The Passive

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Choose the sentence in the passive.

1. The Headmaster gives the present.
2. The Headmaster is giving the present.
3. The present was given to the Headmaster.
4. The Headmaster gave the present.

Why is the passive form useful?

1. to talk about things without knowing who did them
2. to talk about things without focussing on who did them
3. focussing on who did something
4. active sentences are too direct

Choose the passive sentence.

1. The zookeeper picked up the leaves.
2. The woman was sweeping the floor.
3. Leaves were swept up.
4. The people were laughing.

Choose the sentence in the passive.

1. Our book was handed to our teacher.
2. We will hand our book to the teacher.
3. We hand our book to the teacher.
4. We're going to hand our book to the teacher.

Choose the sentence in the passive

1. Our maths teacher graded the tests.
2. Our maths teacher is grading the tests.
3. Our maths teacher grades the tests.
4. The tests were graded by our maths teacher.

The thief was caught right after the robbery.

The student was hit by a green car.

I am walking in the forest right now.

My manager was fired the other day.

My bike was stolen last week.

She broke up with me on Valentine's day.

Active

Passive

Passive

Passive

Active

Active

The secretary writes an email

The musicians play another song

The emails are sent by the secretary now

The songs were played in a different order

Active

Passive

Passive

Active

Rewrite in the Passive Voice:
They won the game
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Put into the passive:
Somebody stole my bike.
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Change into the passive:
Storms destroyed villages.
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Which sentence is in the passive voice?

1. The farmer was harvesting the corn.
2. The farmer has harvested the corn.
3. The corn was harvested by the farmer.
4. Harvasting corn is a heavy job.

Change into the passive the passive:
Serena told the truth
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Modal verbs

I didn't feel very well yesterday. I ...... eat anything

1. cannot
2. couldn't
3. musn't

You ...look at me when I am talking to you.

1. could
2. would
3. should

I was using my pencil a minute ago. It ..... be here somewhere!

1. can
2. could
3. must
4. would

You really ..... be late again!

1. must not
2. cannot

Which modal verb?
You ........ smoke at this age.

1. shouldn't
2. cannot
3. must

Which modal verb?
I think you ... listen to him, he's very clever

1. must
2. may
3. should
4. would

Which modal verbs mean: You are allowed to do this:

1. must
2. can
3. have to
4. may

Which 2 are the correct modal verbs for the negative sentence: She ___________ play the piano?

1. cannot
2. might
3. can't
4. would

Phone her now. She ..... home by now.

1. would be
2. must be

Which modal verb
Judging by the clouds, it ... rain today.

1. Might
2. must
3. should
4. shall

Reported Speech

Direct speech:

The teacher said, 'You don't need your books today.'

Change step 1:

'You don't need your books today,' our teacher told us.

Change step 1 (lose quotation marks & comma):

The teacher said, 'You don't need your books.'

The teacher said you don't need your books.

Change step 1:

'You don't need your books today,' our teacher told us.

Change step 2 (change pronouns):

The teacher said you don't need your books.

The teacher said we don't need our books.

Change step 1:

'You don't need your books today,' our teacher told us.

Change step 3 (change verb tense):

The teacher said we don't need our books.

The teacher said we didn't need our books.

Change step 1:

'You don't need your books today,' our teacher told us.

Reported speech (indirect speech):

The teacher said we didn't need our books.

The singer said 'It is a great show.'

The singer said it __ a great show.

He said, 'I work on my project every day.'

He said __ __ on __ project every day.

1. he works - his
2. he works - my
3. he worked - my
4. he worked - his

She said, 'I don't understand your question.'

She said __ __ __ question.

Their aunt said, 'I go on holiday to Spain every year.'