T HE P ASSIVE Aims: to learn and practice the use and structure of passive sentences

R EWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING THE WORDS GIVEN IN BOLD People make the best cars in Japan. MADE ______________________________________ The police arrested him yesterday. WAS _______________________________________ They will open a new post office. OPENED _______________________________________

R EWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING THE WORDS GIVEN IN BOLD People make the best cars in Japan. MADE The best cars are made in Japan. The police arrested him yesterday. WAS He was arrested yesterday. They will open a new post office. OPENED A new post office will be opened.

T HE P ASSIVE = TO BE + 3 RD COLUMN Example: People make the best cars in Japan. S O The best cars are made in Japan. to be 3 rd column

U SE We use the Passive when: We don’t know or care who the ‘doer’ of the action is/was. The press conference will be held in the hotel lobby. When the ‘doer’ is obvious. The ceremony was reported in the news last night. When the action itself is more important than who does/did it. Hundreds of people are attacked in the streets every day. Sometimes we also use the passive to put more emphasis (da istaknemo) on the ‘doer’ of the action. We add ‘BY+NOUN’ at the end of the sentence to say who the ‘doer’ is/was. Manchester United were beaten by AC Milan.

P ASSIVE VOICE IS OFTEN USED IN SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES. L OOK AT THESE EXAMPLES : Active: We used the female cell line, W9, to evaluate cell growth in the presence of the growth factor. Passive: The female cell line W9 was used to evaluate cell growth in the presence of growth factor. Active: We cultured the cells for 48 hours in media that we modified with 78, 80, 90, and 110 ng/mL BMP. Passive: Cells were cultured for 48 hours in media modified with 78, 80, 90, and 110 ng/mL BMP.

F ORM → TO BE + 3 RD COLUMN Present Simple Active: Somebody regularly steals cars in this area. Passive: Cars are regularly stolen in this area. Past Simple Active: He submitted the report last Monday. Passive: The report was submitted last Monday. Present Continuous Active: They are writing the book now. Passive: The book is being written now. Past Continuous Active: They were renovating buildings when I was there last. Passive: The buildings were being renovated when I was there last.

Present Perfect Active: They have offered me a new position. Passive: I have been offered a new position. Past Perfect Active: She had booked the hotel before. Passive: The hotel had been booked before. Will Active: I will give her the money. Passive: She will be given the money. Can Active: Someone can easily do it. Passive: It can easily be done. Be going to Active: They are going to cancel the trip. Passive: The trip is going to be cancelled.

E XERCISE 9 1. has just been offered 2. was reported 3. will be replaced 4. had been voted 5. is being published 6. shouldn’t be watched …. are shown… 7. are being watched

E XERCISE The driver was fined for speeding. 2. She has been sent lots of birthday cards this year. 3. The lights went out when the meal was being served. 4. The prime minister was asked a lot of difficult questions. 5. I haven’t been told what to do. 6. He was being followed until he got to the office.

M AKE SENTENCES BASED ON THE CUES. S OME SENTENCES CAN ONLY BE PASSIVE, SOME ONLY ACTIVE AND SOME CAN BE BOTH. D ECIDE WHAT TENSE YOU NEED TO USE. 1. Mona Lisa – paint – in the 15th century 2. John Lennon – kill – in New York 3. Alexander Bell – invent – the telephone 4. South America – invade – in the 16th century 5. Potatoes – eat – in Europe and America 6. Penicillin – discover – 150 years ago 7. Steven Spielberg – direct – E.T. 8. Chopin – bring up – in Poland 9. Gorillas – live – in African jungle 10. The Beatles – sing – Yesterday 11. Odyssey – write – in ancient Greece 12. Millions of people – die – during World War II