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Unit 15 The passive

Oxford Living Grammar explains how grammar works and when to use it. The
exercises use real-life situations to practise grammar in context. This lesson
consolidates your students’ knowledge of the passive with the opportunity to
practise in the context of talking about the news.

Lesson length: 45 mins

Aim: 1. to review the form of the passive and compare the use of the active and passive.
2. to review and extend vocabulary for talking about the news and crime.

Preparation:
n Prepare a desk for role play in front of the class.
n Prepare some flashcards of actions, scenes or objects for students to describe (The apple is being
eaten; the room has been painted; Hamlet was written by Shakespeare; etc)
n You will need a copy of the following for each student/pair of students:
Handout: The passive/Tonight’s news
Activity worksheet: Oxford Word Skills Unit 35 - I can talk about crime

Grammar Review:
n Write the following words on the board. Keep the pairs of words separate:
chocolate jam credit cards wheels paper denim
fruit wood plastic jeans cocoa rubber
n Give students two minutes to match the pairs of items in pairs. Check the answers orally as a class. Use
the passive, but don’t focus students’ attention on the grammar at this point.
Chocolate is made from cocoa. Jam is made from fruit.
Paper is made from wood. Jeans are made of denim.
Wheels are made of rubber. Credit cards are made of plastic.
n Write on the board:
Credit cards ......... of plastic. (made)
Credit cards ......... for the first time in the 1950s. (used)
n Ask students to complete the sentences using the words in brackets; ask one or two confident students
to write the missing words in the sentences on the board.
n Ask: “What is the focus of the first sentence? The credit cards or the people who made them?”
[The credit cards.] Ask: “What is the focus of the second sentence? The credit cards or the people
who used them?” [The credit cards.]

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n Write the following two sentences on the board:

a. An American company invented the credit card.
b. The credit card was invented by an American company.
Ask: “Do these sentences have the same meaning? [Yes.] “Do the sentences have the same
emphasis?” [No.] “Which sentence is in the passive? [b.]
n Elicit that we use the passive when it is not important who does (or did) the action, or we don’t know
who does (or did) it.
n Then highlight the structure.

subject + be + past particple

n Remind the class that the other tenses of the passive are formed by changing the tense of be. Direct
students to the grammar explanation on their handout.

1. Review Activity
n Take your prepared flashcards. Divide the class into pairs and give each pair two flashcards. Take two
yourself and make passive statements to describe the picture (e.g. if your flashcard has a picture of an
airport, say “Passports are being checked. People are waiting. The flight has been called. The gate
has been announced.” etc) Give examples with different verbs, such as . . . is being . . ., has been. . ., is
made of . . ., . . . was invented by . . . if students need extra guidance.
n Feed back as a class. Elicit passive statements with a variety of tenses where possible. Invite students to
write sentences on the board.

2. Contextualized Activity (from ‘review’ to ‘free use’)

n Speaking to the class: “We are in the newsroom of a TV station.”
Write “Good evening and welcome to the news.” on the board. Direct student’s attention to handout:
Tonight’s news and ask students to focus on the headlines at the top. Ask students to call out (or jot
down on paper) other possible news stories.

Task Instructions:
A. Ask each pair to complete exercise B. Check the answers as a class, then ask for volunteers to come
up to the ‘news desk’ to read the stories.
B. Distribute Oxford Wordskills handout. Change partners. In pairs, ask students to write news headlines
and a short news story (like the ones in exercise B) using the passive and the vocabulary from Oxford
Word Skills if they wish.
C. Ask several pairs to read out their news stories at the ‘news desk’. Monitor for the correct use of the
passive.

HOMEWORK/EXPANSION
If you want your students to revise a variety of tenses in the passive, ask them to complete exercise G:
Crime report from the Downloadable Unit.
If you want your students to have further freer practice, ask them to write their short news stories. The story
must start with:
“Good evening and welcome to the news. Tonight’s top story: ...”

