When you were in school you probably thought to yourself, Why do I need to learn all this active voice and passive voice stuff? Why do I need to know what an adjective is? How will it help me? Well, heres how. The New York Daily News recently told the story of a thug and a hulking brute that attacked a 28-year-old female transit worker at a New York City subway station. The man grabbed her, hugged her, knocked her on the ground, and began choking her until another MTA employee chased him away. The MTA employee was rushed to a local hospital with minor injuries to her head, neck and back. The articles headline and first paragraph reads (nydailynews/new-york/nyc-crime/thug-attacks-female-mta-employee-bronx-cops-article-1.2061700): ———————————————————— Thug attacks female MTA employee at Bronx train station: cops (VIDEO) The large man allegedly caught the 28-year-old woman in a bear hug, shoved her down and choked her at East Tremont train station early Dec. 23, before smiling as he made his escape. By Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News Wednesday, December 31, 2014 A hulking brute grabbed a 28-year-old MTA employee up in a bear hug at a Bronx train station, shoved her onto the platform and began choking her in an unprovoked attack — then ran away smiling, authorities said Wednesday. ... ———————————————————— This is the active voice. The thug/hulking brute *performed the actions*. The active voice, along with carefully-chosen adjectives describing the perpetrator, makes exciting news. The use of active voice makes the thug/hulking brute sound bigger, badder, and scarier. The addition of the tidbit about running away smiling shows just what an asshole this guy was. In contrast, if the reporter had used passive voice, that is, if something was *done to* the (passive) woman, the article would not have been nearly as sensational and the villain would not have been as scary. If the woman had been allegedly put into a bear hug the perpetrator wouldnt seem like such a bad guy. The next day. The perpetrator had now been identified as a police officer. Watch how the story changes from active voice to passive voice (nydailynews/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-turns-attacking-female-mta-employee-article-1.2063013): ———————————————————— NYPD cop turns himself in for attacking female MTA employee Police Officer Mirjan Lolja, 37 was suspended after he allegedly attacked the 28-year-old transit employee on a Bronx subway platform by putting her in a bear hug, throwing her to the ground and choking her. The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau is now investigating the incident. By Pete Donohue , Kerry Burke , Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News Published: Thursday, January 1, 2015, 2:12 PM Updated: Thursday, January 1, 2015, 10:43 PM An NYPD cop has surrendered in an attack on an MTA worker, officials said Thursday. Police Officer Mirjan Lolja, 37, was suspended after the assault in which the Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker — who was on-duty and in her uniform — was allegedly put into a bear hug, thrown to the floor and choked, cops said. ... ———————————————————— The frightening adjectives have been removed; the perpetrator is no longer a thug or hulking brute. Instead of a hulking brute grabbed a 28-year-old MTA employee, the woman was allegedly put into a bear hug. So there you have it, the difference between active voice and passive voice. When the public misbehaves, use active voice and lots of descriptive adjectives. When the police misbehave, use passive voice and no adjectives. There are two sets of rules in play here, one for the ruled and one for the rulers. If one of the ruled attacked an MTA officer (a felony) he would have been arrested as soon as he was caught. As we see in this situation, when one of the rulers (Officer Lolja) attacks an MTA officer (a felony), he gets a paid vacation at taxpayer expense and no charges are filed.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:31:26 +0000
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