We don’t use get + past participle with verbs describing states:

He was known to be a highly effective senior police officer, (not He got known to he ...)
We can use either have + object + past participle or (more informally) get + object +
past participle:
• to say that someone arranges for someone else to do something for them:
Virtually every person in my road has had/got a burglar alarm fitted recently.
• to say that something unexpected, and usually unpleasant, happens to someone:
Ihad my TV and stereo taken, or very informally I got my TV and stereo taken.
We can use a reflexive pronoun with get (not have) to suggest that the subject was
responsible for the event:
People will think more carefully about committing a crime if they know they're going to get
themselves arrested.

C Grammar exercises
W Complete these texts with the appropriate form, active or passive, of the verb.

Acupuncture (1) . b&zn _ practised _ (practise) in China for over 3000 years, and today

it (2)................................(widely use) alongside conventional medicine. In traditional

Chinese medicine, no symptom (3).................................(view) in isolation. Instead, the

body and the mind (4)..............................(evaluate) together. The goal of acupuncture

(5)...............................(be) to create harmony in the body by restoring the flow of

Qi (pronounced ‘chee’). This (6)...............................(consider) to be the life force

involved in all body functions. Qi (7).............................(collect) in the organs and

1
 (8 ).............................(travel) through energy channels in the body. Acupuncturists

(9 ).............................(believe) that diseases (10)..................................(occur) when the

circulation of Qi (11).................................(prevent), whether by injuries, heat, cold or other

factors. By redirecting the flow of Qi, acupuncture can (12)................................(help) cure

disease

.
The passive

The first mobile phones (1)................................(construct) in Stockholm in the 1950s - but

were not very mobile! They could only (2)...............................(use) in cars because the

receiver and transmitter (3)...............................(weigh) over 40 kilos and had to

(4)................................(carry) in the boot. But technology (5)....................................(advance)

so quickly that by the 1990s mobiles could (6)................................(hold) in the hand

and people talking on their mobiles (7)...............................(become) a familiar sight

everywhere from trains to restaurants. Of course, not everyone welcomed mobiles,

and in the mid-1990s their use (8)................................(ban) from many schools to

prevent children using them in classrooms. Even recent research which

(9)................................(suggest) that prolonged exposure to emissions from mobiles might

be a health hazard (10)................................(not discourage) their use, and analysts now

(11................................ ) (predict) that by 2025, 95% of all electronic communication

(12................................ ) (conduct) by mobile phone.

2
 | Write passive sentences with a similar meaning to the first. Start with the word(s)
given and use the verb in italics. In some cases, the passive is not possible.
1 They paid him a million dollars to appear in the film.
ff<z was.paid_ a.' million # dollars.to _appear in the .-film-.............................................

2 His name is Robin, but his friends call him Bobby.

His name is Robin, but...........................................................................................................

3 Dr Davies demonstrated the procedure to us in the chemistry lab.

We.............................................................................................................................................

4 The managing director will announce the news to staff later today.

The news..................................................................................................................................

5 They have offered me a new job in Hungary.

I...................................................................................................................................................................

6 People saw him push the goalkeeper just before he scored.

He..............................................................................................................................................

7 The medical staff have declared the surgery a complete success.

The surgery..............................................................................................................................

8 We watched the rescuers pull the man from the sea.

The rescuers.............................................................................................................................

9 My English teacher suggested the idea to me.

I...................................................................................................................................................................

10 My uncle bought me this necklace when he was in Zimbabwe.

This necklace

3
 Bi Complete the conversations using the pairs of verbs in the box. Use be + past participle, get +
(object) + past participle, or have + (object) + past participle. Add the object in brackets where
this is supplied and give alternatives where possible.
own - break into rob - steal cut - clean catch - infect wake up - throw out

1 A: Did you hear about Natasha?

B: What happened?

A: She . / . jjot _ robb&l on her way to college.

B: No! Is she okay?

A: Yes, she’s fine, but she................................(her handbag)

2 A: You’re looking tired.

B: I...............................early by my neighbour’s dog.

A: Don’t they keep it inside at night?

B: Usually, yes, but I think it must...............................because it was barking so much.

3 A: James looked different somehow.

. (his B: He’d hair)
A: Yes, and I think he’d
It looked much smarter! (his jacket)
4 A: What an amazing house!
by Jason B: It Norman. You know, the rock singer.

A: I know him, yes.

B: The problem is, he’s never there, and it keeps

5 A: What happened to your coat?

on some barbed wire as I was climbing over a fence. I hurt my
B: I
arm, too. (it)
A: Ouch. That looks nasty. You ought to go to the doctor. It might
r Rewrite the underlined part of the sentence using a passive form where possible. If it is
not possible, write ‘No passive,.
1 When they invited Malcolm to give the main presentation at the conference he was
delighted and wrote immediately to accept.
Malcata. was.. invited. .to. .$m............................................................................................
2 During our military training they made us run five kilometres before breakfast.

3 Sandra felt that the pay and conditions at Trimco were unsatisfactory, and many
of her colleagues seemed to support her.

4 We wanted Barbara to come to the party.

5 I still have only a very vague memory of the explosion. I remember someone
asking me to leave the building because there was a gas leak, but not much after
that.

6 She was really unhappy that they hadn’t picked her for the team.

7 Although at first the children were frightened by Mr Jennings’ strictness, after a

few weeks most of the children in the class came to like him.

8 They caught him trying to break into an expensive sports car.

9 More than anything else, our cat likes people tickling him behind the ears.

10 My children impressed me yesterday. They did all the washing and ironing
without anyone asking them.

11 Someone heard her remark that Nicholas was too old for the job.

12 Henry performed badly in the last match, and we need him to play better this week.

13 People expect over 100,000 demonstrators to march through the capital in protest
against the government’s decision to go to war.