Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

[baintreachas]

this is like the spiritual successor of that tweet like "in english grammar, there's passive voice, active voice, and whatever mysterious third voice journalists use when describing a police shooting"

[paulamartinez]

Linguistics and activism 🤝
thanks for always giving it a funny spin while exposing the reality we live in. Free Gaza🍉

[littleriverflows]

Literally listened to that speech and said, funny how we switch to passive voice when talking about Gaza...

[psychedelicpegasus]

This is an incredibly useful teaching tool. Thank you so much, Prof. Sunn! The understanding of the use of language in media to highlight or obscure information is vital. Media literacy and critical thinking should be part of everyday learning at every age.

[kobaltkween]

In grad school decades ago, I had two professors who absolutely tagged your work for using the passive voice. Both were awesome, but one only did it for style and impact. The other was my Information Policy professor, and he made it clear that not only did the passive voice hide the actors from the listener, it hid them from the writer or speaker. If you write, say, "Chicago is the most segregated city in the US, " a true fact, you aren't even thinking about who segregates it and how. Chicago also having highly corrupt police who run torture black sites in the city (also a true fact) is entirely disconnected from that fact, and the segregation is accepted as a sort of natural phenomena you can't do anything about.

[GetOfflineGetGood]

Same energy as "there was an officer-involved shooting"

[karenl]

Yep, speechwriters exist for a reason. Language is power.

[Stopwastingbraincells]

ALL collaborators involved

Yes, your message is gold

[pianoplayeh]

Thank you. This is exactly what I've been saying to people vis a vis her statements about Palestine. It's always "what is happening there, " not "what Israel is doing there." Because if we ever were to say outright that Israel is committing atrocities, it would be an admission of our own complicity.

[AvaToccoRodriguez]

Great Illustration, thank you Sunn.
I didn’t know what people meant before when they would speak of active and passive voices, this was very clear and concise.
Have a good rest of your day, reader.

[scriptorpaulina]

Thank you for helping me to hold our leaders accountable, even when they are the best choice we have right now

[ChilePlz]

So glad I found you when I did. I look forward to all knowledge you so lovely share with us. Thank you!

[El_Migz]

I've been out of school for years. So it's weird that I want to take notes and study them as if I were having a midterm 🤣

[jmaessen]

Thank you for putting these side by side - Both the linguistics and how she's using it to frame the genocide that our government is supporting. I rephrased this comment even, to make sure it uses more active and therefore more direct language! And I'll def be sure to watch which form I'm using when discussing Palestinian freedom now. Genuinely, way to pack in SO much in such a succinct lesson! Love what you're doing on this channel, really. Thank you, again! 🎉 👏🏻 🍉

[NikkiBdraws]

I like Harris and was frankly just relieved to see her say Palestinians have a right to their own state. But I wish getting politicians to say what Israel is doing is wrong didn't feel like pulling teeth.

[katiereed]

When clarity is damning, we perhaps have a problem

[akwaabab]

Wow! That was powerful. I sometimes pick up on those kinds of tricks too!

[lunaleonem]

This is so good on so many levels that I can't explain it using just word, so instead I will subscribe.

[cecetoronto]

Another lesson to digest! Thank you sir!

[TinyLuxuryCo]

I appreciate your explanation🎉🎉🎉 and your low key satire.