Passives C2 sandrasdrawer.blosgpost.com

Grammar

The passive voice

Passives and causatives

Grammar info adapted from Destination C1&C2 - Grammar&VocabularyMann et al.

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INDEX

The passive

Impersonal passive

Avoiding the passive

Causative get/have smth done Causative get someone to do/have someone do

THE PASSIVE

• 1. When we don't know who does/did something
• 2. When it's obvious who does/did something
• 3. When it's not important who does/did something
• 4. To emphasize new information
• (which appears at the end of the sentence)
• 5. To avoid starting clauses with long sentences
• 6. To produce a formal style

1. The flat was burgled last night2. Having been recently introduced , the law called Solo sí es sí is considered controversial.3. The letters and postcards have been delivered early this morning in our office.4. This type of submarine was developed during the WWII by the Americans 5. We were surprised by the number of people trying to leave the city for the long weekend. (More natural than The number of people trying to leave the city for the long weekend surprised us)6. Baggage to be collected here

IMPERSONAL PASSIVE (2 types)

It + verb in passive form + that clause

Common verbs

Accept, agree, argue, assume, believe, calculate, claim, consider, estimate, expect, feel, know, presume, report, say, suggest, suppose, think, understand

It is believed that the Prime Minister will resign tomorrow due to the management.

IMPERSONAL PASSIVE (2 types)

Noun + verb in the passive form + infinitive / perfect infinitive

Common verbs

Agree, assume, believe, claim, consider, estimate, expect, feel, find, guarantee, know, mean, presume, regard, report, say, suppose, think, understand

Tourism is expectd to become a major part of the country's economy

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AVOIDING THE PASSIVE

The passive is not normally used with verbs in the present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future continuous or future perfect continuous. Various prepositional phrases are used to avoid the passive in these tenses, including the following

• Preparations for the flight will be being made as the PM arrives. wrong!
• Preparations for the flight will be in progress as the PM arrives

• At the end of this year, I will have been being trained as a pilot for four years. Wrong!
• At the end of this year, I will have been in training.....

• Vintage cars have been being displayed in the town centre all this week
• Vintage cars have been on display ....
• By the time they took the decision, the problem had been being considered
• By the time they took the decision the problem had been under consideration
• The next railway station has been being built for two years now.
• The new railway station has been under construction for two years now.

• in progress

• in training

• on display

• under consideration

• under construction

Watch out!

• Some verbs are not usally used in the passive. They include intransitive verbs such as appear, arrive, die, etc.

• Many verbs used statively are also not usually used in the passive. They include consist, deserve, fit, have, lack, look, mind, realise, resemble, seem, suit, etc.

• The verb let is not used in the passive when it means "allow", although phrasal verbs with let can be used in the passive
• Alice was clearly guilty, but she was let off with a warning.

• Some verbs can be followed by bare infinitive in active sentences. they are followed by the full infinitive in passive sentences. These verbs include hear, help, make and see.

• We heard July play the piano
• July was heard to play the piano

Causative: get/have something done

Watch out!

1. Actions we arrange for other people to do for us Did you finally get your bracelet fixed? 2. Things we experience (usually negative and not intended) I heard that Susie had her motorbike stolen

In general get is more informal than have in causatives We can use other verbs instead of have or get and keep the causative meaning: need, want and would like I'd like those cars washed, please The structure get sth done can also mean "finish doing smth" We'll set off as soon as I've got the car fixed

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HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE

Use have/get + object + p.p. to mean that we arrange for another person to do smth for us.We can use by, but in many cases the agent is obvious so we omit it.

I'm going to get my eyes tested next week. (=by the optician) I had the parcel delivered to my workplace. (=by the courier)

Notice that we don't usually use get something done in the present perfect. (not Have you got your hair cut?)

HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE

We can also use get + object + past participle to say a)that the person did something themselves or b)something happened by accident. I'll try to get the report finished today (=I'll do it myself) She got her fingers caught in the elevators doors (=by accident)

I'll try to have the report finished today is also possible, but in this case it is unclear if the speaker or another agent is involved.

We can use the verbs want, would like, need + object + past participle to talk about things we need or would like to be arranged to be done. We need (to get) the roof repaired. It's leaking I'd like (to get) this suit cleaned by Thursday

HAVE SOMEONE DO / GET SOMEONE TO DO

We can use have + person object + infinitive OR get + person object + TO infinitive to describe that we are arranging for something to be done for us. We use these forms when we want to specify who the person doing the job is. I would like to have an optician test my eyes We need to get a professional plumber to fix this.

GET SOMETHING TO DO / DOING

We use get + object + TO infinitive to say that we managed or didn't manage to make something work. She got the engine to start on againI couldn't get the key to fit in the lock.

We sometimes use get + object + ing to talk about things we manage to set in motion. I'd like to get the discussion going with a question about...How did you manage to get the washing machine working again?

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