Module Six (based on “New Headway” units 11 & 14
PART 1: Grammar structures
THE PASSIVE
to be + past participle of verb (for regular verbs = +ed )
FORM – simple present
am/is/are + past participle
Where is English spoken? English is spoken all over the world.
French isn’t spoken in Iceland.
FORM – simple past
was/were + past participle
My car was stolen last night. Where was it parked? It wasn’t parked in a safe area.
FORM – present perfect
has/have been + past participle
They haven’t been invited to the party. Why haven’t they been invited? They have been
ignored.
FORM – will
will be + past participle
How many cars will be produced next year? The cars will be sold in the UK. They won’t be
sold in China.
Short answers
Are cars made in your country?
Were the plants watered last night?
Has my car been repaired?
Will these cars be produced next year?
Yes, they are./No, they aren’t.
Yes, they were./No, they weren’t.
Yes, it has./No, it hasn’t.
Yes, they will./No, they won’t.
1. The rules for tense usage in the passive are the same as in the active.
2. The object of an active verb becomes the subject of a passive verb.
Active: Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. (Hamlet = Object)
→ Passive: Hamlet was written by Shakespeare. (Hamlet = Subject)
3. We choose either the passive or the active depending on what we are more interested
in.
Hamlet was written in 1600 (We are more interested in Hamlet)
Shakespeare wrote comedies, histories and tragedies. (We are more interested in
Shakespeare)
4. Some verbs (give, send, show, etc.) have two objects, a person and a thing.
She gave me a book for my birthday.
In the passive we usually make the person the subject, not the thing.
I was given a book for my birthday.
She was sent the information by post.
You will be shown where to sit.
5. The passive infinitive (to be + -ed) is used after modal auxiliary verbs and other verbs
which are followed by an infinitive.
Driving should be banned in city centres.
The house is going to be knocked down.
EXERCISES 1 & 2 on actives and passives.
Before looking at reported statements we need to review another tense: the past perfect.
The past perfect is formed by using had + the past participle (+ed)
positive and negative
I
He/she/it
‘d (had)
arrived before 10.00
We/you/they
hadn’t
questions
short answers
Yes, he had.
I
No, they hadn’t.
Had
he/she/it
left?
we/you/they
USE
The past perfect is used to express an action in the past which happened before another
action also in the past.
When I got home, John had cooked a meal.
Action 2
Action 1
N.B. Notice the difference in meaning of the following sentences according to the tenses
used:
When I got home, John cooked a meal. (= first I got home, then John cooked a
meal)
When I got home, John had cooked a meal. (=John cooked a meal before I got
home)
EXERCISE 3 on the past perfect.
REPORTED STATEMENTS
FORM
The usual rule is that the verb moves ‘one tense back’
Direct speech
Present (+ Pres. Continuous)
‘I love you.’
‘I’m going out now.’
Indirect speech
→ Past (+ Past Continuous)
→ He said he loved me.
→ Ann said she was going out.
Present Perfect
‘We’ve met before.’
→ Past Perfect
→ She said they’d met before.
Past Simple
‘We met in 1997.’
→ Past Perfect
→ He said they’d met in 1997.
will
‘I’ll mend it for you.’
→ would
→ She said (that) she would mend it
for me.
→ could
→ She said she could swim.
can
‘I can swim.’
Note the use of say & tell:
say + (that)
She said (that) they were happy together.
tell + person (that)
He told me (that) he loved Mary.
EXERCISES 4 & 5 on reported speech.
Now listen to the interview with the writer Carmen Day, who wrote ‘One short hot summer’.
Then complete this report of the interview with the correct verb forms.
EXERCISE 6 Complete what Mary actually (= really) says about John.
What did Mary tell you?
What does Mary say?
She told me/said that …..
she loved John very much.
they had met 6 months ago.
she had never been in love before.
they were very happy.
she would love him forever.
she was seeing him that evening.
“I ………………………… John very much.
“We …………………………. 6 months ago.
“I ……………………………… in love before.
“We ………………………………. very happy.
“I ………………………………… him forever.
“I ……………………………… him this evening.
Practice for PET Tests: Reading and sentence transformations
Reading Part 1Look at the text in each question.What does it say? Choose the correct
letter A, B or C.
Answers: 6. …………………
7. …………………
8. …………………
9. …………………
10. …………………