the character's hand behind (probably the character himself or herself, and other people too). So the point is that the focus is not on the subjects of the actions, but on the objects or
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