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    Passive Vs Imperative in Stylistics

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    Ara Mae Alcober
    The document compares and contrasts the imperative and passive forms of verbs. The imperative usually conveys a force of command and is often used for instructions. It can sometimes give offense. The passive involves changing word order and adding the verb "be" plus an optional by-phrase. It is often used in scientific writing to focus on the object rather than the subject, and in political language to avoid assigning agency. Downplaying the agent obscures who performed the action and focuses more on what happened.

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    Passive Vs Imperative in Stylistics

    Uploaded by

    Ara Mae Alcober
    114 views9 pages
    The document compares and contrasts the imperative and passive forms of verbs. The imperative usually conveys a force of command and is often used for instructions. It can sometimes give offense. The passive involves changing word order and adding the verb "be" plus an optional by-phrase. It is often used in scientific writing to focus on the object rather than the subject, and in political language to avoid assigning agency. Downplaying the agent obscures who performed the action and focuses more on what happened.

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    Stylistics

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    Passive-vs-Imperative-in-Stylistics

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    The document compares and contrasts the imperative and passive forms of verbs. The imperative usually conveys a force of command and is often used for instructions. It can sometimes give offense. The passive involves changing word order and adding the verb "be" plus an optional by-phrase. It is often used in scientific writing to focus on the object rather than the subject, and in political language to avoid assigning agency. Downplaying the agent obscures who performed the action and focuses more on what happened.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    114 views9 pages

    Passive Vs Imperative in Stylistics

    Uploaded by

    Ara Mae Alcober
    The document compares and contrasts the imperative and passive forms of verbs. The imperative usually conveys a force of command and is often used for instructions. It can sometimes give offense. The passive involves changing word order and adding the verb "be" plus an optional by-phrase. It is often used in scientific writing to focus on the object rather than the subject, and in political language to avoid assigning agency. Downplaying the agent obscures who performed the action and focuses more on what happened.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 9

    The Passive

    vs
    Imperative
    Imperative is the part of the verb that is
    used to give commands or instructions

    Keep off the grass.

    Turn right.

    Don’t do that.

    Sometimes the noun or pronoun is not


    included:

    Yes You! Come here!


    Stylistic effect

    The imperative usually sounds as if it has


    a force of command or order. Therefore,
    some speakers may try to avoid it, in order
    to avoid giving offense. Instructions in
    written texts usually use the imperative.
    The passive construction involves a
    change of a word order, the addition of
    t h e v e r b ‘ b e ’ a n d o p t i o n a l l y, a
    by+subject phrase.

    Ex. I _______ something (active)

    Something ___ ___ by ___ (passive)


    Stylistic effect of using the passive

    1. Consistent use of the passive may


    give a formal effect as for example in
    scientific writing (e.g. the test tube was
    filled with a 30% solution), where the
    purpose is to focus attention away
    from the subject.
    2. In political language, the use of
    passive shows no agency and can
    express concern without
    accountability (e.g. A government
    might express a statement as in
    ‘Inflation must be beaten’. (But who
    will do it?)
    3. A passive construction downplays,
    or obscures the agent of a deed, and
    focuses attention on the thing which
    has something done to it. (e.g. Saying
    that ‘Some protesters got arrested’
    obscures the agent and focuses more
    on what happened to the protesters
    compared to the more straightforward
    and accusative tone in ‘The police
    arrested a lot of protesters).
    Task #1

    Identify the imperative verb constructions in the


    text below. What is the effect of the use of
    imperatives in the text?

    To a saucepan filled with 2 1/2 cups of cold water, add


    salt, pepper, 2 pinches of grated nutmeg and 6 tbsp of
    butter. Boil. Off heat, begin stirring in 2 1/2 cups of flour
    and continue as you bring again the water to a boil. Take
    off heat. Beat in 5 eggs, one at a time, then 5 egg whites.
    Let the liquid cool. Earlier, you will have ground 3 3/4 lbs
    of fish with a mortar and pestle — heads, tails, bones,
    and all—forced them through a coarse give. Do not use a
    grinder, blender, or cuisinart. Stir fish and liquid into an
    even paste. Beat the cream into the paste. Do it slowly. It
    should take at least 15 minutes to complete the task.
    Task #2

    Identify the passive verb constructions in the text.


    What is the effect of the use of passive in the text
    below?

    It’s an odd experience to find yourself catalogued,


    card-indexed, museumised, a speck of data for the
    information professionals to bounce around. It seems
    that as long as you’re in print or on film, you’re never
    truly dead now. You can be electronically colorized,
    emulsified, embellished, enhanced, coaxed towards
    some state of virtual reality. You can be reactivated or
    reembodied; simulated and hologrammed. In just the
    last two years my voice has been artificially
    reprocessed for stereo effect and reincarnated in half-
    speed remastering and on digital compact-disc.

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