Obama: USA's first female president
A Washington Post journalist asserts that Obama's most recent presidential address contains so many passive verbs that his political acumen and biological sex should be questioned.
Did I mention that not only was the analysis of his speech apparently equal parts arbitrary and confused, but the claims about correlations between the use of the passive voice and gender or 'passive attitudes' are completely unsupported by any evidence?
here is a response: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2427
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the prick of misery pierced my foot on a spiiiike on, Tue 6 Jul 2010, 19:25,
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The Economist's "Johnson" blog covered this story rather well too
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Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Tue 6 Jul 2010, 19:45,
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