Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Attributive form of
passive voice , noun.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Whatever your thoughts on the larger questions, seems like this kind of reliance on vague passive-voice assertions by nobody in particular would be troubling.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Opinio Juris Discussions of Targeting of US Citizen 2010
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I've actually taken to doing global searches on words ending and "ly" and passive-voice words like "was," "were" and "had," looking to see if there's any way to elminate them and make the sentences where they appear more actrive and vivid.
Advice for young writers ewillett 2008
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Whatever your thoughts on the larger questions, seems like this kind of reliance on vague passive-voice assertions by nobody in particular would be troubling.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Opinio Juris Discussions of Targeting of US Citizen 2010
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I know I'm not the first blogger to use that headline, but that's all I could come up with when I saw this headline from the AP: Documents contradict Gonzales 'testimonyThat's a passive-voice way of saying that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee when he testified earlier this week.
Busted 2007
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My daughter had some teeth-gritting moments in her freshman English class in college, in which all of her passive-voice verbs were marked off.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Spurious Grammatical “Rules” of Every Sort Are My Abhorrence 2009
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Since AOL is due to become the world's biggest music company after the Time Warner purchase, this wouldn't do; so, in the ominous passive-voice confirmation of an AOL spokes-person, the program "was taken down."
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The first messages arrived Saturday with subject lines such as "Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On," "Multi-Kulturell = Multi-Kriminell" and "Dresden Bombing Is to Be Regretted Enormously," the latter being a classic example of the passive-voice sentence that sounds as mellifluous in German as it sounds ridiculous in English.
May 2005 2005
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Actually, a real apology, and not a passive-voice CYA non-apology, would be a good start.
12/05/2007 2007
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Huckabee issues fake passive-voice CYA apology to ...
12/05/2007 2007
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Sounds a lot like "Mistakes were made," the classic passive-voice dodge by Drunky McStagger.
KSFO live-blog thread #2 Sinfonian 2007
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