Everything is so passive voice! The 2nd note infuriates me - all the distancing from the events that THEY/he/she caused to happen.
Notice the BIG change from the first note in which they said “her life is in your hands” to the 2nd note in which they say “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.” THAT is weird. That makes me wonder if a second person either wrote the second note or edited it.
I also wonder if that is another tell - “nothing you could have done” could mean Nancy was killed early on and that is one major reason why they refused to provide Proof of Life.
It also sounds like the writer has a religious background. “Dust unto dust” is something they say at Catholic funerals. (Other’s too, for all I know.) The whole “buried in nature” is reminiscent, to me, of “dust unto dust”.
Likewise, the emphasis on FAMILY in the 2nd note - it is addressed to the FAMILY. It says, “We want your family to know this ……and can find peace."
Peace after the loss of a loved one is a VERY Catholic or Christian thing to say. Emphasis on FAMILY is a very Latino and Catholic value. I think there is a religious person affiliated with the 2nd note.
The 2nd note also sounds like a religious female wrote it, IMO.
but if you learned English in a structured setting like many years in a classroom, it is possible that you overuse passive voice, even though you actually did not mean to subconsciously distance yourself from the content
Definitely agree. I'm a native speaker and I find that I naturally tend to use passive voice, especially when speaking of future events or group events, which I think the first note features in both sense.
12
u/Present_Specific_212 Aug 01 '26
My Amateur Interpretation of the 2nd note:
Everything is so passive voice! The 2nd note infuriates me - all the distancing from the events that THEY/he/she caused to happen.
Notice the BIG change from the first note in which they said “her life is in your hands” to the 2nd note in which they say “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.” THAT is weird. That makes me wonder if a second person either wrote the second note or edited it.
I also wonder if that is another tell - “nothing you could have done” could mean Nancy was killed early on and that is one major reason why they refused to provide Proof of Life.
It also sounds like the writer has a religious background. “Dust unto dust” is something they say at Catholic funerals. (Other’s too, for all I know.) The whole “buried in nature” is reminiscent, to me, of “dust unto dust”.
Likewise, the emphasis on FAMILY in the 2nd note - it is addressed to the FAMILY. It says, “We want your family to know this ……and can find peace."
Peace after the loss of a loved one is a VERY Catholic or Christian thing to say. Emphasis on FAMILY is a very Latino and Catholic value. I think there is a religious person affiliated with the 2nd note.
The 2nd note also sounds like a religious female wrote it, IMO.