Baste uses of the pasive Using and not mentioning the agent Explanations = Agent and instrument ‘The person who performs an action in a passive sentence is called the agent, Intzoduced by by. The agent may or may not be mentioned. My purse was found by one of the cleaners. A new road has been built ‘An object which causes something to happen is called an instrument, Sntroduced by with. ‘He was hit on the head with a hammer. t a Verbs with two objects ‘etos which have two objects can be made passive in two ways. Tosas handed a not. A note was handed to me. (Other common verbs ofthis type are: bring, sve, lend, pos, pay, promise, sl send, show, tll a Verbs with object and complement Some veibs have a noun ot adectve which describes ther object. We elected J class representative. Everyone considered him a faire. ‘When these are made pasiv, the complement goes éirecty after the ver Time wes elected class representative. He was considered a fllure fe Verbs which can't be pasive “Most verbs with an object (ranstive verbs) can be made passive eg drives transitive beease one cen drive something (@ 3 Howeves, afew transitive verbs may not be sed inthe patie. These chader eof be the ight siz ethan it ie resemble se Verbs with no object (intransitive) can not be passive: eg fills intransitive, you cannot ‘fal something’ “Therefore it isnot posbie to soy The tee was fallen. Instead these rut be active: The tree fl Change of focus ‘The passive can change the emphasis of sentence, Jack won te prize. (focus on Jack) The prize was won by Jack, (focus on the pre) 3 iADVANCED LANGUAGE PRACTICE Unknown agent ‘The agent is not mentioned if unknown, ‘My wallet has been taken. In this case there is no point in adding an agent: ‘by somebody’. a Generalised agent IE the subject is ‘people in general! or ‘you’ the agent isnot mentioned, Biocles are widely used nthe iy instead of ple wonsport. Obvious agent If the agent is cbvious or has already been referred to, It ls not mentioned. Linda has béen arrested! (we assume by the police) ‘The company agreed to our request and a new car park was opened. & Unimportant agent If the agent is not important to the meaning ofthe sentence itis not mentioned. Twas advised to obtain a visa in advance, ‘= Impersonality Using the passive is a way of avolding the naming ofa specific person who is responsible for an action. Te has been decided to reduce all salaries by 10%. In descriptions of processes, there is emphasis on the actions performed rather than on the people who perform them. ‘Then the packets are packed into boxes of twenty-four.GRAMMAR 6 PASSIVE T 1. Correct any verb forms which are impossible or inappropriate 2) Alot of homes inthe area have been being broken into by burglars. hate. heen, broken, ints. ») AsT drove south, I could see that the old road was rebuilding. «) I suppose the letter will have been delivered by now. . {There is nothing more annoying than been interrupted when you are SpeAING, on «) Jim was been given the sec from his ne" fo. 5 Somehow without my noticing my wallet had been dsappeared _-g) The new shopping centre was opened by the lol MP ~h) Alot of meetings have been held, but nothing has being decided yet. 2 Both sentences in each pair have the same meaning. Complete the second sentence. 2) The crowed was slowly filing the inuge stadium, The huge stadium Nas. slawly. being. filled. by the crowd. ») The inventor of the computer simplified the work of the accountants since the computer the wotk of accountants "pie. ©) Someone has suggested that the shop should close .. that the shop should close ‘Pa take out some wavel insurance 1 were you, Mr Smith! MrSmith take ovt some travel insurance, Th wutess wil Bing your drinks in a moment Your dts or soon 8 moment, 1 Someone wed 2 knife to open the window: Tals window nn 2K. fp You wll nea: om ws when we have Raised dealing with your compiaint. After your complaint 1 you wil hear from us. "fy an aanouncement of ter engagement apene nthe lel pape eer engagement. fn the local paper. "Nobody eer heard anything of Dav an Nothing David agnin, 1) They pld Shea £1,000 a5 specs! Dons. £1,000 i Sw Shella asa special bonus. 35ADVANCED LANGUAGE PRACTICE 3 Rewite each sentence in the passive, omitting the words underlined. \ 2) Someone lft the phone ofthe hook ll night. The, pone Was. left. aff the hook. all might. \ ) The goverment has announced that petrol prices will rise tomorow. i ©) Acbutslar broke into our house last week 4) Beople asked me the way three times. | ©) The frit-pickers pick the apples early in the morning. It’s time the authorities did something about this problem. ~g) Lots of people had patked theiz cars on the pavement. —-h) The government agreed with the report and so they changed the law. \ —1) You have to fll in an application form. | ) Thay don’t know what happened to the ship, 4 Put each verb in brackets into an appropriate passive verb form. packed, (not/pack) yet. e - 1) Your food. (til/repare). { ©) The new ship . (aunch) next week. @) Luckily by the time we got there the painting (nottsell). ©) We had to go om holiday because our house . (decorate). 