Grammar Hammer

I mentioned before that I spend a lot of my time proof-reading documentation and, of course, working with professional people who want to perfect their English. Now most of the authors of said documentation (and the majority of the people I work with) have German as a native language. And as many of us already know, English and German are very different in many ways.

One very noticeable difference (and one of the tell-tale signs of a native German speaker) is the passive voice. Many German speakers seem to love the passive voice and use it with intense abandon (busily obscuring meaning and evading responsibility for actions carried out). The English language, however, loves action (think Marlboro Man) and doesn’t really lend itself to passive sentences. It is generally much more effective if used actively.

So, what’s the difference between the active and the passive voice, you might ask.

Well, verbs are either active (The president of the supervisory board approved the new hand book.) or passive (The new hand book was approved by the president of the supervisory board.).
In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is clear and logical: the subject carries out the action.
In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted upon by some other agent, or by something unnamed (The hand book was approved).

It is generally accepted that the subject should indeed carry out the action. It simply makes everything more, well, active (for lack of a better word).

Seen like this, presidents should approve hand books, but hand books should not be approved.

Having said that, and after frightening the passive voice out of all you, the passive voice is not always negative per se, and occasionally does have its purposes (albeit not as often as in German). 
It can be very useful, for example, if:
1) It is more important to draw the reader’s attention to the person or thing acted upon: The offices were broken into in the middle of the night.
2) The subject (or actor) in the situation is not important: The new risk guidelines can be found in intranet.

Here’s a post,  and here, and here, and here a bit of an explanation - all to help you get an idea of how to avoid the unnecessary use of the passive voice.

Now go out and be active!

english language passive active voice sentences business writing

“Wait here for the present.”, said the woman to the child, and left for a moment, hoping the child would wait quietly while she called a taxi to take them home. 
“Wow! I wonder what I’m getting.”, pondered the child, considering all the wonderful things she could expect.

Presently, the woman returned; with empty hands. The child presented her with a disappointed look.

“So, where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“My gift.”
“What gift?”
“The gift I was waiting for.”
“You were waiting for a gift?”
“Yeah, you promised me one!”
“I never promised you anything.”

Liar.

Seems our ex vice-chancellor (Hubert Gorbach, for those who don’t remember who I mean) is looking for new challenges, now that he has none in Austria.

News channels report that he sent a letter to Alistair Darling - looking (or not) for something interesting to do, because … the world in Vorarlberg is too small for him (and for most others too, I’d imagine).

I can almost understand him. Must have been downright exciting being the right hand man of our dear friend JH, and in comparison, it must be pretty boring now, sitting around in that little alpine world, looking for fun and finding none.

Wasn’t a bad idea, either. If you can’t find what you’re looking for at home, then set your sights on more global goals.
Go international!
Put on your traveling shoes and join the world!

Unfortunately for his job prospects, his letter looked like this.

I don’t want to rag on his politics, but his English certainly has room for improvement.

Oh well. Looks like he’s staying in Vorarlberg anyway for the time being.

[hubert gorbach english skills]

Bing’s at it again, the ol’ grammar freak.

I know what he means, because there are some very strange things in the English language. One of them is the difference between they’re, there and their. It’s not hard in conversation, but boy can it get confusing when you have to write it down.

They’re is a contraction of “they are”. It means “they are” and nothing else, as in “They’re a bunch of crazy people”.

There is the opposite of here, as in “The book is over there“; or refers to a place, point or stage, as in “He went there after work” or “There is where I disagree with your statement”; or is used to express satisfaction, approval or sympathy, as in “There, I’m finished” or “There, there. Don’t cry”. 

Their refers to possession, as in “They took their work home with them”, or “Is that their new office?”. 

Consequently, the following must be correct:
“There, there, fair bear. Their rare pears are over there on their chair. They’re fair, those pears; but they’re not meant for fare. They’re meant to stay there, on their chair, those rare pears. There, there, fair bear.”

english grammar their they’re there

I was just sitting here sort of minding my own business, thinking about some really irritating words (ahh,  the distractible minds of the clinically bored) and I noticed that this morning’s kitty-breakfast may have affected the immediate well-being of The Cat. I heard a strange noise behind me and saw that the kitty-kibble had successfully effected an escape from The Cat.

This had an almost simultaneous effect on my personal well-being and this morning’s non-kitty-breakfast effected a near-escape onto the keyboard of my laptop. (This effect would not have created a Nice Moment.) I effectively thwarted the need to visually appraise the effects of my digestion and jumped for the paper towels.

The Cat was faster and had already dashed into the hall where she continued to effectively deposit more kitty-kibble onto the floor, this time onto the rug. This affected my speed positively. I hurtled my body into the hall, armed with the paper towels, making wiping motions as I ran.

This effectively frightened The Cat, who was already not well. The effect was dramatic and somewhat disturbing. I had effectively effected an exodus of nearly all the cat-contents out the various orifices of The Cat.

After a time, The Cat and I met again in the bathroom.

We had both effectively calmed our digestive systems and our nerves. The Cat had once again effectively affected her usual kiss-my-ass casual attitude and I had successfully effected a removal of all the vile effects of said kitty-breakfast.

The Cat effectively gave me her I’m-going-to-pee-in-your-most-expensive-shoes-look and effected her exit. Oh, the joys of being afflicted with feline affection.

english grammar