PASSIVE VOICE & AVIATION. INTERESTING VIDEO.

EVOLUTION OF MUSIC by PENTATONIX.

THE PASSIVE

Use of Passive BY www.ego4u.com
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

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 I	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.
V. Modales	Active:	Rita	can write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	can be written	by Rita.

Examples of Passive

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 ONE
EXERCISE TWO
EXERCISE THREE
EXERCISE FOUR 

CONCURSO DE COCINA Y TARJETAS NAVIDEÑAS 2013.

CONCURSO DE COCINA NAVIDEÑA 2013.

Concursantes:

Podrán participar todos l@s alumn@s matriculad@s en esta escuela oficial de idiomas para el presente curso 2013/2014. Cada concursante sólo podrá participar con un plato, incluso aquellos alumnos que tengan multimatrícula (matriculados en inglés y alemán).

Modalidades:

Habrá tres modalidades:

- plato salado

- plato dulce

- modalidad de decoración

Se valorará el sabor (modalidades salado y dulce) y la presentación del plato (modalidad de decoración), así como que se trate de platos típicos de estas fechas, ya sean españoles, ingleses, alemanes…

Entrega del plato:

Los platos deberán entregarse  el día 19 de diciembre en el aula  20 A PARTIR DE LAS 18:00 HORAS

Premios:

Se entregarán tres premios: al mejor plato salado, al mejor plato dulce y a la mejor presentación. Los premios consistirán en vales valorados en 30 € cada uno a canjear en la librería Siddhartha. Los platos no se podrán retirar pues serán degustados por el alumnado y miembros del jurado.

Comisión evaluadora:

La comisión evaluadora estará integrada por los miembros del claustro de profesores de la escuela y del consejo escolar.

Aceptación de bases:

Los concursantes, por el hecho de participar en el concurso, aceptan todas las cláusulas de estas bases.

CONCURSO DE TARJETAS DE NAVIDAD.

Concursantes: 

Podrán participar todos l@s alumn@s matriculad@s en esta escuela oficial de idiomas para el presente curso 2011/2012. Cada concursante sólo podrá participar con una tarjeta, incluso aquellos alumnos que tengan multimatrícula (matriculados en inglés y alemán).

Temas:

El tema será el de la Navidad en cualquiera de sus aspectos. Podrá introducirse texto bien en inglés, bien en alemán. Se valorará la calidad y creatividad.

Dimensiones:

El formato de la tarjeta ha de ser de Din A5 (15 x 21 cm).

Plazo de entrega:

El plazo de admisión de los trabajos será desde la publicación de estas bases hasta el día 14 de diciembre a las 21 horas.

Entrega del trabajo:

Los trabajos deberán entregarse en la secretaría del centro.

Premios:

Se entregarán tres premios: 1^er premio, 2º premio y 3^er premio consistentes en vales valorados en 40 €, 30 € y 20 €, respectivamente, a canjear en la librería Idiomátika. Tanto las obras premiadas como las no premiadas permanecerán en la escuela.

Comisión evaluadora:

La comisión evaluadora estará integrada por los miembros del claustro de profesores de la escuela y por compañeros del seminario de artes plásticas del I.E.S. Agustín de Bethencourt.

Aceptación de bases:

Los concursantes, por el hecho de participar en el concurso, aceptan todas las cláusulas de estas bases.

Introducir esta ficha en un sobre cerrado. Graparle un sobre con la tarjeta correspondiente. Poner en el sobre de la tarjeta únicamente el número de la tarjeta e idioma (Ej. Nº1 Inglés/ Nº1 alemán).

VISITA GUIADA AL IAC EN INGLÉS

NARRATIVE TENSES

NARRATIVE TENSES 

Copyright EOI de Mieres, Asturias

 

1. The Past Simple
The Past Simple is used to narrate past events in chronological order:

Alice left her family home in the morning and moved to the big city. What a busy day it was! She sat and looked at the cosy living room around her. At last the house was hers. She gazed out at the London skyline with awe.

