As an author and in English classes, it's drilled into us to use active voice over passive. So most sentences fall into one of these two, right? Well that's what I thought until I stumbled upon "Mediopassive."
Huh? This was a whole new concept to me. I never was any good in English class, so to others this might be old hat. It took me some thinking to understand it. The examples helped me more than the English mumbo-jumbo. See, no good in English.Um, what does a window have to do with this?
Just wait for the little boy.
So here's how I understand passive, active, and mediopassive.
Passive: when an object is being acted upon.
The window was opened by the boy.
Active: when someone or something acts upon an object.The boy opened the window.
SOLD! I can see the difference and agree that active is stronger.
This is a cool window. I'd like to have a house with these. Wait. I have digressed.
So what's this mediopassive?
Mediopassive: when the subject is receiving rather than performing the action.
The window opens easily.
So the window isn't performing the action of opening but is receiving the action of opening. And you may argue that in this day and age, there could be self-opening windows. But I disagree. The window wouldn't be opening itself, but a mechanism would be opening the window.
Here are a couple of more examples:
The landscape photographs nicely.
The house sold in four days.
Both the landscape and the house aren't performing the action but receiving it.
I think.
My windows remain closed because it's winter and cold outside. And the little boy has run outside to play in that first window.
I learned about mediopassive from Merriam Webster online and the examples are from there as well at this link.
“Holly & Ivy,” my #HistoricalRomance novella in A #BouquetOfBrides, takes place
in 1890, in Washington State. It’s about a young woman who accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a Christmas mail-order bride and is helped by a gallant stranger.
#BouquetOfBrides
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance
MARY DAVIS is an award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January 2018, Courting Her Amish Heart in March 2018, The Widow’s Plight in July 2018, Courting Her Secret Heart September 2018, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December 2018. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
1 comment:
Mary, I love this. I have used this mediopassive in my writing, but didn't know it had a name! How cool that you shared this. Keep posting these fun, informative bits.
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