Note the use of the passive in “Casual conversation is said...

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Culture is really an integral part of the interaction between language and thought. Cultural patterns of cognition and customs are sometimes explicitly coded in language. Conversational discourse styles, for example, may be a factor of culture. Consider the “directness” of discourse of some cultures: in the United States, for example, casual conversation is said to be less frank and more concerned about face-saving than conversation in Greece, and therefore a Greek conversation may be more confrontational than a conversation in the United States, In Japanese, the relationsltip of one’s interlocutor is almost always expressed explicitly, either verbally and/or non-verbally. Perhaps those forms shape one’s perception of others in relation to self.

(Douglas Brown. Principles of language learning and teaching. 5^th ed. Longman, 2000. P. 211. Adaptado)