• jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    3 days ago

    And this implies she was just coincidentally hit and the police had no involvement in what could have been a fatal shooting. This kind of passive voice helps the villain.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        3 days ago

        Are you unfamiliar with how the passive voice works?

        “Man shot by police” vs “Police shoot man” are very different sentences.

        https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/active-vs-passive-voice-difference

        Passive voice often gets criticized as a weak and evasive form of expression. But it is useful for those instances when you want to emphasize the fact of an action having taken place rather than who performed the action. It is also helpful for instances when the doer of an action (also known as the agent) is unknown.

        [ … ]

        The passive voice gets called out on occasion as a tool for expressing the avoidance of responsibility, like when one says “Mistakes were made” rather than “We made some mistakes.” Sometimes, as in our Elm Street example, it is criticized for placing what appears to be a burden of responsibility on the person who receives the action (i.e., the victim) rather than the person who performs it.

        Passive voice is for when the state does violence. Active voice is for when a protester does? Got it

        (emphasis added)