Where did that donkey kick a man?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/politics_and_the_english_language Politics and the English language] is an essay where George Orwell takes issue with how little people know about what Democracy is. An essay says that wikipedia is not a democracy. The rest of us want it to resemble whatever we hav come to understand that Democracy is.
"If language can corrupt thought, then thought can also corrupt language."
At the end of the essay, he stated six rules for clear writing. Number four says write in the active voice. It is easy to forget that rule, and once a sentence is passive, someone might recognize it without knowing how to activate it. The vast majority of sentences containing "by" are passive. i.e. "The man was kicked by the donkey.". Another way to write it is "The will of the donkey caused the man to be kicked". That breaks rule number three.
Forms of "to be" are other flag-words for passive voice. If a sentence introduces object before subject, then it is passive. In an active sentence, you can read cause and effect. In a passive sentence, things are more existential; things just happen, or they just are. "The man was kicked into the barn." is a passive construction. "Someone or something kicked the man" is active, even though it uses inspecific pronouns. Sometimes, finding the right pronouns is all you need for activating a sentence.
A donkey kicked a man into the barn. _______ Spammerz suk Uranus tiL they're fuL uv politiks.
"Eugene van der Pijll" eugene@vanderpijll.nl wrote in message news:20090521074620.GA594@alva.mail.gmail.com...
Jay Litwyn schreef:
Where did that donkey kick a man?
Your point is unclear. If you think [[Politics and the English Language]] needs a better intro, take it to that talk page.
If it were a standard essay, rather than an explanation of the difference between active and passive voice, then it would hav a point that was not trying to be cute in leading to a tagline. I am disallowed from talk pages and e-mail. The admin who started the process against me egzajerated his claims against me, did not finish the process or contribute to my claims against him, and he did indicate frustration with my communications, so I desisted communication with him.
All I might do is link point four to the wikipedia guideline on active voice. The definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice"> passive voice</a> needs work. I see no way to make the declaration of independence into active voice, and that was not done in the article, either, so I do not think it is a good example. If it can be activated, then it should be done to show the antonym, active voice. If not, then someone should find a better example. _______ Spammerz suk Uranus tiL they're fuL uv politiks.
2009/5/21 Jay Litwyn brewhaha@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca:
"Eugene van der Pijll" eugene@vanderpijll.nl wrote in message news:20090521074620.GA594@alva.mail.gmail.com...
Jay Litwyn schreef:
Where did that donkey kick a man?
Your point is unclear. If you think [[Politics and the English Language]] needs a better intro, take it to that talk page.
If it were a standard essay, rather than an explanation of the difference between active and passive voice, then it would hav a point that was not trying to be cute in leading to a tagline. I am disallowed from talk pages and e-mail. The admin who started the process against me egzajerated his claims against me, did not finish the process or contribute to my claims against him, and he did indicate frustration with my communications, so I desisted communication with him.
All I might do is link point four to the wikipedia guideline on active voice. The definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice"> passive voice</a> needs work. I see no way to make the declaration of independence into active voice, and that was not done in the article, either, so I do not think it is a good example. If it can be activated, then it should be done to show the antonym, active voice. If not, then someone should find a better example.
I don't see how a discussion of the active and passive voice is within the scope of the mailing list. If you have problems with a block on the English Wikipedia and wish to complain about an admin and cannot contact anyone to help you then email ArbCom on arbcom-l@lists.wikimedia.org and they will review the case.
"Thomas Dalton" thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote in message news:a4359dff0905210711m79740eb0k597998ce64daa1bb@mail.gmail.com...
2009/5/21 Jay Litwyn brewhaha@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca:
"Eugene van der Pijll" eugene@vanderpijll.nl wrote in message news:20090521074620.GA594@alva.mail.gmail.com...
Jay Litwyn schreef:
Where did that donkey kick a man?
Your point is unclear. If you think [[Politics and the English Language]] needs a better intro, take it to that talk page.
If it were a standard essay, rather than an explanation of the difference between active and passive voice, then it would hav a point that was not trying to be cute in leading to a tagline. I am disallowed from talk pages and e-mail. The admin who started the process against me egzajerated his claims against me, did not finish the process or contribute to my claims against him, and he did indicate frustration with my communications, so I desisted communication with him.
All I might do is link point four to the wikipedia guideline on active voice. The definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice"> passive voice</a> needs work. I see no way to make the declaration of independence into active voice, and that was not done in the article, either, so I do not think it is a good example. If it can be activated, then it should be done to show the antonym, active voice. If not, then someone should find a better example.
I don't see how a discussion of the active and passive voice is within the scope of the mailing list. If you have problems with a block on the English Wikipedia and wish to complain about an admin and cannot contact anyone to help you then email ArbCom on arbcom-l@lists.wikimedia.org and they will review the case.
This list is about the nature of wikipedia, and perhaps whether it should hav style guidelines, which it does. I know "white cat", to begin with, chafes at having such rules. I don't, so I am promoting one of them. I hope you will understand that in the condition of my account, as it stands now, regardless of how ArbCom will respond to my submission three months ago, this is my sole avenue for suggesting changes, including any comments that would fit better on talk pages.
I've placed Jay on moderation.
On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 2:50 AM, Jay Litwyn brewhaha@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca wrote:
"Thomas Dalton" thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote in message news:a4359dff0905210711m79740eb0k597998ce64daa1bb@mail.gmail.com...
2009/5/21 Jay Litwyn brewhaha@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca:
"Eugene van der Pijll" eugene@vanderpijll.nl wrote in message news:20090521074620.GA594@alva.mail.gmail.com...
Jay Litwyn schreef:
Where did that donkey kick a man?
Your point is unclear. If you think [[Politics and the English Language]] needs a better intro, take it to that talk page.
If it were a standard essay, rather than an explanation of the difference between active and passive voice, then it would hav a point that was not trying to be cute in leading to a tagline. I am disallowed from talk pages and e-mail. The admin who started the process against me egzajerated his claims against me, did not finish the process or contribute to my claims against him, and he did indicate frustration with my communications, so I desisted communication with him.
All I might do is link point four to the wikipedia guideline on active voice. The definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice"> passive voice</a> needs work. I see no way to make the declaration of independence into active voice, and that was not done in the article, either, so I do not think it is a good example. If it can be activated, then it should be done to show the antonym, active voice. If not, then someone should find a better example.
I don't see how a discussion of the active and passive voice is within the scope of the mailing list. If you have problems with a block on the English Wikipedia and wish to complain about an admin and cannot contact anyone to help you then email ArbCom on arbcom-l@lists.wikimedia.org and they will review the case.
This list is about the nature of wikipedia, and perhaps whether it should hav style guidelines, which it does. I know "white cat", to begin with, chafes at having such rules. I don't, so I am promoting one of them. I hope you will understand that in the condition of my account, as it stands now, regardless of how ArbCom will respond to my submission three months ago, this is my sole avenue for suggesting changes, including any comments that would fit better on talk pages.
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2009/5/22 Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com:
I've placed Jay on moderation.
It's about time. Thank you.