Unit 3

Quality

The Passive Voice 1) “be” in the necessary tense + the third form of the
verb

2) the doer of the action is unimportant or unknown: My book was

published yesterday. The letter has just been sent. The project will
have been completed by the end of
June.
3) the doer of the action is obvious: I was given an
injection at hospital.
4) when people in general are the agents: The books can

be borrowed from the library.

The Present Simple give / gives → is given /are given /am given

The Present am giving / is giving /are giving → am being given /is

Continuous being given / are being given
The Present Perfect have given / has given → have been given /has been
given
The Past Simple gave → was given /were given

The Past Continuous was giving/ were giving → was being given/ were being
given
The Past Perfect had given → had been given

The Future Simple will do → will be done

The Future Perfect will have done → will have been done

Modal verbs must/should/can/could/ought to /would be done

1. Open the brackets using the verbs in the correct form:

1) Process engineers have completed (complete) the training by the end of June.
2) The difference is spotted (spot) when goods are getting loaded (load) on the truck.
3) The assembly parts had been shipped (ship) before the Production was warned
(warn) by the Stock Department.
4) The trucks are getting washed (wash) at the moment.
5) The car should not be parked (park) in the loading bay. If it hadn’t been, it
would have got damaged (not damage).
6) The rubbish was to be sorted, sold on or disposed of (sort, sell on or dispose of) but eventually
the waste have merely dumped and haven’t removed (merely dump not remove). ???
7) The design flaw had been rectified (rectify) by the time the quality inspection
discovered it.
8) The CEO was convicted (convict) on a lesser charge because he had agreed to work with the
prosecution.
 9) A Northampton company have been reprimanded (reprimand) by the Advertising
Standards Authority after it used scare tactics to sell anti-radiation mobile phone products.
10)The traders are being forced (force) to temporarily suspend trading as they do not want any
more clients to fall into this black hole.

1) Verbs describing states - have (own), be, belong, lack, seem, possess:
A BMW is had by me. - I have a BMW.
Breakfast is being had by him. - He is having breakfast.
Verbs not used in
the passive
2) Verbs followed by to + infinitive:
Your questions are recommended to be answered. - I recommend them to
answer the questions.

3) Verbs of wanting and liking: want, love, hate + object + infinitive:

He was wanted to answer again by her. - She
wanted him to answer again.

4) The verb let: She let us leave. - We were allowed to leave.

5) Some verbs have a passive meaning such as sell, read, wear, iron: The
book sells well. The letter reads that … The door closed.

2. Rewrite the sentences in the passive if possible. Consider the underlined fragments:
1) Our competitors held a successful advertising campaign and as a result their sales increased. – The
successful advertising campaign was held by our competitors and as a result their sales increased.
2) New technologies have empowered customers to seek out and compare an endless array of products
from around the globe. – Customers have been empowered by new technologies to seek out and
compare an endless array of products from around the globe.
3) We interviewed the quality function leaders at more than 60 multinational corporations, conducted an
extensive review of academic and practitioner research, and surveyed more than 850 employees. – The
quality function leaders were interviewed at more than 60 multinational corporations, an extensive review
of academic and practitioner research was conducted, and more than 850 employees were surveyed.
4) The company managed to reduce its payroll expenses last year. – The company’s payroll expenses were
reduced last year.
5) This drop in sales will cancel the boost to earnings that cost savings from the merger have produced. – ?
6) The company has settled some claims and is still fighting others. – Some claims have been settled by the
company and some of them are still getting resolved.
7) Both the CEO and the Project Manager are responsible for creating an organized and human environment
for employees to work within and creating a quality end product or service. – An organized and human
environment for employees to work within and a quality end product/service are being created by both the
CEO and the Project Manager.
8) A minority of the employees we surveyed believe their company has succeeded in making quality a core
value. – The company is believed to have been succeeded in making quality a core value by a minority of
the employees we surveyed.
9) Johnson & Johnson, which has spent years insisting that its baby powder is safe, recalled 33,000 bottles of
the product. - 33,000 bottles of baby powder were recalled by Johnson & Johnson, the company that has
spent years insisting that its baby powder is safe.
10) From baby formula and coffee creamers to beef jerky and granola bars, items are arriving spoiled and well
past their sell-by date, Amazon customers say.
 To describe something which is done for the subject by someone else
– have smth done: I have just had my hair cut. We need to have our
swimming pool cleaned. She is
Causative structures having her house repaired.

Get smth done is less formal: Do you get your hair done
at Ebony’s?

Liz had her passport stolen. – to describe something

unpleasant or unexpected.

Have smb do smth / get smb to do smth – a passive version of

have/get smth done: I will have the hairdresser do my hair tomorrow
before the wedding. He
got the mechanic repair the washing machine.

4. Open the brackets, using causative structures “have/get smth done” or “have smb do/get smb
to do”:
1) We can’t have quality auditors detect (detect) every design flaw.
2) They will have quality management verified (verify quality management) by an external auditor.
3) The company just had its site cleared (just its site to clear) from piles and stacks of unnecessary
stuff by a subcontractor.
4) We will have the next delivery checked (the next delivery to check) by a quality auditor.
5) The company just had safety procedures verified (just safety procedures to verify) by a
quality auditor.
6) We need to have the pallets clean (the pallets to clean) as soon as possible.
7) The company have the site’s Grocery & Gourmet category scanned (the site’s Grocery & Gourmet
category to scan) by CNBC, finding customer complaints about expired goods.
8) The company have corrective action taken (take corrective action) to make sure the listings were
in line with its standards.
9) They will need to have their power capacity expanded (expand their power capacity) by engineers as
fast as possible at manageable costs.
10)They want employees to have applied (employees to apply) skills and make decisions in highly
ambiguous but critical areas.

5. Translate the sentences into English, using structures in the passive and the vocabulary from Unit 3
Quality (the Glossary, The Business 2.0 Upper Intermediate):
1) Контроль качества обеспечивается регулярными инспекциями методов и безопасности
производства. - 1) Quality control is ensured by regular inspections of production methods and safety
2) Товар был доставлен с царапинами и такими дефектами, которые не смогли исправить даже в
сервисном центре. - 2) The product was delivered with scratches and such defects that they could not fix
even at the service center
3) Распорядитесь, чтобы паллеты помыли. Они на погрузочной площадке. - 3) Arrange for the pallets
to be washed. They're at the loading dock
4) Мы пригласили специалистов, чтобы они проверили соответствие качества нашей продукции
стандартам качества, принятым в отрасли. - 4) We invited experts to check that the quality of our
products complies with the quality standards adopted in the industry.