4) Ym afrald that next week's meeting ) Ife don't hurry all the tickets. time we get there. I +h) All main courses . (serve) with vegetabies or ae salad, Atleast that is what is written on the ment. 4) ‘The second goal sn (Score) by Hughes in the 41st mincte. 1) The cathedral 2) The boxe (bulla) in the fourteenth century. Bice a arecaGRAMMAR 6 PASSIVE T 5 Underline any uses of the agent which are unnecessary, a) My jewellery has been stolen by a thief! by It has been decided by the authorities that Wednesday will be a school holiday. (©) Harry was pushed over by someone standing next to him in the queue. 4) The goods are transported by ral to our warehouse in the Midlands. ©) Iwas told by someone that you have a vacancy for a computer operator. ) Sue has been picked by the selectors for the national event. §g) The letter was sent by post on the 21st of last month. bh) The larger portrait was painted by a litle-known Flemish artist. {) Tehas been agreed by everyone that no smoking should be allowed, J) As Tarrived at the conference a note was handed to me by one of the delegates. 6 Put each verb in brackets into an appropriate passive verb form. a) Nothing AE. REE 68 nenonne ($08) of Pauline since her car w» (find) abandoned near Newbury last week (deliver) on Monday vy As our new furntu smoming 'l have to stay at home to check that i minnnonrnee (ROUdamage) dating transit. ) The new Alhambra hatches which fn this countey . (ge) under the name ‘Challenger’, (fit) with electric windows as standard, sna (WOK) in Jack's office, 25 . (redecorate). . (announce) that the proposed new office vn» (now/notibulld) because of the current €) For the past few days 1 my own offce ek. DOCK arn ___ economic situation. 1) A major new deposit of ol North Sea. It of the largest existing fle. 2 Plerues of the surface of the planet Venus. (receive) yesterday trom the space probe ‘Explorer which (launch) last year. (alse) fr the Fund by recent SI (ily (@iscover) in the . (think) to be neacly twice the size ty Alaige su 7 cay concert bat he target of £250,000 not/reach), 1) No decision : appointment until all suitable candidates Ganterview), (make) about any futureADVANCED LANGUAGE PRACTICE 7 Rewrite each sentence in a more formal style so that it contains a passive for ‘the word glven In capitals, = me 2) Sorry, but we've lost your letter MISLAY Unfortunately. your letter. has. been. wnislaid,, b) The police are grilling Harry down at the station. QUESTION 6) They've found the remains of an old Roman villa nearby. DISCOVER @) You'l get a nse in salary after six months. RAISE ) They stopped playing the match after half an hour. ‘ABANDON ) They stopped tratfie from using the centre. BAN 8) They took Chis to court for dangerous driving. PROSECUTE hh) You usually eat this kind of fish with a white sauce, SERVE 1) I don’t know your name. Put each verb in brackets into a suitable active or passive verb form. Dear Mis Patel, ‘We ae delighted to inform you that you (1) meen. selected. (elect for a re holiday. According to ove information, you ® vn @nsnes) a telephone survey last month a2 result of which your name () Toliday draw. Now out computer () name, s0 you and your fal (5). 2 wet in a Buopean destination of your cele. Tals oer - -n (aks) on the condition thst you atend 2 special promotions day wth other lucy fais fn your region who 7) snore (offer) a similar deal. You ®. (as) to attend on any Saturday next month at the Royal Hotel Manchest. (9) wen (terest in attending anc taking up this oer, please (10) «nn (aerac) the slip below and return it to us as soon as posse . (choose) your (davite) to spend (enter) in the _ i | \ | |GRAMMAR 6 PASSIVE 1 Using the notes as a guide, complete the e-mail to all company staf, Put the verbs in brackets into a suitable passive verb form, NOTES FROM MANAGEMENT MEETING Tell stafft ‘We'll try flexi-time for 3 months. After 3 months we'll get the opinions ofall staff. ‘We'll 1ook at feedback comments and make a decision, We may try it for another month, {All workers will have to arrive 8-9.30, We hope you like the idea! FROM: The Managing Director TO: All staff 1: a) «loa heen. eked... (decide) to adopt a flexi-time system for a ttlal perlod of three months. After this perfod (2). (elapse) all members of stat? @) (consult) through. (eel). their line manager, and feedback (4) Comments (5) smn (Collect) and analysed before a decision (6) svmnnsevaoan (MARE) as to whether the systema 0 . snsewene (adopt) permanently or not, Altematively, the ‘sal period @). . (extend) for 8 further month. AIL employees 9). 