Language and Power in Public Discourse · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Who gets named, who vanishes

English · Vocabulary · ages 17-18
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Two names cover one crowd: protesters and rioters. What do you list first?

    • Which label you personally like
    • What each label assumes about who is right
    • Which label is longer in letters

  2. A notice reads: the library was closed. Who closed it?

    • The sentence hides the doer, so you must ask
    • The library closed itself
    • Grammar proves nobody closed it

  3. The passive voice always names the doer clearly.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A label for an event appears only on one side's pages. What does that flag?

    • Persuasion at work, not neutral description
    • A spelling mistake by that side
    • Proof the event never happened

  5. A report says mistakes were made. What is your first diagnostic move?

    • Count the syllables in the sentence
    • Translate the sentence word by word
    • Restore the actor by asking who made them

  6. What is a nominalisation, and why does it matter in official language?

    • A noun spelled with capital letters
    • An action turned into a thing, burying who acted
    • A verb conjugated in the future tense

  7. A campaign clip pushes one slogan everywhere. Which three questions fit it?

    • How long, how loud, how colorful
    • Who filmed, who edited, who posted
    • Who paid, who it names, who it never mentions

  8. A student jumps straight to a writer's motives without quoting any wording. What is weak in this analysis?

    • Motives are always obvious without evidence
    • It skipped describing verbs and sentence shapes first
    • Grammar never carries any judgement
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Who gets named, who vanishes W1-mt_nOBe8ExZx--s1

  1. What each label assumes about who is right · Each label smuggles a verdict, so surface the assumptions first.
  2. The sentence hides the doer, so you must ask · The passive removed the agent, so the reader must restore the question.
  3. False · The passive can drop the doer entirely, hiding responsibility.
  4. Persuasion at work, not neutral description · One-sided labels mark where persuasion starts, so read laterally.
  5. Restore the actor by asking who made them · Flipping to the active voice exposes the dropped information.
  6. An action turned into a thing, burying who acted · Turning actions into things lets writers skip naming the actor.
  7. Who paid, who it names, who it never mentions · Those answers place the power behind any campaign message.
  8. It skipped describing verbs and sentence shapes first · Grammatical evidence convinces where mere suspicion does not.
Worksheet · LightMySky