MODULE 2. GRAMMAR TOPIC 2.1

REVISION OF ALL TENSES AND ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH VERB. (PASSIVE VOICE)

PLACEMENT TEST

Rewrite these sentences in the passive when possible.

1. We do not add any preservatives to our products.

2. The police have just arrested him on the suspicion of murder.

3. They gave her a box of chocolates for her birthday.

4. The job will seem easy at first.

5. I will have finished the work by next week.

6. Carmen taught him all the Spanish he knows.

7. The government is now building a lot of new schools in the provinces.

8. They can’t use the car because the garage is servicing it.

9. She felt that they were concealing something from her.

10. They heated the liquid to 60 degrees C.

11. Nobody has found a cure for this disease yet.

12. I didn’t know who they were introducing me to.

13. An accident happened at the corner of Fifth and Main.

14. I doubt whether anybody can explain these phenomena now.

15. They pay the workers every Friday.

16. Prices for food have risen recently.

17. He asked me if anybody had ever taught me how to behave.

18. They will tell you when the train leaves.

19. When is someone going to announce the results of the contest?

20. My sister’s plane will arrive at 10.35.

 

Task 1. Decide whether the following statements about the use of passive voice are true or false. Correct the false statements. Use the examples from Task 1 to illustrate your answer.

1. We use passive when it is obvious or not important to say who, what, etc. is the subject./ T

2. We use passive to avoid using I, we, they, one, etc. /T

3. Passive can’t be used to describe a process. /F

4. Passive is less often used in official documents and scientific articles than in everyday speech./ F

5. When we use passive we do not usually mention the person or thing responsible for the action (the agent)./ T

6. When we mention the agent we use by when we mention the instrumentused and with when we mention who or what is responsible. /F

7. When we use the verbs with two objects (a person and something), either object can be the subject of the sentence in the passive sentence./T

Both transitive and intransitive