5 (aequize) to arrive betwee ve fulfilled thelr contractual (hope) that this of 8.00 and 9.30, and to leave after they obligations of eight hours. It (10) .. 7 atzangement meets with your enthusiastic approval!| Explanations | Haveand get ss Havelget something done || something done ‘Tals typically describes a service performed for us by someone else. | __needdoing ve just hadigot my car serviced I haverget it done every winter, | Iecan also describe something unfortunate thet happess to somone, ! We hadigot our car broken into last month. Get is more likely to be used than have when: 4) there is feeling that something must be done. really must get (have) my ha cut. e 41 there feeling of eventually managing todo something. [eventually got (had) the cr fied at he Fast Service garage sip im orders and imperatives, Get your hair at! \ [Note thst get shoul not be used in the present perfect passive, where it i would be confused with have got z in The need to have a service done can be described with need dong. | Your hair needs cutting. Passive get Get can be used instead of be to form the passive in spoken language. ‘Martin got arrested at football match Reporting verbs Present reference ‘with verbs such as believe, know, say, think, which report people's opinions, @ passive construction is often used to avoid a weak subject, and to give 2 ‘generalised opinion. ‘With present reference, the passive Is followed by the present infinitive, ‘The criminal is thought to be in hiding in the London are. Vizamin.C is known to be good: neal ae Past reference ‘With past reference, the passive is followed by the past infinitive. ‘Smith is believed to have left England last week. | ast eporing ve i TE ene reporting ver sin the pst, the pst ininve end o folow though ov alway ifthe vr es se ~ people thought Sue had paid too much. { ‘Sue was thought to have paid too much. The pale hah hat hehe cil ne owe Tae was thought ost be the xe. \Verks with prepositions Common contexts _—-for the passive __Th CRAMMAR 7 PASSIVE 2 se Past reference with two objects In this case there are two ways of making a passive sentence. Everyone knows the portrait was palnted by an Italian. ‘The porta is known to have been painted by an Italian f= Continuous infinitive Past and present continuous infinttives are also used. Mary is thought to be living in Scotland, The driver i thought to have been doing a U-turn. fs Ending a sentence with a preposition, It Is possible to end a sentence with a preposition in a sentence where a prepesitional verb is made passive ‘Somebody broke into our house. (Our house was broken into. = Byand with Ws used ater pacticipls such a ill, packed cowed crane |The van was packed with ommates ‘he dterence between by and with may involve the presence of «person ~" pave was it by a branch (a acide) ve ws he with ron a person ht him with one 1s Make is followed by 10 when used in the passive. ‘My boss made me work hard. Iwas made to work hard by my boss. Cover and verbs which involve similar Ideas, such a8 surround, decorate, can. ‘use with or by. Cover can also be followed by in. ‘The furniture was covered in dust. “The living room had been decorated with flowery wallpaper = Formality “The passive is peobably more common ia written English, whese ther to be less use of personal reference in some contexts, since the audience may be unknown, '» Ponts mentioned in Grammar 6 ‘The passive is used to change the focus of the sentenc subjects, and to make an action impersonal. It is common in descriptions of processes, and in sclentific and technical language in general to avoid generalised a: pvanceo LANGUAGE PRACTICE 4) ve just been to the hairdresser’, What do you think? I've just cut my hair at the halrdresser's. What do you think? —.differend. +) Someone i pelnting our house atthe moment. ‘We ate panting our house atthe moment. ) The dents i gong to take out two of my teeth tomorrow Tin having two teth taken cut tomorrow. 6) The teacher made us ally up. ‘We were made o tidy up by the teaches, «) The cris thought to have been stolen by Joy-aders. Joy-iders ae thought to have stolen the az # Just a minute TIL ask someone to wrap this for you Just a minut, Tl have oo weap this up for you. \ 4) The car hasn't een serviced for along time ‘ie havent had the cr serviced for along tine. 1) They're coming to putin a new waterheater next week. ‘ie're puting in a new watercheater next week 4) Would you consider having plastic surgery to alter your nose? ‘Would you consider having your nes altered by plastic surgery? 