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I

II

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Unidad III:

Describing objects, places, people

and activities.

Lengua Adicional al Español (Inglés) IV

Tema 3: Passive Voice

Tema III: Passive Voice

Passive Voice

Caterville Ghost

Chapter I

When the American, Mr Otis, bought Canterville Castle, everyone told him that this was very foolish, as the place was haunted. But Mr Otis answered, “I come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy. And if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we would have it at home in one of our museums.”

A few weeks later, on a lovely July evening, Mr Otis, his wife and their children, Washington, Virginia and the twins, went down to their new home. When they entered the avenue of Canterville Castle, the sky suddenly became dark and a spooky stillness was in the air.

Mrs Umney, the housekeeper, led them into the library of the castle, where they sat down and began to look

around. Suddenly, Mrs Otis saw a red stain on the floor just by the fireplace and said to Mrs Umney, “I am afraid something has been spilt there.”

“Yes, madam,” said the old housekeeper in a low voice, “blood has been spilt on that spot.”

“How terrible,” said Mrs Otis; “I don't want any blood-stains in my sitting-room. It must be removed at once.”

The old woman smiled and answered, “It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, who was murdered on that spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon disappeared seven years later. His body has never been found, but his ghost still haunts the Castle. The blood-stain is a tourist attraction now and it cannot be removed.”

“That is all nonsense,” said Washington, the eldest son of the Otis family, “stain remover will clean it up in no time,” and he took a bottle of stain remover out of his pocket and cleaned the spot. But as soon as the blood-stain had disappeared, a terrible flash of lightning lit up the room and a fearful peal of thunder made the whole building shake.

Tema III: Passive Voice

Questions on the text.

Where is Mr Otis from? England Scotland USA

Does Mr Otis believe in ghosts? Yes not

Which statement about the stain is true?

The housekeeper has spilt coffee there.

It's the blood of Sir Simon.

Washington Otis removes the stain.

The verbal expressions in the text are highlighted to make you note the verbal form which is called PASSIVE VOICE.

GRAMMAR

Definition of Passive Voice: In traditional grammar, a verb form (or voice) in which the grammatical subject receives the verb's action. Example: "A good time was had by all."

Observe these sentences

A) Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone

Subject + verb + direct object

B) The first telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Subject + verb + Agent

Sentence A is in active voice.

Sentence B is in passive voice.

Tema III: Passive Voice

Rule:

1. The active form is when the subject does the action, so it (subject) becomes active.

2. When we do not know, who is the “doer” of the action in the active sentence, we use someone or somebody. We leave out these words in the passive sentence.

3. e.g. Someone stole my mobile.(active) - My mobile was stolen.(passive)

4. The passive form is when the subject of the active- which becomes the agent in the

passive - becomes no longer active but passive i.e. submissive and receiving.

5. The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive form; and the subject

of the active becomes the agent in the passive sentence which is either introduced with

“by” or is omitted.

6. Verbs without an object (intransitive verbs) normally cannot form a personal passive

sentence (since there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence).

7. The passive form is formed by using the appropriate tense of the verb to be+ past

participle.

8. The following tenses are not used in the passive: Present Perfect Continuous, Past

Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous.

Look at the examples:

The first computing machine was created by Charles Babbage.

Those inventions are used today by all the people.

The cinema was invented by Edison.

The first airplane was invented by brothers Wright.

The “David” was made by Miguel Angelo.

Tema III: Passive Voice

Study this chart

Active Peter Builds a house.

Simple Present

Passive: A house is built by Peter.

Active: Peter Built a house.

Simple Past

Passive: A house was built by Peter.

Active: Peter has built a house.

Present Perfect

Passive: A house has been built by Peter.

Active: Peter will build a house.

will-future

Passive: A house will be built by Peter.

Active: Peter can build a house.

Modals

Passive: A house can be built by Peter.

Active: Peter is building a house. Present Simple Continuos

Passive: A house is being built by Peter.

Tema III: Passive Voice

Active: Peter was building a house. Past Simple Continuos

Passive: A house was being built by Peter.

Rewrite the following sentences in the passive voice.

A ghost haunts the castle. ______________________________________.

Sir Simon murdered Lady Eleanore. _________________________________.

Rewrite the following sentences in the active voice.

They were led into the library by Mrs. Umney.

______________________________________.

The spot was cleaned by Washington Otis.

________________________________________.

Make the sentences in Passive voice.

1. Students write tests every month. ________________________________________________________________. 2. They close the shop at 8 p.m. ________________________________________________________________. 3. She will send post-cards before the holiday. ______________________________________________________________.

Ask questions beginning with the question-words.

1. Russian is spoken all over our country. (Where…?) _________________________________________________________________. 2. Watches are made in Japan. (Where) _____________________________________________________________. 3. Summer plans will be discussed after our exams. (What) (When) _________________________________________________________________. 4. The report was made in September. (When.) _________________________________________________________________.

Tema III: Passive Voice

1. The baby

……………

(feed)

2. The phone call

……….…

(answer) by the

receptionist.

3. We

………........

(serve) by the

waitresses.

4. The cow

………… (milk)

by the farmer

5. Fancy dress

costumes………..…

(wear) at Carnival.

6. I ……… (help)

by my father.

7. The dishes

………….. .(wash)

8. Questions

……….. (ask) to

the teacher.

9. Mother

…………. (drive)

to work by dad.

10. The car ………..

(repair) by the

mechanic.

11. Letters

……………

(type) by the

secretary.

12. Meat

…………… (sell)

at the butcher’s.

13. Granny

……… (visit) at

hospital.

14. Coffee

…………. (grow)

in Colombia.

15. The trousers

…………….. (iron).

16. Sushi ……….

(eat) in Japan.

17. The operation

…………….

(perform) by the

surgeon.

18. A book

……… (borrow)

from the library.

19. The problem

………. (explain)

by the teacher

20. The patient

…………..(carry) by

The orderly.

Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the present

simple.