soundless? dumb? voiceless? silent?

Question

Is it Okay to say the following?1. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went soundless.2. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went dumb.3. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went voiceless.4. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went silent.Any better suggestions?Thanks,Note: In fact, I could barely hear people's voices when I turned up the volume. All I got were big noises.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

1. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went soundless.

2. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went dumb.

3. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went voiceless.

4. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went silent.

These all sound unnatural. You might say something like -

I was watching TV and all of a sudden the sound went off / went out / stopped / died

Note: In fact, I could barely hear people's voices when I turned up the volume. All I got were big noises.

All I got was loud noise / a lot of static / static

Best wishes, Clive

Meantolearn · Answer

Thanks, Clive.

Lieutenant · Answer

I'd say "the TV went mute"

Davkett · Answer

Or--

I was watching TV and all of a sudden the sound was lost.

I was watching TV and all of a sudden the sound dropped out.

I was watching TV and all of a sudden there was no volume.

Hly2004 · Answer

I was watching TV and all of a sudden the sound disappeared???(just a guess)

I was watching TV and all of a sudden the sound stopped???(just a guess)

Siggy · Answer

Of the four, the last would be appropriate. In the first, the word "soundless" is an unlikely adjective; in the second, the word "dumb" is inappropriate because it is used for animals (including humans) but not typically objects; in the third instance, "voiceless" would indicate the presence of a voice, but TVs don't have "voice" but a more generic "sound." However, the latter notion of a TV going "silent" would work.
Siggy

You could always rephrase as other folks have posted here. But "I was watching TV and all of a sudden the TV went silent" would be unlikely to be judged unusual - in fact, I'd suggest more folks would say that using the word "it" instead of the second "TV' would make it better - not changing the word "silent."

Meantolearn · Answer

Hi, all.

What's been bothering me is that the people's voices and background music are missing rather than the sound.

I still could hear loud noise or a lot of of static especailly when I turned the TV volume up.

Wasn't loud noise or a lot of static a kind of sound? In English, you speakers still call this "the sound went off/out", "the sound stopped/died", "the sound dropped out", "there was no volume" or "the sound went silent"?

Thanks, folks.

soundless? dumb? voiceless? silent?

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