 

2. The Past Perfect
The Past Perfect is used to express an action that happened before a definite time in the past.
A writer can use it to re-order the events of a narrative for dramatic effect:

Alice sat and looked at the cosy living room around her. At last the house was hers. What a
busy day it had been! She had left her family home in the morning and had moved to the big
city. She gazed at the London skyline with awe.

 
Notice that had need not be repeated if the subject of both verbs is the same:

She had said goodbye to her mother and (had) caught the train to London.

 
It is not always essential to use the Past Perfect. If it is clear that the events described in the time clause took place before the one in the main clause, the Past Simple can be used.
 

After she said goodbye to her mother, she caught the train to London.

 
If it is important to show that the first action was completed before the second one began, the Past Perfect must be used.

When she had raised sufficient capital, she put in an offer on the house.

 
For reasons of style, it is unwise (and unnecessary) to have to many verbs in the Past Perfect one after another. Once the time aspect of 'past in the past' has been established, the Past Simple can be used as long as there is no ambiguity.

The furniture suited the room perfectly. She had been to auction rooms looking for just the right period pieces, and had found some excellent examples of Regency workmanship. She bought them at good prices, and didn't pay more than five hundred pounds for anything.
 

 

3. The Past Continuous and the Past Perfect Continuous.
The Past Continuous and the Past Perfect Continuous (as with all continuous tenses) express
ideas of activity in progress or repeated activity.
 

She was wearing a green velvet dress.

She was hoping the phone would ring.
She had been arranging and rearranging the rooms for weeks.

 
4. Past Simple, used to, and would for past habits

 
Used to can be used to express past habits and states:
We used to go out a lot. (habit)
He used to be very short tempered. (state)
Would can express typical behaviour. Whereas used to is quite factual, would looks at past
habits rather nostalgically.
We had some lovely holidays by the sea when I was young. We'd spend the day collecting seashells, or we'd go for long walks on the cliffs.
Would can not be used to express past states.(We cannot say *He'd live in a lovely cottage .)
If the past action happened only once (and is therefore not a habit), the Simple Past must be used.

5. 'At the beginning', 'In the end' etc.

 
The words and expressions that tell us when something happens in a story are not all used in quite the same way.
At the beginning (of the story) tells us the chronological point.
In the beginning and at first suggest a contrast later. We expect to hear but later the
circumstances changed.
At the end of (the story) tells us the chronological point.
In the end suggests a contrast earlier. Before, there were problems and uncertainty.
Finally and eventually suggest a long wait. (Finally usually comes before the verb.) The
outcome may be positive or negative.
At last suggests a very long wait. The outcome is positive.

EXERCISE ONE

EXERCISE TWO

EXERCISE THREE

EXERCISE FOUR

ORDER OF ADJECTIVES

Copyright British Council

Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:

He was a nice intelligent young man.
She had a small round black wooden box.

Opinion adjectives:

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:

good	bad	lovely	strange
beautiful	nice	brilliant	excellent
awful	important	wonderful	nasty

Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun:

Food: tasty; delicious
Furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable
People, animals: clever; intelligent; friendly

We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:

Nice tasty soup.
A nasty uncomfortable armchair
A lovely intelligent animal

Usually we put an adjective that gives an opinion in front of an adjective that is descriptive:

a nice red dress; a silly old man; those horrible yellow curtains

We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:

a handsome young man; a big black car; that horrible big dog

Sometimes we have three adjectives, but this is unusual:

a nice handsome young man;
a big black American car;
that horrible big fierce dog

It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.

Adjectives usually come in this order:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
General opinion	Specific opinion	Size	Shape	Age	Colour	Nationality	Material

We use some adjectives only after a link verb:

afraid	alive	alone	asleep
content	glad	ill	ready
sorry	sure	unable	well

S
ome of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
annoyed;  finished;  bored; pleased; thrilled
We say:

Our teacher was ill.
My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed

but we do not say:

We had an ill teacher.
When he heard the news he was a very glad uncle
He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman

A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:

north south east west

northern southern eastern western

countless occasional lone

eventful indoor outdoor

We say:

He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new machinery.

but we do not say:

The district he lives in is eastern
The problems with the new machinery were countless.

Try these tasks to improve your adjective ordering.

EXERCISE 1
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3