TOEFL Preparation Program Handout III

Dengan membaca handout ini, peserta kursus TOEFL Preparation Program dapat:
1. Menguasai dan memahami teori struktur Bahasa Inggris yang sering muncul dalam
soal
2. Menjawab soal dengan cepat dan tepat
3. Mengerti rumus cepat dan efisien dalam menjawab soal

Passive Form in English

Let's look at this sentence:

 I drank two cups of Coffee.

This is an active sentence and it has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb),
followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to).
So, in this example, the subject is 'I', the verb is 'drank' and the object is 'two cups of coffee'.

But, we don't always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first or
perhaps we don't want to say who did something. This can happen for lots of reasons (see the
explanation further down the page). In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first:
 Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add 'by me' if we want, but it isn't necessary).

How to make the passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then past
participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So 'play'
becomes 'played'.

Tense Active Passive

present simple I make a cake. A cake is made (by me).

present continuous I am making a cake. A cake is being made (by me).

past simple I made a cake. A cake was made (by me).

past continuous I was making a cake. A cake was being made (by
me).
 present perfect I have made a cake. A cake has been made (by me).

present perfect I have been making a A cake has been being

continuous cake. made (by me).

past perfect I had made a cake. A cake had been made (by
me).

future simple I will make a cake. A cake will be made (by me).

future perfect I will have made a A cake will have been

cake. made (by me).

Verbs with two objects

Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two
different passive sentences too. For example, the verb 'give' is like this:
 Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.

You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.

 Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).

Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.

The passive in subordinate clauses

You can make the passive in a subordinate clause that has a subject and a normal conjugated
verb. This is really the same as a normal passive.
 Active: I thought that Mary had kissed John.
 Passive: I thought that John had been kissed by Marry

 Active: He knew that people had built the church in 1915.

 Passive: He knew that the church had been built in 1915.
You can also make the passive using a passive gerund or a passive infinitive in the same-place as
a normal gerund or infinitive.
 The child loves being cuddled.
 She would like to be promoted.

When should we use the passive?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence:

 The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the
painting than the artist in this sentence)

2. When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in
general':
 He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
 My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
 The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
 The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).

3. In factual or scientific writing:

 The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.

4. In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking
or informal writing):
 The brochure will be finished next month
 5. In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style:

 Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr.Bell
wrote the books' sound clumsy)

6. When the subject is very long:

 I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how wellthe
students did in the test surprised me')

Quantifiers & Determiner

Some,any, many, much, few, & little comes before noun to help explain them

Some and any are DETERMINER > They tell use whether the noun phrase is specific or general
 Indefinite or unknown quantity of something
Many, much,few, & little are QUANTIFIERS > Give information about quantity of something (the
number of something)

Grammar Chart for Quantifiers & Determiner

Many/much
Many for countable, much for uncountable in (?) (-)

We use many before plural (countable) nouns and much before uncountable nouns. We

use them in negative sentences and questions. We don’t normally use them in
affirmative sentences.

 There isn’t much coffee in the jar.

 Were there many people in the party?

Too much/too many

We don’t normally use much/many in affirmative sentences, but we can use too

much and too many in affirmative sentences.

 There’s too much salt in the soup.

 You eat too many biscuits.

How much/how many

We use how many and how much to ask about quantity.

 How many concerts have you ever been to?

 How much coffee have you had today?

A lot of/lots of
Before both countable and uncountable

We use a lot of or lots of (more informal) before both plural (countable)

and uncountable nouns. We normally use them in positive sentences.

 She spends a lot of time watching TV.

 We had lots of good moments together.

Of before noun; no of at the end of sentence

We must always use a lot of or lots of including of before a noun. However, we can use
the expressions a lot or lots (without of) at the end of a sentence.

 ‘How many beers did you have?’ ‘I don’t know; I had lots/a lot.’
 I like her a lot.

 
(A) few/(a) little/a bit of
Few for countable; little for uncountable

We use (a) few before plural (countable) nouns and (a) little or a bit of (more informal)

before uncountable nouns.

 I have to do a few things this afternoon.

 He always gets good results with very little effort.
 Can you put a bit of sugar in the tea?

Few or a few? little or a little?

A few means ‘some but not many; enough’, and a little means ‘some but not much;
enough’ .

Few/little mean ‘almost none; not enough’.

Normally, the difference between a few/little (WITH a) and few/little (WITHOUT a) is

that a few/little is positive in meaning, and few/little is negative. Compare:

 There’s little milk in the fridge; we have to buy more. (Not enough; we need

more)
 ‘Shall I buy some beers?’ ‘No, it’s OK, there are a few in the fridge.’ (=Enough;
we don’t need more)
 ‘Do you speak English?’ ‘No, I speak very little English.’ (=Negative)
 ‘Do you speak English?’ ‘Yes, I speak a little English.’ (=Positive)

Some/any
Some in (+); any in (?) (-)

We use some in affirmative sentences and any in negative sentences and questions.

 Is there any sugar in the cupboard?

 Have you got any new friends?
 I have some questions to ask you.

With both countable (plural) and uncountable

Both some and any can be used before countable and uncountable nouns. But if we use

them before a countable noun, the noun must be in the plural form.

 Are there any students in the classroom? (NOT Is there any student in the

classroom?)
Some for offers and requests

We use some (NOT any) in interrogative sentences when we are offering or requesting

(=asking for) something.

 Would you like some help?

 Can I have some tea, please?