The death of 'passive voice'

{In grammar, 'The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence'.}

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In our own little academic world, once, during an internal workshop the colleague who was conducting it said famously "I don't care for grammar!'. The delicious irony was that he is an award winning business case writer of international prominence.

This has set me thinking. Is grammar relevant at all today? It is bad enough that English having borrowed words left, right and centre from all the tongues of the world, is a quirky language. Rules of grammar are often even more whimsical. But is this enough reason for dispensing with all of them? That I find difficult to do, having had grammar almost beaten into me by the good Irish Brothers at St. Columba's, Delhi more than half a century ago. The upshot is that I am quite a grammar Nazi who finds it difficult to handle the language as she is spoken today.

Social media, especially Twitter with its limit on the number of characters seems to have contributed immensely to this demise of grammar. Dis for this, dere for there, 1-2-1 for one-to-one and total impartiality in using 'your' and  'you're' interchangeably are almost passe. Another change which has been happening insidiously is the death of passive voice. 

A diagnostic lab informs me that 'my report is ready to collect' while business papers tell me that many companies are 'growing their profits', not that the profit of many companies is growing. I am also told by my bank that I can access my statement through a particular link, not that following that link will help me gain access to my statement. Crisper communication, perhaps, but unsatisfactory to old fogies like me. 

This rant ends here. Hope you enjoyed this post or should I say, " This blog is ready to enjoy" !

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