Verbs and voice
Oct. 20th, 2011 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiHere's the statement from the National Book Foundation "So Paranoid About Email That We Do Everything by Phone and Don't Bother Saying Author Names Out Loud" awards committee on their screw up:
Let's look at some of the various ways in which verbs are used here.
was made: This is straight passive voice, deliberately refusing to take any responsibility for what happened. Who made the error? No one, of course. It was just made, you know, from stardust. Or maybe it popped out of the head of a Greek god with a migraine. Who knows? Some things just happen.
may have caused: Clearly, this mistake -- the spontaneous one that came out of nowhere, which we've decided to name Shane for now, because it's just like a mysterious stranger played by Alan Ladd who comes in and shakes things up, and maybe it also sounds a bit like "Chime" and "Shine" -- might have hurt someone. But it also might not have hurt someone. Each is likely, just like the cat in the box could be dead or alive. We don't know which state is true -- we're writers, dammit, not quantum physicists -- but on the off chance that someone really was hurt (not that we don't believe Lauren Myracle when she said she was hurt, or the umpteen gay readers who were uplifted by the book and had their hopes that a book addressing their lives got some recognition, but, well, we don't), we'll acknowledge that pain could have happened. Caused, you know, by someone else.
we will be pleased to make a $5,000 donation : Active voice! We're doing this! Us! Us! Not someone else! Not Shane. Or Shine. Or Shlemiel or Shlemazel. This is us doing a Good Thing. Actively. Look at us! Something good came out of all of this, so we're clearly not a bunch of idiots!
The National Book Foundation regrets that an error was made in the original announcement of the Finalists for the 2011 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature and apologizes for any confusion and hurt it may have caused Lauren Myracle. At her suggestion, we will be pleased to make a $5,000 donation to the Matthew Shepard Foundation in her name.
Let's look at some of the various ways in which verbs are used here.
was made: This is straight passive voice, deliberately refusing to take any responsibility for what happened. Who made the error? No one, of course. It was just made, you know, from stardust. Or maybe it popped out of the head of a Greek god with a migraine. Who knows? Some things just happen.
may have caused: Clearly, this mistake -- the spontaneous one that came out of nowhere, which we've decided to name Shane for now, because it's just like a mysterious stranger played by Alan Ladd who comes in and shakes things up, and maybe it also sounds a bit like "Chime" and "Shine" -- might have hurt someone. But it also might not have hurt someone. Each is likely, just like the cat in the box could be dead or alive. We don't know which state is true -- we're writers, dammit, not quantum physicists -- but on the off chance that someone really was hurt (not that we don't believe Lauren Myracle when she said she was hurt, or the umpteen gay readers who were uplifted by the book and had their hopes that a book addressing their lives got some recognition, but, well, we don't), we'll acknowledge that pain could have happened. Caused, you know, by someone else.
we will be pleased to make a $5,000 donation : Active voice! We're doing this! Us! Us! Not someone else! Not Shane. Or Shine. Or Shlemiel or Shlemazel. This is us doing a Good Thing. Actively. Look at us! Something good came out of all of this, so we're clearly not a bunch of idiots!
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Date: 2011-10-20 02:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-10-20 04:22 pm (UTC)No, you're still a bunch of idiots. But now you're a bunch of idiots who did something nice (donating the money, I mean.)
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Date: 2011-10-20 04:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-20 04:47 pm (UTC)