MSNBC reporting Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash.

[Tom White]

Per their reporting, the helicopter crashed near Calabasas, Calif. That is in Los Angeles county. Don't know anything more right now. Very sad to hear.

Seems there are five total dead.

[Scoot McGroot]

Unfortunately, all avenues are confirming these reports. Kobe was killed, along with his daughter, Gianna, her basketball teammate, and that teammates parent, on the way to a basketball game Absolutely tragic news does the basketball world, and especially for the Bryant family. Just horrid news.

[Topofthekey]

Surreal

[boomershadow]

Pretty crazy. I was never a fan of his while he was playing, but in the years since then he has kinda become a figurehead for that era of basketball which I still have a tremendous amount of nostalgia for. I had really come to appreciate him for that reason.

Really too bad for his family.

[Pacersike]

Unfortunately, all avenues are confirming these reports. Kobe was killed, along with his daughter, Gianna, her basketball teammate, and that teammates parent, on the way to a basketball game Absolutely tragic news does the basketball world, and especially for the Bryant family. Just horrid news.

So Americans really say that and do they mean God then that killed him? To me, it reads like murder.

Lot's of respect for Kobe the player.

[boomershadow]

Unfortunately, all avenues are confirming these reports. Kobe was killed, along with his daughter, Gianna, her basketball teammate, and that teammates parent, on the way to a basketball game Absolutely tragic news does the basketball world, and especially for the Bryant family. Just horrid news.

So Americans really say that and do they mean God then that killed him? To me, it reads like murder.

Lot's of respect for Kobe the player.

Passive voice tends to emphasize that something happened TO someone rather than having them play a direct part in it or that someone or something else was an instigator. It would be just as correct, and more correct in formal writing, to say in active voice that a helicopter crash killed Kobe Bryant, but the helicopter isn't really preferred as the subject of the sentence in this case because a) Kobe Bryant is the subject that people care about and news headlines are talking about and b) the helicopter doesn't have any motivation or undertake any actions on its own. It didn't intentionally crash or kill anyone. It is just a thing, and the crash just happened.

I worked for my college newspaper lol.

Whether God plays a part in something happening TO you is an entirely different matter altogether and definitely depends on a person's beliefs.

[Scoot McGroot]

Unfortunately, all avenues are confirming these reports. Kobe was killed, along with his daughter, Gianna, her basketball teammate, and that teammates parent, on the way to a basketball game Absolutely tragic news does the basketball world, and especially for the Bryant family. Just horrid news.

So Americans really say that and do they mean God then that killed him? To me, it reads like murder.

Lot's of respect for Kobe the player.

No. Americans don’t mean that god killed him.

I’m just not that smart.

[Tom White]

Unfortunately, all avenues are confirming these reports. Kobe was killed, along with his daughter, Gianna, her basketball teammate, and that teammates parent, on the way to a basketball game Absolutely tragic news does the basketball world, and especially for the Bryant family. Just horrid news.

So Americans really say that and do they mean God then that killed him? To me, it reads like murder.

Lot's of respect for Kobe the player.

I see your point, and probably could have worded my post title much better. In retrospect, saying Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash may have been a better way to say it.

[Wizop]

if you are interested in this wording stuff, I can recommend the Slate podcase "lexicon valley." I discovered it a few weeks ago and have been working my way backwards.

my own view on the specific sentence is that "was killed" is clearer than "died" because it makes clear immediately that the death was not due to natural causes. perhaps adding "in a helicopter crash" right after killed would have narrowed the cause even further. setting aside the people who believe everything happens for a reason (I do not), nothing theological is intended here.

you say this is an American construction. how would it have been normally said elsewhere?