Just for revision, let us compare these two
sentences:
ACTIVE:Anita Roddick opened the
first branch of The BodyShop in 1976. PASSIVE: The first branch of The Body
Shop was openedin1976.
The two sentences have the same meaning, but
the emphasis is different:
In an active sentence, we are more interested
in the person or thing doing the action (the agent).In a passive sentence, we are more interested in the person or thing affected by the action. If we want to mention the
agent, we use by:
-
The first branch of The Body Shop was opened byAnita Roddick in 1976.
But often the agent is not important:
-
Our products are madeentirely of recycled materials. - Maria has beenpromoted.
There are passive forms of most verb tenses:
-
Present simple:Every item
is checkedfor quality. - Present continuous:Whole forests are being destroyed. - Present perfect:Nothing
has been touchedsince you left. - Past simple:The company
was foundedin 1903. - Past continuous:The machinery
wasn't
being usedefficiently.
- Past perfect:An
intelligent decision hadbeen reached at the meeting.
After will, can, may, must, should, could, ought to etc. we use be + past participle:
-
The designs will be finished by the end of the week.
-
The new computer should be delivered on Friday.
STEP 5
Grammar: Activity
with Answer
Complete the following passage choosing the appropriate
passive alternatives from the menus below.
ANSWERS
BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
In 1993 a campaign by the United
Kingdom government to reduce the amount of domestic
waste.
Households to recycle waste products
and to sort and prepare them for collection at
specific sites.
Only a few items of domestic waste can't
. One
common example is disposable nappies which, as
their name suggests, have
to
.
In glass products the situation is more encouraging
as nearly 20% of the glass
that
every year in the country
for
recycling. It is really clear that the quantities
of waste will only decrease if efforts
both by households and also by government authorities.
Special equipment such as collection trucks must
.
However the question remains: will the United
Kingdom government's target of a
25% reduction
in the near future? Only time will
tell!
