Monday Money: Active vs. Passive Language

When developing a paper, many students struggle with the daunting prospect of having to formulate a unique, thought provoking, and interest grabbing argument. Once formulated, the argument becomes the driving force of the entire written piece. So then what is the best way to reveal this argument in order to win over your readers? This is where students often fall victim to their tendency towards passive language. The lack of confidence that many writers feel is translated into their presentation of this argument with the use of passive voice. The difference between passive and active voice is subtle and maybe even simple, but makes a world of difference to the development of your paper and the overall impression your reader is left with.

So what is this subtle difference between active and passive language?

Active language is a clear and direct way of demonstrating who is completing the action in your sentence. When used effectively, active language helps you formulate your sentences in such a way that your opinion is clearly demonstrated to your readers. “In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. A straightforward example is the sentence “Steve loves Amy.” Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object of the sentence.”

Conversely, passive language includes the subject of the sentence, but this subject is merely receiving the action rather than completing the action. “Instead of saying, “Steve loves Amy,” I would say, “Amy is loved by Steve.” The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn’t doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve’s love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.”

If you find yourself falling into the trap of passive language, ask yourself if that sentence is the most effective, direct, and strong way to illustrate your thoughts. Passive language isn’t incorrect but might not be the best way to support your argument with strong opinionated thoughts. Being conscious of passive language will also help your paper become more concise and clear rather than wordy and vague, as active language directs your readers to the point you are trying to make!

Be confident! Your thoughts are interesting and valid! Understanding that what you have to say is important will be translated into the active language that drives a strong paper!  Keeping in mind the active vs. passive language dichotomy is a simple way to empower your thoughts and yourself!

Check out a few helpful resources on active vs. passive language:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/ 

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/active-voice-versus-passive-voice.aspx

Post Submitted by: Ashton

Clear and Muddled Thinking: How to Avoid Vague, Unclear Communication

The sections discussed in this post are taken from The Thinker’s Way, and they include the following: 1) “Language and Thought”, 2) “Vague Language, Unclear Thinking,” and my response to arguments brought up in 3) Male/Female (Mis) Communication.

Perhaps the best quote to summarize my sections would be “Clear communication expresses clear thinking, while muddled communication reflects muddled thinking” (201). Within the two first sections of the “Communicating Successfully” chapter, the author establishes the relationship between what comes out of our mouths (language) and what resides in our minds (thoughts).  Specifically to “Language and Thought,” language can be used to express our thinking in order to convey sentiments, ideas, and beliefs (203).  Thus, in order to efficiently communicate, we must use language clearly and precisely (203). The following diagram helps to illustrate this concept:

 

Clear Language                                                                 Clear Thinking

 Specific                                                                                 Focused

Precise                                                                                   Articulate

Organized                                                                            Coherent

Accurate                                                                             Accuarate

For “Vague Language, Unclear Thinking,” the author discusses the importance of using specific language in order to effectively reflect your ideas; otherwise, serious ramifications, misunderstandings, and mistakes could take place.  One of the fun activities to practice being specific was called a Thinking Activity. This activity is entitled Describing an Experience, and it calls for you, the reader, to “describe an experience you had recently, concentrating on expressing your ideas clearly and precisely. Use appropriate who, what, when, where, how, and why questions to guide your writing.  [Ask yourself:] will your audience be able to ‘relive’ your experience by reading it?” (209).  I believe this activity to be very helpful in building communication skills and creativity as well.

Overall, I think the author brought up some interesting points.  I find myself being unclear, vague, and disorganized when I speak sometimes. Now, I can identify that it is because my thinking follows that same pattern, so I can focus on correcting my thinking and improving my thought processes.

With this being said, I want to respond to some key points I read about in “Male/Female (Mis) Communication.” I thought it was really interesting that the author identied four areas that lead to miscommunication between genders. These areas included Physical Misalignment, Feeback Misalignment, Problem-Solving Misalignment, and Analysis-Style Misalignment.  Because he references Dr. Tannen (a woman who is well-known in the Applied Linguistics field and whose findings are incredible), I can say that his points are valid.  The author incorportates Tannen’s view that we cannot blame one sex alone; rather, difficulties arise in cross-cultural communication. Therefore, since men and women are culturally different, we can conclude that Tannen’s argument applies.

As an Applied Linguistics major, I really appreciated this development piece because it helped me further understand the importance of communicating clearly, concisely, and coherently.

Post submitted by Casey O’Neill

Monday Money: Eloquence is not always Eloquent

There is a common misconception when people enter into college that we always have to broadcast our intelligence in every aspect of our work, especially when it comes to writing. I am talking about the use of “fancy” words in essays and papers. Often times students like to use big oxford dictionary words to make themselves seem more articulate.  It is easy to come into college and think that professors expect you to have such an expansive lexicon. As a result of this misconception, a student might approach their paper with the idea in mind that their paper needs to sound as fancy as possible, I mean who cares if it makes complete and utter sense right? WRONG!

When it comes to writing, clarity is always key. Keep it simple! Professors care more about the overall point of the paper not how many big words you use. Once you have gotten all of your ideas out and have  proofread making sure your essay is clear and concise then it is okay to go back and “spice it up” with a few eloquent words but never make that your underlying focus because often times it just weighs the paper down instead of making it better.

Post Submitted By Jadessa

Tuesday Title: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Book Description:

Southern India 1969. Here, armed only with the invincible innocence of children, Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family: their lonely, lovely mother, who loves by night the same man her children adore by day…their blind grandmother, who plays Handel on her violin…their beloved uncle, A Rhodes Scholar pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher…their enemy, an ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt…and the ghost of an imperial entomologist’s moth. But when their English cousin and her mother arrive for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in an instant, thatlives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

Amazon.com Review:

In her first novel, award-winning Indian screenwriter Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely; it is the product of a genius child-mind that takes everything in and transforms it in an alchemy of poetry. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that’s completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.