voice
Let an agent explain grammatical voice, help writers choose active or passive appropriately, compare languages, and separate the vocal and opinion senses of voice.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Identify Which voice.
Form
Verb forms.
Form
Voice form.
- Is this sentence in the active, passive or middle voice? definition
- Who is the agent? definition
Convert
Changing voice.
Convert
Converting.
- How can this sentence be rewritten in the other voice? action
- Does the meaning or emphasis change? boundary
Writing Style choices.
Choose
When to use passive.
Choose
Choosing voice.
- When is the passive voice appropriate, such as in scientific methods? provenance
- What do style guides recommend? provenance
Clarity
Accountability.
Clarity
Clarity and accountability.
- Does an agentless passive hide who is responsible? boundary
- How can it be made clearer? action
Languages Comparison.
Compare
Voice systems.
Compare
Voice systems.
- How does this language mark voice, including middle or reflexive forms? provenance
- Which grammar describes it? provenance
Translate
Translation.
Translate
Translation.
- Should the passive be kept or changed in translation? action
- What is natural in the target language? boundary
Senses Disambiguation.
Sound
Vocal sound.
Sound
Vocal sense.
- Is the human voice as sound meant? boundary
- Which entry fits? action
Opinion
Having a say.
Opinion
Opinion sense.
- Is voice meant as having a say or expressing opinion? boundary
- Which entry fits? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Cross-cutting context
- Entry kind
- noun.relation
- Plane
- XCT
- Domain
- XCT.REL
- Facets: substance
- abstract
- Facets: origin
- conceptual
- Facets: agency
- inert
- Facets: mobility
- not-applicable
- Facets: scale
- not-applicable
- Facets: affordances
- observable
- Other names and narrower kinds
- active voice, active, passive voice, passive, middle voice
What it is Filled
In grammar, the relation between the action of a verb and its participants, expressed by forms such as the active voice (the subject acts), the passive voice (the subject is acted upon) and the middle voice in some languages.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent explain grammatical voice, help writers choose active or passive appropriately, compare languages, and separate the vocal and opinion senses of voice.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Relates subject and action
- Active, passive, middle
- Marked differently across languages
- Affects emphasis
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Treat the passive voice as an error in itself.
- Rewrite a legal, medical or scientific text so that responsibility shifts to a different party.
- Mistranslate voice in a way that changes who acted.
Only with a human decision
- Changing the voice in official statements, contracts or apologies.
May
- Identify active, passive and middle voice in a text and explain the difference.
- Suggest rewording when an agentless passive hides who is responsible.
Moral aspects Filled
- Agentless passives can hide responsibility, as in mistakes were made.
- Style rules on voice differ across languages and should not be imposed as universal.
Who is affected
- Readers
- Writers and translators
- People whose actions are described
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns it; speakers and writers of each language use it.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- oewn-13818991-n - registry parent class
related
- grammatical category - category
- agreement-relation - grammar
- syntax - field
- voice (sound) - another sense
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.voice-relation
- Open English WordNet: oewn-13825132-n
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane XCT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Forms such as was written by
- Middle voice forms in some languages
- Tense and mood are different grammatical categories
- Not physical; visible in verb forms and sentence structure.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- identify active, passive and middle voice
- convert sentences between voices
- decide when passive is appropriate
- separate other senses of voice
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Treating passive as always wrong
- Hiding responsibility with agentless passives
- Mistranslating voice
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Style guides and plain language guidance
Context of use required Filled
- Grammar, writing and language learning.
- active voice
- passive voice
- middle voice
- antipassive and other voices
- impersonal passives
Sources Filled
- Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-13825132-n - sense and gloss of the concept
- Wiktionary: voice - word senses and usage
Open questions
- Should each voice be a separate entry?
- How should language-specific forms be linked?
- How should other senses be split off?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-voice-relation/spec.json