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EXTRA HELP
Do your students remember the topic: the tenses in the passive and a comparison of the active
and the passive? (if not, revisit the presentation sections of Oxford Living Grammar Pre-intermediate
Unit 15)
Do your students need more practice?: Try the exercises on pages 1 and 2 to teach typical contexts;
try the exercises on pages 3 and 4 to go further and focus on a specific situation where the grammar
points are mingled.
Have you got the right books to develop and extend vocabulary?: use units from Oxford Word
Skills for ‘I can…’ confidence.

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Handout: The passive Grammar Presentation

15 The passive
Forms, uses, and contexts
1 Some examples of passive sentences: GOING TO PASSIVE
English is spoken all over the world. subject + am/is/are going to + be + past participle
This product was invented in Sweden.
I’m not going to be chosen for the team.
2 We use this pattern to form the passive:
subject + be + past participle Grammar in action
(For details on forming past participles, see p. 14.) 1 We use the passive when the person who ‘does’ the
verb is not important or we don’t know who ‘does’ the
3 The form of be is different for different verb tenses: verb. The object of the verb is
PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE more important, so it becomes
the subject of the sentence and
subject + am/is/are + past participle
we use a passive verb:
I’m employed by a big company. The college was built in 1947.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS PASSIVE (= Some people built the
subject + am/is/are + being + past participle college in 1947.)
The road is being repaired. Here, the college is the subject of the sentence
PAST SIMPLE PASSIVE because the man is talking about the college. He
is not talking about who built the college, and he
subject + was/were + past participle may not know who built it. He uses a passive verb
It was made in China. because the college is not the subject of the verb (the
PAST CONTINUOUS PASSIVE college did not build anything).
subject + was/were + being + past participle
2 We often use the passive in formal contexts, such as
People were being interviewed. public information (rules, signs, brochures, etc.) and
PRESENT PERFECT PASSIVE media reports:
subject + has/have + been + past participle Cycling is not permitted in this area. (Cycling is the
subject of the rule, not who does not allow it.)
He has been given a new job.
Bookings can be made online. (Bookings is the subject
MODAL PASSIVE of the sentence, not the people making them).
subject + modal + be + past participle
Applications must be received before 12 May.

B Tonight’s newsA A bad journey

Complete this story about a journey, using the past simple passive or past continuous
Complete these news stories, using the passive form of the correct
passive form of the verbs in brackets. You will need to use one past continuous
verbs in the box. In eachpassive
paragraph, useone
form and thenegative
same verb tense as the example.
form.
leave create announce
The journeycomplete
to Italy was terrible. First of all, I got to the airport quite late. I
build choose showwasname
driven 0 (drive) there in a taxi, but my taxi got stuck in traffic because the
road 1 World Cup shock
(repair). When I got to the airport, I 2

(tell) that there was a problem and the flight 3

(delay).
The national team Then I
(put) in a seat on the plane nextfor to some very loud children. During
New bridge planned for north
4
the World Cup
the flight, we 5
(give) a really horrible
has meal.
been When we landed, 0my bags
announced and7 it
6
(search) and this took a long time. Everything
A new bridge is going to be built 0 in the north of the contains some surprises. Several
(take out) of them. When I came1 out of the airport, I was too late for the bus to my hotel. I4
country next year. The plan to the 8 new players
had to get a taxi and I (charge) a lot of money for the journey. When
public in June and the work 2
within for the squad9 for theto my room
I finally got to the hotel, all the staff were busy. I (show)
three years. Thousands of new jobs 3
in first time,
and I had to find it myself. It was a terrible way to start the trip. a new captain
that part of the country. 5
and a
58 | Verb forms and structures number of established players
6
out.

