Unit 22: Beyond the planets

Present and past passive

Meaning and use
In English, we can talk about the present and past in both the active voice and passive
voice. The active voice focuses on the agent or person or thing doing the action.
Alice sent Mary a birthday card.
Many people listen to pop music.
The passive voice focuses on the receiver of the action.
Mary was sent a birthday card by Alice.
Pop music is listened to by many people.
We use the passive for a number of reasons. We may be more interested in the action than
the person or thing (agent) performing the action. In this case, it may be left out completely.
First, the onion was washed and then sliced.
Next, it was fried and mixed with red peppers.
Finally, it was added to the beef and cooked for fifteen minutes.
We may also leave the agent out if it is unimportant, unknown or obvious to the listener.
The bank robbers were arrested.
Davids bike was stolen last week.
No survivors were discovered at the crash site.

Form
The passive is made with subject + to be + past participle. Note that the active voice object
becomes the passive voice subject. The verb to be is used to express both present
tense and past tense.
Positive
Millions of photographs are taken every day.
The internet is used by people all over the world.
My sister was bitten by a dog.
Negative
Japanese isnt widely spoken outside Japan.
We werent seated until well after nine oclock.
Our new washing machine wasnt delivered on time.
Question
Were you given a name tag when you arrived?

Is your form filled out correctly?

Are these fish caught locally?

Take note: identifying the passive

Unlike in the active voice, the main verb in the passive is always the past participle.
In the passive, the agent or doer of a verb is always introduced with by.

Take note: past participle as adjective

In passive sentences, the past participle sometimes acts as an adjective.
The restaurant was closed all day.

Spoken English
While the passive is commonly used in formal or academic written English, it is more common
to hear the active voice in spoken English.

6 Minute Vocabulary
Noun - Example
a honk - I heard a honk, then a car came around the corner.
a buzz - There was a buzz of conversation in the audience
a bleep - That bleep means that my battery is dying.
a hum - There's a problem with my TV. It's making a loud hum.
a rumble - We saw the lightning, then we heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.
a rustle - There was a rustle in the bushes, then the fox appeared.
Verb - Example
to zoom - The motorbike zoomed down the road.
to honk - Don't honk at me! I'm driving safely!
to blare - I can't sleep because of the music blaring next door.
to buzz - There was a mosquito buzzing around the room.
to bleep - My phone bleeps whenever I get a text message.
to hum - I can hear something humming in the kitchen. Did you leave the dishwasher on?
to rumble - The train rumbled down the track.
to rustle - He rustled the pages of the newspaper.

6 Minute Vocabulary
Onomatopoeia
Rob
Our subject for today is onomatopoeia. That means, words that sound like the thing they
mean. And Catherine and I will be trying to demonstrate some of these words today.
Catherine
Yes, like that sound most people's phones make when you get a text messages. We call that
sound a beep.

Catherine
That's onomatopoeia: the word sounds like the thing it means. Beep!
Rob
There are lots of examples of onomatopoeia in the English language, and we'll take a look at
some of them on today's show.
Catherine
So let's start with a clip of Oliver. And he's talking about living in the city.
Rob
How does Oliver feel about city life?
Oliver
It's too noisy for me! All the cars zooming around and honking their horns, music blaring in
shops, machines buzzing and bleeping even at night, it isn't quiet, you can still hear the
fridge humming, and the rumble of the traffic outside. Then I wish I was far away from the
city, sleeping in a tent, with no sound except the rustle of the wind in the trees.
Rob
Oliver said it's too noisy for him.
Catherine
I know how he feels London: same. Anyway, here's another question: what words did Oliver
use to talk about the sounds of the city in the daytime? Listen again.
All the cars zooming around and honking their horns, music blaring in shops,
machines buzzing and bleeping.
Rob
Lots of lovely vocabulary there! Oliver talked about cars zooming around. Zoom, spelt z - o
o m - is a verb, which means 'to move very quickly, making a zooming sound'.
Catherine
Then he mentioned the cars honking their horns. A honk spelt h o n k - is a short,
loud sound like a car horn makes. Honk honk!
Rob
OK, next, Oliver talked about music blaring. The verb to blare: that's b l a r e, means
'to make a loud, unpleasant sound' like music that's much too loud. Blaring!!!
Catherine
and Oliver also mentioned machines bleeping and buzzing. Now a bleep
Catherine
That's one b l double e p - is a short, high sound, which electronic devices make.
Something like this: Bleep, bleep, bleep. That sounds like a heart monitor.
Catherine
And a buzz - that's b u z z - is a low, continuing sound, like machines and insects make.

