this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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I hate when people use passive voice in these things. It's such a slimy way to try and avoid responsibility.
"We have blocked you from using a mobile browser." is the active voice. It includes a subject ("we") and a verb ("blocked"). It says that someone made a decision, executed that decision, and is responsible.
"It looks like ... ", " ... is currently unavailable" is so fucking weaselly and irresponsible. You are 100% a complete piece of shit if you ever say something like that. You are not responsible enough to handle a Wendy's drive-through order, let alone a large organization.
I didn't know there was a word for it. I always just called it "corperate talk"
I think many people only know what it is because MS Word would (does?) suggest rewriting passive voice into active.
Its a commonly taught thing in English classes where I'm from (Ontario) -- we would get harped on it fairly regularly
It was common in the States when I was in school. How well someone learned to extract those lessons and apply them is a different matter. Is it more important for someone to learn how to use active voice over passive, or remember the lecture where they were told what that means? Even if you were an A student how long would you remember if you weren't constantly applying that knowledge?