zlacker

Can't you just tell me what you suppose [1] I was "really trying to say"? As it is, your point is over my head.

[1] Ha!

>>IvyMik+(OP)
Numeromancer suggested that you rewrite your sentence which uses "suppose" in passive voice, into active voice.

It is a school exercise at least in some European countries. It is a syntactic transformation of the sentence. Depending on the verb and other factors, the transformation preserves meaning, but sometimes it brings up a subject which was not clear in the original sentence in passive voice.

Thus, Numeromancer is suggesting a way for you to reflect on the scope of authority by using a syntactic transformation.

>>IvyMik+(OP)
Sure:

> Not enough people know this, but when you say "etc" out loud in reference to the directory, I suppose it should sound like "etsy".

The passive voice, combined with the opening phrase, gives the false appearance that the subject is the pronunciation of ‘/etc’, when the true subject is you. I put it the way I did because it is a good exercise and because I didn't want it to seem impetuous.

>>numero+3K
That changes the meaning quite a bit--in the original, the word "suppose" was used in the sense of an obligation; in the new sentence, the word "suppose" is used to mean "a guess".

If you're saying that I was being passive aggressive, that's my bad, because I was aiming for over-the-top bravado and didn't go big enough for it to be funny, I guess. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-06-24/