Rob
the sounds of the city don't stop, even at night. Here's Oliver.
you can still hear the fridge humming, and the rumble of the traffic outside.
Catherine
So he can hear the fridge humming. The word hum h u m - describes a low,
continuous sound. And a hum [HUMMMMMMMM] is different from a buzz[BUZZZZZZZZ]!
Catherine
Oliver also spoke about the rumble of the traffic out in the street. Now, a rumble r u m
b l e - is a bit like a buzz, but there's a difference a buzz[BUZZZZZZZZZ] continues
without changing, but a rumble goes up and down, like the wheels of a truck on rough ground
going rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
Rob
Rumble. You carry on rumbling.
Rob
Finally, Oliver spoke about the sound of the wind in the trees. Listen out for the word he used.
Then I wish I was far away from the city, sleeping in a tent, with no sound except the
rustle of the wind in the trees.
Rob
Rustle describes the sound of the wind, A rustle is a soft, dry, moving sound. It's speltr u
s t l e. And in pronunciation, the t is silent, so it's rustle. Rustle, rustle, rustle
Catherine
And our subject today is onomatopoeia words that sound like the thing they describe. And
it's time for a quiz! Question one. Rob, what sound does a car horn make?
Rob
Easy, it's a honk! Question two: what sound does a fridge make?
Catherine
And it's hum. And the last question: what sound does the wind make in the trees?
Rob
The correct answer is rustle.
Catherine
here's an idea to help you remember new vocabulary: choose one of your favourite songs in
your first language, and write some new words for it, in English.
Rob
Yes, and then, practise singing your song! It will help you to remember the new words.

Using the passive voice

Why do we use the passive voice?
Have a look at this sentence:
NASA launched its final shuttle flight in 2011.
This is in the active voice. To understand this, think about who or what does the action in the
sentence and who or what receives the action. In this case, the action is the
verb launch. NASA does the action and the final shuttle flight receives the action. We
sometimes call the person or thing that does the action the agent, and the person or thing
that receives the action the receiver.

When the action (or the receiver) is more important than the agent
Now look at the grammar of this sentence. How is it different?
The final shuttle flight was launched in 2011.
The receiver (the final shuttle flight) has moved to the beginning of the sentence, and the
agent (NASA) has disappeared. So one reason we use the passive voice is because we are
more interested in the action, or the receiver of the action, than who or what did it. Here
are some more examples of active and passive sentences. The receiver of the action is
in bold, to show you how it moves to the beginning of the sentence to put emphasis on the
action or the receiver of the action. Also, try to notice how the agent can be left out.
NASA sent its first reusable space shuttles into space in 1981.
The first reusable space shuttles were sent into space in 1981. (We are more
interested in the sending into space.)
America launched its first shuttle into orbit over 30 years ago.
The first space shuttle was launched into orbit over 30 years ago. (We are more
interested in the launching.)
Space shuttle explosions killed 14 astronauts.
14 astronauts were killed in space shuttle explosions. (We are more interested that
they were killed.)

When the agent is unknown, unimportant or obvious

We also use passive sentences when the agent is is unimportant, unknown or obvious. We
often leave the agent out of these sentences.
The bank robbers were arrested. (We do not need to say it was the police.)
David's bike was stolen last week. (We don't know who did it.)
Three survivors were found at the crash site. (It's not important who found them.)

By + the agent
If we want to include the agent in a passive sentence, we do with the word by after the verb:
The final shuttle flight was launched by NASA in 2011.
The robbers were arrested by Officer Smith.

So, we use the passive voice for these reasons:

We are more interested in the action than the agent (the person or thing who does the
action)
We are more interested in the receiver than the agent
The agent is not important, not known, or it's obvious

Making the passive voice

Rockets are still launched into space these days
So far you've seen some examples of sentences in the passive voice. You've looked at why
we use passive voice sometimes in English, when we are more interested in the action,
or when the agent/doer of the action is unimportant, unknown or obvious.
How do we form passive sentences? Read the grammar explanation and then try our quiz.
Read the text and complete the activity
Here are some of the passive sentences we've seen so far. Pay close attention to the verb
form.
The final shuttle flight was launched in 2011.
The first reusable space shuttles were sent into space in 1981.
The bank robbers were arrested.

Those sentences are all in the past simple. Here are some examples in the present simple.
English is spoken by millions of people around the world.
Millions of photographs are taken every day.

Form
The passive is made with subject + to be + past participle. When we want to include the
agent/doer of the action, we use by.
Positive

The internet is used by people all over the world.

