Lesson on the passive

 Lesson on the passive:

 

Here are some examples from several of the readings in our textbook:

In any case, the students themselves certainly don’t need to be tormented by their parents. 

It may be a good time to ask just how common such incidents are and whether “helicopter parenting” is as damaging as we’ve been led to believe. 

A group of senior citizens and youngsters are packing sack lunches that will be delivered to the homeless. 

The contraption will need to be wrenched back from them.  

Interactive screens and Ipads are used more than printed material for reading, research and learning. 

Younger musicians, my contemporaries who have been called prodigies, feel slighted. 

 

Form of the passive:

Be + the past participle + optional “by agent” 

Usually, we use the passive without the "by agent". Notice the examples from above.

 

Uses for the passive:

1. when it is not necessary to mention the agent because the agent is obvious, not known, or not important.

Rice is grown in California. 

Our house was built in 1960.

A man was robbed last night.

 

 

 

2. when the writer wants to emphasize the object instead of the doer of the action. We usually use the “by agent” in these situations. 

Starry Night was painted by Vincent Van Gogh.  (We’re focussing on the piece of art instead of the artist.)

The Godfather was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. 

This beautiful sweater was made by her grandma.

 

 

 

3. when the writer purposely doesn't want to mention the agent because he/she doesn’t want to accept responsibility for an error or because he/she doesn’t want to give blame to someone

An error was made on the quiz.  One question was confusing. 

A mistake was made.  (passive)  

Several employees will soon be fired. (passive) 

Mr. Smith will soon fire several employees.(active) 

Our writing midterms haven’t been corrected yet. (passive) 

Lisa hasn’t corrected our writing midterms yet. (active)

 

Practice:

A. Change these active sentences into passive ones.  Pay attention to tense.  Decide if you need the "by agent.” 

1. The government calculates the fine depending on income.

2. David Brooks wrote "Amy Chua Is a Wimp."

3. Social networking has helped a lot of young people.

4. They often pay female workers less than male workers.

5.  Students will complete class projects more efficiently in groups.

 

 

Participles as adjectives:

excited/exciting          frustrated/frustrating        bored/boring

interested/interesting       tired/tiring                  exhausted/exhausting

frightened/frightening         embarrassed/embarrassing      amazed/amazing  

 

My friend was disappointed when she found out that she had to start wearing her mask again.

The news about having to wear masks again is disappointing. 

They were interested in learning about the different types of Covid vaccines.

The movie was so boring that I fell asleep while watching it.

Trying to come up with a second controlling idea was so frustrating for me.