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Past participle
Fill in the table with past participles (p.p.)
Infinitive Simple past Past participle (p.p.)
ask asked asked
begin began begun
break broke
clean cleaned
cook cooked
do did
eat ate
find found
go went
hold held
prepare prepared
write wrote
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When the doer of the action is the subject, the verb is active.
When the doer is not the subject, the verb is passive. In the passive voice, the doer is
usually at the end of the sentence, put after “by”, or is not shown in the sentence.
Passive voice is used when the action is the focus, not the subject. In the passive
voice, the doer of the action is not important or not known.
Form
The form of passive voice construction is verb ‘to be’ + p.p.
Fill in the following table.
Active voice Passive voice
verb ‘to be’ + p.p
Sam eats a cake. A cake is eaten (by Sam).
Sam eats two cakes. Two cakes are eaten (by Sam).
Sam ate a cake yesterday.
Sam ate two cakes yesterday.
Some sentences in this passage are written in the passive voice. Underline the verb
to ‘be’ + p.p. construction. Some has been done for you:
The SCMP is told that some more ancient kitchens are underground. More time
is needed to determine the exact amount of these underground kitchens.
1. Su
bject at the back of the sentence, behind ‘by’/ omit the subject
2. Object becomes the subject in the new sentence
3. Verb: verb ‘to be’ + past participle (e.g. gone, seen, sent, written, built)
(c) In the recent years, the chef prepares some small dishes.
In the recent years, _____________________.
(e) The coffee and tea are freshly brewed. (subject: the waiters)
The waiters brew the coffee and tea fresh.
Choose a dish that you can cook using the following ingredients. Write 3-5
sentences to talk about the ingredient.
Then, read the sentences to your neighbor and ask your neighbor to guess your
dish.
Let’s cook!
Starch Vegetables Meat Seasoning
1. ________________________________is used.
2. _______________________________________.
3. _______________________________________.
4. _______________________________________.
5. _______________________________________.
I made ___________________________!
Create some more questions about food in the passive voice, and ask your
neighbor.
Usage
Watch the video clips from some TV shows and fill in the blanks. Circle the
correct choice.
1st clip
Man 1: Hey! What happened?
Man 2: We ________________. _________ voice
Man 1: By whom?
Man 2: I don’t know
2nd clip
Man 1: His neck has been broken. __passive__ voice
Man 2: That’s because I ________ it. __________ voice
3rd clip
(Talking about Tom)
Male lawyer: Well, how ___ he ____ Wagner? _______ voice
Female lawyer: Objection.
Male lawyer: Withdrawn! How ___ Wagner ____? _______ voice
4th clip
(Talking about torture in American prisons)
Obama: So, there were a lot of people who did a lot of
things right, and _______ very hard to keep us _______ voice
safe, but I think that any fair-minded person
looking at this would say that some terrible
mistakes __________. _______ voice
(a) “What did Ashley eat for “The cookies were eaten (by
dinner?” Ashley).”
Explanation: The focus of Question (b) is on the cookies. It is not important to know
who ate them.
Draw lines to match the questions on the left with the correct answers on the right.
Explain your choice to your neighbour.
Draw lines to match the sentences on the left with the correct intention or effect on
the right. Explain your choice to your neighbour.
(f) “I broke the window.” The speaker did not want to tell
who broke the window.
Draw lines to match the sentences on the left with the correct intention or effect on
the right. Explain your choice to your neighbour.
(g) “My parents buy me the new The speaker sounded like a
iPhone 6S.” spoilt child.
(h) “A new iPhone 6S is bought.” The speaker did not want to tell
who buys the new phone.
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Choose the passage which is more suitable in the situation. Explain your reason.
You may use the following words to help you.
(2) An article titled The Legislative Council Building written by the Antiques and
Monuments Office taken from p. 8, History textbook
A B
Someone built The Old Supreme The Old Supreme Court was built
Court on reclaimed land. The governor on reclaimed land. The building was
opened the building. Some stone opened by the governor. The two-story
columns support the building. granite building is supported by some
stone columns.
(3) An article titled Life in Stone Age from p. 36-37, History textbook
A B
Old Stone Age people built simple huts. Simple huts were built. Animals were
They hunted animals. They used spears hunted. Spears and axes were used.
and axes. New Stone Age people made Pottery was made. Livestock, such as
pottery. They kept livestock, such as chickens and pigs were kept. Ploughs
chickens and pigs. They also used were used to farm.
ploughs to farm.
Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________
____________________________________________________________
(5) An article titled How We Study History from p. 17, History textbook
A B
Historians divides history into different History is divided into different historic
historic periods. Historians collect periods. Different kinds of sources are
different kinds of sources. Historians collected. Primary sources are mainly
mainly use primary sources when used when studying history.
studying history.
Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________
____________________________________________________________
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This is a draft welcoming speech for the school Food Week. It contains sentences
written in the passive voice. You think that using the active voice is more appropriate in
speeches.
Good morning Ms Lo, Mr Yee, teachers, and fellow schoolmates,
can be played by you. You can come to the covered playground during recess time
(d)
to play games about food. Also, TV shows about food can be watched by you. For
any enquiries, please contact Chairman of the Food Club. Thank you.
Rewrite the underlined sentences in active voice.
(a) _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
(b) _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
(c) _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
(d) _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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These sentences are from a tray liner from the KFC fast food restaurant. Convert
the sentences from active voice to passive voice, or vice versa.
Our chickens are purchased from quality suppliers. (Use subject ‘we’)
_____________________________________________
KFC staff will discard those products which are not up to standard.
_____________________________________________
Do you think the active and passive voices are used appropriately on the tray liner?
Explain.
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All tickets to the China vs Hong More than 2500 people are
Kong football match are _____________ (kill) in an
_____________ (sell) earthquake in Iran.
Gossip column Science
Choose one piece of new item from above, write 3-5 sentences about it in the
passive voice. Then, discuss the news item with your neighbor.
(1) ________________________________________________
(2) ________________________________________________
(3) ________________________________________________
(4) ________________________________________________
(5) ________________________________________________
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Challenging Questions
Fill in the blanks with the correct verbs to complete the proverbs. Search the
internet for help if you need. Make sure the tense and voice are correct.
Turn these sentence into the active voice. If you cannot, why not?
- Dim sum are prepared by either frying or steaming.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
To know more about passive voice, look for the topics ‘voice’,
‘adverbials’, ‘end weight’, ‘end focus’, ‘agency’, ‘transitivity’ and
‘indirect objects’ in an advanced grammar book.
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Sources
Graphs and photos adapted from South China Morning Post,
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1644516/discovery-relics-sha-tin-centr
al-mtr-site-has-cost-hk3-billion; www.lightbulbbooks.com; and internet sources.