EXÁMENES DE MAYO

                         NIVEL INTERMEDIO 1, 
           GRUPO NI1A (TURNO DE MAÑANA):

       LUNES 11 y MIÉRCOLES 13  DE MAYO, PRUEBAS        ESCRITAS.

   LUNES 18 Y MIÉRCOLES  20,  DE MAYO, EXÁMENES  ORALES.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

THE PASSIVE VOICE.

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

• the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
• the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
• the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive Level: lower intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Future	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.
Modals	Active:	Rita	can write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	can be written	by Rita.

Examples of Passive Level: upper intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Present Progressive	Active:	Rita	is writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is being written	by Rita.
Past Progressive	Active:	Rita	was writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was being written	by Rita.
Past Perfect	Active:	Rita	had written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	had been written	by Rita.
Future II	Active:	Rita	will have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will have been written	by Rita.
Conditional I	Active:	Rita	would write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would be written	by Rita.
Conditional II	Active:	Rita	would have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would have been written	by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects.

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

	Subject	Verb	Object 1	Object 2
Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter	to me.
Passive:	A letter	was written	to me	by Rita.
Passive:	I	was written	a letter	by Rita.

.

As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.

Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

EXERCISE 1

EXERCISE 2

EXERCISE 3

EXERCISE 4

EXERCISE 5

REPORTED SPEECH

 

Reported speech (1)

When we report someone’s words we can do it in two ways. We can use direct speechwith quotation marks (“I work in a bank”), or we can use reported speech (He said he worked in a bank.) 
In reported speech the tenses, word-order and pronouns may be different from those in the original sentence. 
Present simple and present continuous tenses

•  Direct speech: “I travel a lot in my job” Reported speech: He said that he travelled a lot in his job.

The present simple tense (I travel) usually changes to the past simple (he travelled) in reported speech.

•  Direct speech: “Be quiet. The baby’s sleeping.” Reported speech: She told me to be quiet because the baby was sleeping.

The present continuous usually changes to the past continuous. 
NB:

• “I work in Italy” Reported speech: He told me that he works in Italy.

It isn’t always necessary to change the tense. If something is still true now – he stillworks in Italy – we can use the present simple in the reported sentence. 
Past simple and past continuous tenses

•  Direct speech: “We lived in China for 5 years.” Reported speech: She told me they had lived in China for 5 years.

The past simple tense (we lived) usually changes to the past perfect (they had lived) in reported speech.

•  Direct speech: “I was walking down the road when I saw the accident.”Reported speech: He told me he’d been walking down the road when he’d seen the accident.

The past continuous usually changes to the past perfect continuous. 
Perfect tenses

•  Direct speech: “They’ve always been very kind to me”. Reported speech:She said they’d always been very kind to her.

The present perfect tense (have always been) usually changes to the past perfect tense (had always been).

•  Direct speech: “They had already eaten when I arrived” Reported speech:He said they’d already eaten when he’d arrived.

The past perfect tense does not change in reported speech. 
You can find more information about reported speech in another section.

 Reported speech (2)

Remember that in reported speech we usually change the tense of the direct statement. The present simple tense changes to the past simple, the past simple changes to the past perfect and so on. 
Here are some other points to consider. 
‘Can’ and ‘will’

•  Direct speech: “I can’t remember his name.” Reported speech: She said she couldn’t remember his name.

‘Can’ and ‘can’t’ in direct speech change to ‘could’ and ‘couldn’t’ in reported speech.

•  Direct speech: “I’ll be there for 3 weeks.” Reported speech: He told me he’d be there for 3 weeks.

‘Will’ and ‘won’t’ in direct speech change to ‘would’ and ‘wouldn’t’ in reported speech. 
Other modal verbs

• Direct speech: “You could be right.” Reported speech: I said that he could be right.
• Direct speech: “You must call me.” Reported speech: She said that I must call her.

Other modal verbs don’t change in reported speech. 
Reporting orders, requests and advice

• Direct speech: “Sit down and shut up!” Reported speech: The teacher told me to sit down and shut up.
• Direct speech: “Can you hold this for me please?” Reported speech: He asked me to hold it.
• Direct speech: “You should do more exercise.” Reported speech: He advised me to do more exercise.

Orders, request and advice can be reported using an infinitive. 
Reporting verbs 
There are a number of verbs that we use to report statements. These can make your speech and writing more interesting than simply reporting every word of the direct speech.

• Direct speech: “It wasn’t me who broke the window.” > He denied breaking the window.
• Direct speech: “I’ll help you if you want” > She offered to help.

There are a number of verbs that can be used to report. They include: promise, claim,suggest, advise, refuse, argue, confirm and others.

COPYRIGHT BRITISH COUNCIL 

EXERCISE 1
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3