1) A qualliiedelectcian checked the wiring We had checked the wing with a qualified electrician, | | | | ° Underne the correct word in each sentence, 2) The busy shopping street was thronged by/with people ) The emergency exit was concealed by/fom a red curtain. 6) The price of excursions is included in/with the cost of the holiday. 4) All through January, the fields were covered by/fiom snow. €) The room was crammed byvith furniture ofall des {) Two of the climbers were injured bth fling rocks. i f) The Island is inhabited by/fiom people of mainly Chinese origi. i hy) The bank was quickly surrounded from/witk armed police. | 1) The window had been smashed fom/ith a hammer teken from the shed 1) The stadium was packed fomwitk cheering fans ad | | | NGRAMMAR 7 Passive 2 Complete the second sentence so that it has asimlar meaning tothe fist sentence, using the word given. Do nat change the word wiven 4) The treasure is thought to date from the thirteenth century. date re che thought te. date... ') Your hair needs cutting get Woes ss 6) i's parents are making her study hard, made from the thirteenth century uu ee on wher parents 6) Apparently the ship did not sustain any damage. appears The ship any damage. Its thought that the two injured men were repairing overhead cables. have. - The two injured meM overhead cables 4) There is a rumour that the escaped prisoner Is living in Spain, be The eseaped prisoner 2) We have agreed to meet agai will i living in Spain. ina fortnight. Ithas.. . _- meet again in a fortnight. 1) We decided to try again later. would TE88 ren ‘ry again later 4) There is confirmation of Mr Jackson's intended resignation. that lis. ssn senna 10 FEED, 1) Most of the committee thought it was not a lable solution, not It was thought by most of the commitee 8 :vance LANGUAGE PRACTICE ADVANC! 4, Rewrite each sentence so that tends withthe word undetined, a) Another company has taken over our company, Our. company. has. been, taken. aver, b) We ae dealing with your complaint. (6) We have not accounted forall the missing passengers, 4) Someone had tampered with the lock ofthe front door, ) We don't know how they disposed ofthe body. {must insist that you keep tothe rules. g) We ae looking ata this allegation. 1) We will town upon any attempts to chest in the exam. 1) The youngest student complained that people wer plcking on him. 4). Ann was well provided for in her husband's will. 5 Complete each sentence wth a stable preposition, 4) The tree had been decorated it...» coloured balls. The answer have ben includ the book ©) After the rugby match, Jim's shorts were covered .. 6) The ic wa struck fom behind The Boo was balk tank §) The at mamowly escaped beng run over a heavy object. ac 'g) When the accident happened, Sue was struck... flying glass. bh) The turkey Wa Stu€€ even CREStHUS, and Was Very tasty. §) No one knew that Peter had been involved i) When [left the casino, my pockets were crammed... ‘money that David borrowed fom the the investigation.GRAMMAR 7 Passive 2 | 6 emplete he text using the phrases rom the box ‘plane carrying 18 members ofthe government to a conference in Brey cy k.Aognie. te have, experienced ssmalt-seae fie ener this morning, The plane (2). about 20 minutes ino its journey then their occu in the ugage ae @) — ‘how the plane caught fe, but initial eyee witness accounts confiem that a trail of smoke Bon ‘ply under contel but the plot | Co sake an emergency landing Five people. | o sv tated for shock, The plane i © on with busines people ying o Belgium, | A209 pasenges 6) stay behind for ustoning ater landing at altary apr in note Fance, Pole 00). a 7 Rewrite the text using the passe where posble, Make sure the words underlined do not appear. ‘Nobody knows exactly when someone invented gunpowder. People know for a 1 fact that the Chinese made rockets and fireworks long before people used ‘gunpowder in Europe, which occured at about the beginning ofthe thirteenth century. We generally believe that gunpowder brought to an end the ‘Age of e CChivay, slace anyone with a frerm could bring down a mounted knight. ict, people did nat develop efficent fies until the sateenth centu used gunpowder mainly in slege cannon when people fir introduced It. Later they used it in engineering work and in mining, but they found tha twas ‘extremely dangerous, Modern explosives have now replaced gunpowder, but we | stl us it for making fireworks, fst a the Chinese did. It is nat knawn, ov» rating the incident as suspicious, | |