Grammar: Passive voice on the web-site for teachers and learners of English as a secondary language from a German point of view
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Passive voice
 
Form Function Curriculum Difficulties Situations
present tense:

I         am           called 

He                     introduced
She     is           taken
It                        born

We
You      are
They
  • To stress the

    •    thing done
       more than 
       the doer of 
       it.
  • The doer is 

    •    unknown, 
       of no 
       interest, or 
       of no 
       importance
     
  • By-agent is

    •   generally 
      omitted

    unless there is 
         a further 
         information 
         to complete 
         the sentence 
         (stress on the 
         thing) 

    unless the 
          by-agent is 
          contrasted to 
          another 
          by-agent 
         and therefore 
         especially 
         stressed

        (The burglar 
         wascaught by 
        the caretaker 
        and not by the 
        police.) 
     
     
     
     

     

    		 Klasse 7 / 8:

    is/are done
    was/were done
    can/must/ 
         should be done

    Klasse 9 / 10

    Revision

    Remedial work
    based on

    tenses of to be

    past participles

    irregular verbs

    transitive verbs

    verbs with 2 
         objects

    personal 
         passive

    stress on 
         words in 
         front-position
         and end-position

    contrasting 
         active and 
         passive voice

    		 intralingual
    interferences:
    competing structures:

    People/they/
    someone called me yesterday.

    I had my hair cut.

    It was Shakespeare who wrote Henry VIII.

    interlingual:
    He was injured - Er war /wurde verletzt.

    Verben im Passiv -
    persönl. Passiv

    Verwechslung mit Adjektiven: He was interested in...

    Verwechslung future active voice -
    present passive voice:

    I will catch you -
    I am caught (by you)
    werden als Hilfsverb für die Zukunft und als Hilfsverb für das Passiv

    		 General statements

    News: 
    The car was damaged, 4 people were killed.

    Headlines:

    6M pounds robbed

    Brochures and reports:

    This church was built in.....

    Processes:

    How to make mocassins

    Experiments:

    Columbus' egg

    works of literature:

    Romeo and Juliet was written by W.S.
    Past tense

    I
    He
    She     was     + verb+ed
    It                     or 3rd form
                           
    We
    You   were
    They
    present perfect

    I
    You
    We       have     + verb+ed
    They              or 3rd form
    been                
    He                   
    She     has
    It
    future tense

    It must
       can                 done
       shall    be     + verb+ed
       will              or 3rd form

    They will be prosecuted
    Expressions

    Made in England
    Made of silver
    Used for cleaning

    		 Completing headlines with a past participle
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