She blew into my office like a cold breeze....
Grammar Detective
Lyrics:
ESTEBAN FLORES:
She blew into my office like a cold breeze. Off the bat I could tell she was the type to talk in the passive voice - putting ____ before ______. Her sentences would be one big murky puddle, and I'd be the one getting my feet wet. My name's Esteban Flores. I'm a grammar detective.
LADY:
First off, my house ____ ____ like a fort,
By my uncle, Count Leroy the Fourth,
He was______ ____ as an evil mastermind,
Then he was _______ in jail for the last time.
Inside the fort, many diamonds ___ _____ stored,
Inside a safe, for forty years or more.
___ was decided...
ESTEBAN:
By who?
LADY:
Me, probably,
To move the diamonds to the collar of my doggie.
So that he would ___ the subject of more talk,
And not be _______, when he was _______.
But a mistake was _____, my dog was puppy-______d,
The criminal must be ____, and must be nabbed!
ESTEBAN:
Tell me about the night!
LADY:
Okay, that can get ____,
The _____had been opened, the guards had been ______,
A _____________was found, _______ LIV,
I must be ____________, c'mon detective, please!
ESTEBAN:
Oh, she was using the passive voice alright - in her sentences, the action came before the person or thing that did the action. In some cases, she didn't reveal who was doing the action at all. When she said the guards were drugged - the real question was: “By ______?” I knew the only way to solve this case was to switch to the active voice. Even if it cost me my career.
Then I got to thinking, but thinking can be hard,
So I took a break, and drove around in my car.
I listened to the radio, NPR,
I heard a news flash that almost stopped my heart.
Count Leroy the Fourth had escaped from jail,
The police were hunting, but weren't on his trail.
It hit me like a wall hits a crash test dummy,
I called the lady with the news that was not funny.
I said, the LIV handkerchief's not inscrutable,
It stands for Leroy the Fourth in Roman numerals.
It was your uncle. He escaped from prison.
He opened the gate. He drugged the guards. Listen:
You find uncle, you'll find your diamonds and puppy.
LADY:
But where can he be found?
ESTEBAN:
Ha, look, trust me,
When I know, I'll tell you in the active voice.
Subject before verb: that's my word.
That's my word.
Look for examples of passive voice in this article:
Brazilian woman denied visa after movie muddle-up
20 minutes ago
A South African man looking for love and a Brazilian woman who confused Lord of the Rings with Harry Potter were among those denied entry to New Zealand in the last financial year.
More than 4300 people were denied entry to New Zealand in the last financial year. Photo: 123RF
More than 4300 people were denied entry to New Zealand according to Immigration New Zealand's annual report.
It contains detailed reasons for some of the refusals.
A man with a South African passport was dropped off in Taiwan due to identity concerns raised when his profile on a popular dating website stated he was a New Zealander seeking "a nice girl to have serious relationship".
Officials decided a woman from Brazil was not a genuine visitor because she had no outward ticket and had little knowledge of New Zealand.
She said she wanted to see Lord of the Rings locations, referencing Harry Potter as the main character of the film.
A man who was travelling from Canada was sent back after it was found an English court found him guilty of being part of a scam of US government bonds amounting to $2.5 trillion.
Malaysians and Hong Kong nationals were most often denied entry, with Brazil and Taiwan also having high rejection numbers.
Three quarters of those turned away did not even get as far as boarding at their point of departure; the rest were sent back once they arrived.
Nearly six million people were allowed in, an increase of nine percent on the previous year.
China and the US had the most visitors, while the Philippines had the biggest increase, up 35 percent on last year's numbers.
Auckland International Airport had the highest number of visitors, Christchurch was second and Wellington third.
The report said 42 percent of all visitors did not require a visa to travel to New Zealand.
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