Millions of babies are born every day.

The rocket was launched successfully.

The survivors were eventually found unharmed.

Negative

Japanese isn't widely spoken outside Japan.

Rockets aren't launched into space every day.
Our new washing machine wasn't delivered on time.
The suspects weren't charged due to lack of evidence.

Questions

Is your form filled out correctly?

Are these materials written by the BBC Learning English team?
Was the rocket launched successfully?
Were you given an ID card when you arrived?

Session Grammar
In English we can talk about when 'A' does something to 'B' in two different ways. In this
example, NASA is 'A' and the final shuttle is 'B'
Active voice
NASA launched the final shuttle in 2011.
Passive voice
The final shuttle was launched by NASA in 2011.
We use the passive voice when...
we are more interested in the action than the agent
we are more interested in the receiver of the action than the agent
the agent (or doer) is unimportant, unknown or obvious
The passive is made with subject + to be + past participle:
The shuttle was launched in 2011.
The bank robbers were arrested.
English is spoken by many people around the world.
We use by to talk about the agent in passive sentences.
The Colombia shuttle was launched by NASA over 30 years ago.
The missing watch was found by a ten-year-old boy.

6 Minute Grammar
Present and past passives
Neil
Today we're talking about the passive voice.
Rob
Yes, the passive voice. In English, we can talk about things in both the active and passive
voice.
Neil
Yes. And we're going to start with the active voice. And here's Mike with our first example.
Mike
Pharrell Williams sang the song Happy.
Neil
And in grammatical terms, we've got the subject - Pharrell Williams, then the verb, sang,
then the object of the verb - the song Happy. And that is an example of the active voice
because the performer of the action, the doer, is at the beginning of the sentence - Pharrell.
Were focusing on the person or the thing that does the action of the verb.
Rob
So far so good - but what if we want to focus on what receives the action? That's the object in
the active sentence. What if we're more interested in the song than we are in the singer? Can
we put the song Happy at the beginning of the sentence?
Neil
Well yes, we can, but the grammar needs to change. Listen carefully:
Mike
The song Happy was sung by Pharrell Williams.
Neil
So now the receiver of the action - The song Happy - comes first. It changes place with the
doer. And because we've changed the sentence structure, we need to make two changes to
the sentence. First, we need to add the verb to be, in the correct form. Second, we have to
use the past participle of the verb.
Neil
Let's listen to those two sentences one more time. Active voice:
Mike
Pharrell Williams sang the song Happy.

Neil
And passive voice:
Mike
The song Happy was sung by Pharrell Williams.
Rob
Thanks Mike. And the two sentences have exactly the same meaning, don't they, Neil?
Neil
They do. They have exactly the same meaning. So you might be wondering why we need two
different ways of saying the same thing.
Rob
I was wondering... But, the good thing about passive sentences is that we can give the
receiver of the action more importance in our sentence by putting it at the start, but that's not
the only reason that the passive voice is useful, right Neil?
Neil
Right! The passive voice is really useful when we don't know who or what performed the
action - or if everyone knows it. So we don't need to say it.
Mike
Millions of cars were sold in 2012.
Neil
So that's a passive sentence with millions of cars at the start. Then we've got the verb to
be plus the past participle - were sold - and then for the doer of the action - well, there is no
doer.
Rob
Well, actually, we don't have to have a doer in a passive sentence, so, if the doer is not really
important, or if it's obvious, we can leave it out. We know that some people bought all these
millions of cars. But we don't have to say it.
Neil
Yeah. So we leave the performer of the action out if it's not important or if everybody knows.
Rob
Right. You can also leave the doer out if you don't know it, like this:
Mike
My bicycle was stolen last weekend.
Rob
And we're talking about the passive voice. Now to make tenses in the passive voice, we
change the form of the verb to be. Here's a present tense example:

Mike
Millions of songs are downloaded every day.
Neil
And a past tense example:
Mike
15 million songs were downloaded yesterday.
Rob
And now - it's time for a quiz. Change these sentences from active into passive, and
remember, you might not need a doer. Number one: People speak Spanish in Cuba and
Chile.
Neil
And the answer is: Spanish is spoken in Cuba and Chile. Number two: The police arrested
ten people last night.
Rob
And the answer is: Ten people were arrested last night. OK, last one: Brazil won the 1994
World Cup.
Neil
Ah, I remember it well! The 1994 World Cup was won by Brazil.
Rob
So that's the passive voice. We use it to give importance to the receiver of the action of a
verb, or when we dont know who did it or everyone knows it.