Download 1 A) USES OF THE PASSIVE VOICE

IES Pedro Espinosa
English Department
A) USES OF THE PASSIVE VOICE:
· SUBJECT NOT KNOWN
Three wolves were seen in Sierra Morena yesterday.
The new shopping centre has been trespassed three times.
· SUBJECT NOT IMPORTANT
Spanish is spoken by more than 240 million speakers.
The museum will be inaugurated on 25th June.
B) PASSIVE FORMATION FOLLOWS THESE STEPS:
E.g. Hergé created the famous ‘Tintin’ in 1929.
A) Where is the O.D? Find it and place it as new subject.
O.D. = the famous ‘Tintin’
B) Verb analysis- Which verbal tense is the main verb? Write the verb TO BE in EXACTLY the same
verbal tense as the active one, then write the past participle form of the active verb.
Main verb= created (past simple)
Past simple To BE = was
+
Past part. created = created
The famous ‘Tintin’ was created…
C) Active subject = Agent complement: Write the active subject preceded by ‘BY’ after the passive
verb. If the subject is a pronoun, use an Object Pronoun.
Active subject = Hergé à … by Hergé
Omision of the agent: The agent complement should be omitted in most cases when the
subject of the sentence is: someone, somebody, people, they...
D) The rest of complements keep their original position.
The famous ‘Tintin’ was created by Hergé in 1929.
NOW YOU!
1. People expect better results soon.
2. People are destroying large areas of forest every day.
3. A man has bought the land next to our house.
4. Columbus discovered the New World in 1492.
5. A terrible fire is destroying the forest.
6. An unknown millionaire has bought an original Picasso for 500,000.
7. Do they allow smoking in the hospital?
8. The police found enough evidence to accuse the suspect.
9. Two inspectors are visiting our school today.
10. They serve the beer in pint glasses.
11. Arturo Pérez Reverte has published a new adventure book.
12. Someone had reported the theft to the police
13. British people love the sun .
14. People in America watch a lot of stupid tv programmes.
15. The Vikings discovered America in 1000 AD.
16. They grow a lot of coffee in Brazil.
17. Someone stole my credit cards
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IES Pedro Espinosa
English Department
18. They killed two Scotland Yard inspectors in the East End last night.
19. They should forbid alcohol in the street.
20. Somebody has to take tough measures if we want to tackle the problem.
EXAMPLES OF PASSIVE IN THE DIFFERENT VERBAL TENSES IN ENGLISH.
Tense
Subject
Simple
Present
Active:
Simple Past
Active:
Passive:
Passive:
Present
Perfect
Active:
Future I
Active:
Passive:
Passive:
Modal verbs
Active:
Passive:
Present
Progressive
Active:
Past
Progressive
Active:
Past Perfect
Active:
Passive:
Passive:
Passive:
Future II
Conditional I
Conditional II
a letter.
is written
by Rita.
wrote
a letter.
A letter
was written
by Rita.
Rita
has written
a letter.
has been written
by Rita.
will write
a letter.
will be written
by Rita.
can write
a letter.
can be written
by Rita.
A letter
Rita
A letter
Rita
A letter
Rita
A letter
is writing
a letter.
is being written
by Rita.
was writing
a letter.
was being written
by Rita.
had written
a letter.
A letter
had been written
by Rita.
Rita
will have written
a letter.
will have been written
by Rita.
would write
a letter.
would be written
by Rita.
would have written
a letter.
would have been written
by Rita.
Rita
A letter
Rita
A letter
Rita
A letter
Active:
Passive:
Rita
A letter
Active:
Passive:
Object
writes
Rita
Active:
Passive:
Verb
Rita
A letter
PASSIVE QUESTIONS: WRITE THESE ACTIVE QUESTIONS INTO PASSIVE.
1. When did they open the new road?
2. How did you make those strange sounds?
3. Why do modern Germans hate Hitler?
4. Where have they found the bodies?
5. When has he fixed the car?
6. What game are the boys playing?
7. Where are they holding the next Olympics?
8. Where will the company build the new factory?
9. When will they release a new album?
10. Should the neighbours call the police?
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IES Pedro Espinosa
English Department
11. Must I present the passport?
12. What email address did they send the file to?
13. Where are they going to produce the new Ford model?
14. Where was that jumper made?
15. Why didn’t they send those letters last Friday?
PASSIVE SENTENCES WITH TWO OBJECTS
Many verbs take an indirect and direct object. Consider a verb such as give, which has two
patterns:
My father gave me this ring. OR My father gave this ring to me.
We can make the direct object the subject of the passive sentence:
· This ring was given TO me by my father. (It is necessary to add TO to the
sentence)Or we can make the indirect object the subject of the passive sentence:
· I was given this ring by my father.
Other ditransitive verbs are: offer, grant, award, pay, make, tell, say, teach
NOW YOU!
1. They gave £1,000 to the charity.
2. Someone was offering drinks to the guests.
3. They will deliver the pizza to your house.
4. They have chosen an unknown actor to star in the new film of “Macbeth”.
5. The company offered me a job as legal advisor.
6. The school is giving students information about the new course.
CAUSATIVE STRUCTURES: HAVE/GET STH DONE
• What are these structures used for?
Causative structures are a kind of passive structures which are used to imply the
idea that something is done by specialists. Notice that in Spain there is no
equivalent structures to these, so they are usually translated in the active voice,
the Spanish language being more ambiguous on this particular issue.