C
LG_PREINT.indb 58Ordering online 20/11/08 09:32:07

Complete the information and instructions from a company’s website, using the
© Oxford University Press 2010 Photocopiable page 4
verbs in brackets and the passive forms given after each sentence.
0 All our products can be ordered (order) online. (can)
 Grammar to go! Lesson Link

35 I can talk about crime

A What is crime?
Crime is activity which is against Glossary
the law: for example, if you steal
someone’s property, you are against the law s against the rules of a country. HNC illegal. DEE legal.
committing a crime and breaking steal sth EI stole s take sth belonging to sb else without permission.
the law. Some offences are only EE stolen
minor, e.g. illegal parking; but for property s sth that belongs to you (e.g. a computer, jewellery).
more serious and especially violent commit a crime s do sth illegal.
crimes, e.g. killing or attacking do sth illegal/against the law. DEE obey the law.
break the law s
someone, a person could go to
offence s an illegal activity. HNC crime. (The person is an
prison for a long time.
offender / a criminal.)
spotlight crime minor s not important. DEE serious.
The noun crime can be countable violent s using force to hurt sb physically. violence C.
and uncountable. kill sb s make sb die.
There are many victims of violent attack sb s start fighting or hurting sb.
crime (J). go to a place where criminals have to stay after
go to prison s
It is a crime (8) to avoid paying tax. committing a crime. HNC go to jail.

1 Circle the verbs below. Don’t circle the other words.

offenceminorkillviolentlawstealcrimeprisoncommitillegal
seriousattackcriminaloffendobey

2 Is the meaning the same or different? Write S or D.

0 steal | take something belonging to someone without permission I
1 illegal | against the law  5 criminal | offender 
2 an offence | a crime  6 commit a crime | break the law 
3 legal | illegal  7 prison | jail 
4 kill someone | attack someone  8 minor crime | serious crime 

3 Complete the sentences using a word from the box. Put the verbs in the correct form.
violent serious against break property steal jail minor violence go attack
0 She did something terrible, and I heard that she m[dj to prison.
1 There is a lot of  in the centre of town at night.
2 A group of boys  the man, but fortunately he wasn’t badly hurt.
3 The young man  my bike and sold it in the market.
4  was stolen from several houses in the street last night.
5 It was a very  crime; several people had to go to hospital.
6 He committed a 
© Oxford University Press 2010 Photocopiable crime, and he’ll probably go to  for a long time. page 5
7 I’ve never  the law.
8 He parked in the wrong place; it was only a  offence, but it’s still  the law.
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B Types of crime
Crime The crime of … Verb Criminal
theft … taking something which He steals cars and sells them. thief
belongs to someone else
without permission.
robbery … stealing from a person or They were planning to rob the bank. robber
place, often using violence.
burglary … entering a building illegally They broke into the house and stole burglar
and stealing things from it. some jewellery.
shoplifting … stealing things from a shop. She stole a skirt from the supermarket. shoplifter
mugging … attacking someone in a He mugged people for their money late mugger
public place in order to steal at night.
from them.
assault … hurting someone physically. He assaulted/attacked 1 attacker
a man. He stabbed1 him.

murder … killing someone deliberately He murdered his neighbour. 2 murderer

(= you wanted or planned to Why did he shoot2 him?
do it)

spotlight steal and rob

You steal money or things, but you rob a person or place.
Someone has stolen my bike. Thieves stole €2000 from the shop.
I was robbed at the football match. They robbed the museum last night.

5 One word in each sentence is wrong. Cross it out.

0 Thieves, robbers, murderers, and burglars
all steal property.
1 Rob, steal, murder, and attacker are all
verbs.
2 Theft, mug, robbery, and assault are all
crimes.
3 Shooting, assaulting, stabbing, and breaking
into are all ways of attacking people physically.
4 Mugging, assault, shoplifting, and murder are
all acts of violence.
5 Mugger, shoplifter, thief, and burglary are all
criminals.

6 Complete the sentences.

0 The thief ijeb[ $1000.
1 Two robbers  into the museum and  three paintings. A guard tried to
stop them, but one robber had a knife and  him in the chest.
2 The driver killed a man, but it wasn’t murder, because he didn’t do it  .
3 Someone  me on the way home last night. He had a gun and said he would
 me if I didn’t give him money and my mobile phone. It was horrible.
4 He will be in prison for the rest of his life for  his wife. He bought a gun and
 her while she was asleep.
5 A  broke into our house and took our jewellery and cameras.
6 The three men  that bank because it was in a very quiet area.

©7 TestPress
Oxford University yourself. Look at the crimes,
2010 Photocopiable and cover the other three columns. Can you
page 6
remember the meanings and the verbs?