Leveling Workshop. B2.

2
Unit 6

1. Vocabulary

1.1 1.1 Substitute the word in bold in the following sentences for one of the words
in the box below:
1.2
be house-trained- relinquish- screening- nixed- neutered-
be spayed

● My little dog, Zeus, has not been castrated yet. _____________________.

● The filtering interview at the adoption agency is quite extensive and

detailed. _____________________.

● I sent a formal application, but they rejected it. _____________________.

● Female cats that are given in adoption should have their ovaries removed.
_____________________.

● I got a new puppy, but she has to learn to pee at a specific place so the
carpets are not soiled. ______________________.

● My father is very old and sick, so he has to give up the responsibility of

being the CEO of the company. ______________________.

1.2. Fill in the chart classifying the words from the box into the corresponding part of
speech:
Spayed/ house-train/ relinquish/ screening/ nixed/
neutered

Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

Adverbs

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2. Grammar clues.

2.1. Passive voice with modals

As you will likely remember, active voice focuses on the doer of an action whereas
passive voice emphasizes on the person or thing which are affected by the said
action.

Consider the following sentences:

● The watchman locks the gates at 8pm on weekdays.

 This is written in active voice because the person who does the
action is also the grammatical subject of the sentence (i.e., the verb
agrees with it).

● The gates are locked at 8pm on weekdays.

 This is written in passive voice because the grammatical subject is

“the gates”, which are not capable of doing the action of locking. The
person who actually locks the gates, the watchman, loses
significance and is omitted from the sentence in this particular case.
If we wanted to include the doer of the action, it would be preceded
by the preposition by:

The gates are locked by the watchman at 8pm on weekdays.

Note that in any case the verb agrees with the gates, not with the watchman.

Passive voice is formed by using verb to be as an auxiliary and the past participle
of the main verb; the verb be will change depending on the tense you use.

● America was discovered by Vikings about a thousand years ago.

We are using was due to the action discovered having started and finished at a
specific time in the past.

● That topic had been taught in previous semesters.

We are conjugating be in past perfect, given the context of the sentence.

When using modal verbs, they are followed by be in its base form and the past
participle of the chosen verb. If the sentence is negative, the modal must be
negative. Modal verbs have to be moved to the first position in questions.

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 Those tests should be administered by next class, according to the syllabus.

Cigarettes mustn’t be lit in gas stations.

Can’t our efforts be recognized as well as hers?

If using a semi-modal, it should be conjugated accordingly rather than modifying

the verb to be or the past participle. The most common semi-modals are have to,
be able to, need to, ought to and used to.

The criminal has to be found as soon as possible.

The forms need to be filled out using blue ink.

3. Practice the clues

3.1. Use a modal verb in passive voice in the following sentences using the verb given.
More than one answer may be possible.

Example: The windows __________ (close). It looks like it's going to rain right now. -> The
windows should/must/have to be closed. It looks like it's going to rain right now.

● She is very responsible; if she says she will send the agenda, then the agenda
__________ (send).

● My father-in-law says that the furniture __________ (sell) in order to pay the mortgage.

● Animal rights __________ (respect) as if they were human rights.

● Establishing a settlement in Mars within the next 20 years is nothing short of

impossible. It __________ (not/do).

● If you two do the same job and have virtually the same qualifications, __________ you
__________ (pay) the same amount of money?

● I believe her arguments are quite valid. She __________ (give) a chance to present
them in front of an audience.

3.2. Correct the errors and rewrite the sentences accordingly.

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Example: I don’t think they must to be send to jail. -> I don’t think they must be sent
to jail.

● Whether you like it or not, the assignment have be completed by Monday

afternoon.

___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.

● The note said all students must be on time for the class, or else they would sent
to the coordinator’s office.

___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.

● The new railroad tracks should complete by this time next year.

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.

● That politician has bribed the authorities many times, but he was finally caught
on tape last week. He is may be arrested this time.

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.

● Some students has been ask to stay in the classroom during recess. They might
even had been send to detention later on after the class ends.

___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.

● Laura has gotten the highest grades in Math during the school year. She might
exempted from the final exam.

___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.

● We may aren’t be allowed to go the party if we doesn’t pass the test.

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.

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4. Clues in context.

Overpopulated animal shelters may

be considered as animal cruelty by
some. Animals are cooped up, in
need of proper exercise and
socialization. One of the reasons

why pets might be relinquished to

animal shelters has to do with the
owner's lack of ability when it comes
to house-training.

Owners tend to be impatient and give up easily, but in reality, pets’ behavior must be
reinforced constantly for the training to be effective Another factor that makes the

problem worse is that pets are not neutered or spayed, which leads to a large number of
stray puppies and kittens that will be eventually sent to shelters. Some people complain

about how difficult it is to adopt from a shelter; the lengthy screening process, along with
the money invested in it just to be nixed on the final stages could be seen as
discouraging.

5. Use the clues.

Complete the following sentences using a modal in passive voice. They may be
affirmative or negative sentences. Add contextual information that allows the reader to
infer the reason for having selected a particular modal.

Example: That student __________ (choose) for the school play. -> That student should
not be chosen for the school play. He is really bad at memorizing his lines.

● Cosmetics and drugs __________ (test) on animals before being tested in

humans.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
● The editing of the new book __________ (delay).
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
● Cloning humans __________ (permit).
________________________________________________________________________________

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 ________________________________________________________________________________
● Animals that have been born in captivity __________ (release) into the wild.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
● Safari parks, also known as wildlife parks, __________ (consider) to be a
potential solution for hunting.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
● Organic meat and eggs __________ (tax).
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

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