Example: I’m going to get my hair cut. (Me voy a cortar el pelo) In this case, the
idea is that you are going to a hairdresser’s.
My parents had their flat painted last year. Vs My parents painted their flat last
year.
(Professional painters did it) (They painted it themselves)
Mis padres pintaron el piso el año pasado. = Mis padres pintaron el piso el año pasado.
• Can I use get or have indistinctly?
Yes, you can. However, get sth done is more informal than have sth done.
YES BUT:
Remember to place the OBJECT between the verb and the participle. This sounds odd to our language
and is a typical mistake.
Example: I’ll have my car fixed. (And not I’ll have fixed my car!)
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IES Pedro Espinosa
English Department
NOW YOU!
1. My hair is too long! (CUT) à
2. My computer is not working! (FIX) à
3. Yesterday, I had some problems with my car, so I… (REPAIR) à
4. I want a new look for my flat. (PAINT) à
Exercise: Now write the following sentences into the active voice.
1. The car has been sold to Tom.
2. He was operated for nearly 12 hours by the surgeons.
3. I was told a very nice story.
4. An unexploded bomb has been found in that square.
5. The walls of my house are being painted at the moment.
6. The yellow bag was carried by her.
7. Mobiles are bought by teenagers every year.
8. Billions of text messages were written last year.
Exercise: active or passive? Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb.
How is a newspaper done?
A newspaper …………………………….. (1 put) together very quickly. Articles …………………………….. (2 write) by
journalists and they …………………………….. (3 organise) on the page by a designer. Then
photos …………………………….. (4 chose) for the most interesting articles. In the case of important
newspapers, photographers …………………………….. (5 take) them, but sometimes they ……………………………..
(6 send) by computer from foreign news offices. The director …………………………….. (7 supervise) the
contents and the style. You may ask, “when …………………………….. the newspaper ……………………………..? (8
print)” The answer is late at night, so that it is ready in the morning. Our
newspaper …………………………….. (9 deliver) at about 7.30. Our readers …………………………….. (10 like) our
objectivity and our deep analysis of reality.
PASSIVE WITH REPORTING VERBS: IT IS SAID THAT.../ HE IS SAID TO...
1. It is said that…
We can use the structure it + passive verb+ clause with reporting verbs. We use this
structure when we cannot say or do not need to say who the speaker is, for example
in news reports.
People say that Simon is in love with Claire. (= It is said that Simon is in love with
Claire)
•
•
•
It is thought that the company is planning a new advertising campaign.
It was reported that the President had suffered a heart attack.
It has been agreed that changes to the scheme are necessary.
Some other verbs that can be used with this structure are: agree, allege, announce, assure, believe,
consider, decide, expect, explain, hope, know, report, say, suggest, suppose, think, understand.
2. He is said to…
We can also use subject + passive verb + to-infinitive
•
•
•
•
•
It is said that Simon is in love with Claire = Simon is said to be in love with Claire.
It was expected that the United would win ◊ The United was expected to win.
It is thought that Nike is planning a new campaign. ◊ Nike is expected to be preparing a new
campaign.
It is agreed that the Vikings reached America some centuries before Columbus ◊ The Vikings
are agreed to have reached America before Columbus.
It is supposed that you got your driving licence last year. → You are supposed to have got
your driving licence last year.
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IES Pedro Espinosa
English Department
Please notice that:
•
•
•
•
Present, future, conditional + past (with reporting verb in the past) ◊ TO INFINITIVE
Continuous tenses ◊ TO BE + ING
Perfect tenses + Past simple ◊ TO HAVE + ED
He is supposed to … This is typical English expression meaning “se dice que…” Spaniards are
supposed to like dancing.
NOW PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Rewrite each sentence so that the meaning stays the same.
1 People think that neither side wanted war.
Neither side is ...................................................................................................
2 People say that fewer than 1,000 blue whales survive in the southern hemisphere.
Fewer ................................................................................................................
3 Everyone knows that eating fruit is good for you.
Eating fruit ........................................................................................................
4 People consider that one in three bathing beaches is unfit for swimming.
One in three bathing beaches ............................................................................
5 At least 130,000 dolphins are reported to be caught in the nets of tuna fishers every year.
It is ....................................................................................................................
6 It is estimated that in the past 15 years about 10 million dolphins have been killed.
About 10 million dolphins ...............................................................................
7 In ancient Greece people thought dolphins were men who had abandoned life on land.
In ancient Greece it ..........................................................................................
8 In ancient Rome it was believed that dolphins carried souls to heaven.
In ancient Rome dolphins ................................................................................
9 People say that the company invested fifty million pounds last week.
The company ....................................................................................................
10 People say Mr Clark was difficult to work with when he was younger.
Mr Clark ...........................................................................................................
11 Someone has calculated that the water of the River Rhine contains over 2,000 chemicals.
It .......................................................................................................................
12 Everyone thought the painting had been destroyed in the fire.
The painting ......................................................................................................
13 It is believed that the Chinese invented gunpowder.
The Chinese ......................................................................................................
14 About 1 million papers are thought to have been sold.
People ...............................................................................................................
15 It is thought that the two injured men were repairing high-tension cable.
The two .............................................................................................................
16 We hope that the government has prepared a plan.
The government ................................................................................................
17 People say that Mr Bond was having business difficulties when he was charged with fraud.
Mr Bond ............................................................................................................
18 It is thought that this treasure dates from the 19th century.
This treasure ......................................................................................................
19 People believe that a professional thief stole the painting.
It ........................................................................................................................
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