Grammar in Use: Dentistry

Part 2

Video: Root Canal Treatment

1. The dental nerve has died.
2. As a patient, you may or may not experience
3.
4.
5.
6.

pain leading up to a root canal.

The commonly referred to dead tooth can lead
to acute, even life-threatening complications.
The necrotic dental nerve tissue can cause acute
infections, called abscesses.
The dentist attempts to close the pulp cavity
tightly.
Bacteria dont have space to multiply.

Video: Root Canal Treatment

7. Saliva contains many different bacteria that can

endanger the success of a root canal treatment.

8. The dentist begins to clear and clean the interior of
the tooth.
9. Most teeth have several canals.
10. However, the temporary sealing material must be
absolutely saliva-proof.
11. Another session must take place no longer than a
week after the initial session.
12. Such teeth can cause trouble even after many years.

PASSIVE VOICE
Active Voice

Passive Voice

The scientist uses new method New method is used by the

scientist

The passive voice is used to show interest in the

person or object that experiences an action rather than
the person or object that performs the action
The passive verb is formed by putting the verb to
be into the same tense as the active verb and adding the
past participle of the active verb.

PASSIVE FORMS
of Simple Tenses
TENSE
Present
SIMPLE

Past
Future

SUBJECT
I
he, she, it
you, we, they
I
he, she, it
you, we, they
I
he, she, it
you, we, they

PREDICATE
am
V3
is
are
was

V3

were
will be

V3

Present simple, Passive Voice

Active sentence : Doctor Smith treats this

patient.
Passive sentence : This patient is treated by
doctor Smith.
----------------------------------------------------------- Active sentence : Doctors review the most
interesting cases every day.
Passive sentence : The most interesting
cases are reviewed every day.

Past simple, Passive Voice

Active sentence: Fleming discovered

penicillin in 1928.
Passive sentence: Penicillin was
discovered in 1928 by Fleming.
----------------------------------------------------------- Active sentence : The doctor examined
these patients yesterday.
Passive sentence : These patients were
examined by the doctor yesterday.

Future simple, Passive Voice

Active sentence : This surgeon will perform

tooth extraction.
Passive sentence : Tooth extraction will be
performed by this surgeon.

PASSIVE FORMS
of Perfect Tenses
TENSE
Present

SUBJECT
I, you, we,
they
he, she, it

PERFECT

Past
Future

I, he, she, it,

they, you, we
I, we
he, she, it,
you, they

PREDICATE
have been

V3

has been
had been

V3

will have
been

V3

Present Perfect, Passive Voice

Active: The doctor has attended to ten

patients this morning.

Passive: Ten patients have been attended
to this morning.
Active: The procedure has produced a
beneficial long-term outcome.
Passive: A beneficial long-term outcome
has been produced by the procedure.

Past Perfect, Passive Voice

Active: They had sent the CT films before

the operation started.

Passive: The CT films had been sent
before the operation started.
Active: The dentist had detected the cause
of gum by 3 p.m. yesterday.
Passive: The cause of gum bleeding had
been detected by the dentist by 3 p.m.
yesterday.

Future Perfect, Passive Voice

Active: They will have estimated the exact

amount of gastric juice before the surgeon

comes.
Passive: The exact amount of gastric juice
will have been estimated before the
surgeon comes.

PASSIVE FORMS
of Continuous Tenses
TENSE

SUBJECT
I
Present

he, she, it
we, you, they
I

CONTINUOUS
Past
Future

PREDICATE
am
is

V3

are
was

he, she, it

was

we, you, they

were

V3

Present Continuous, Passive

Voice
Active: The professor is delivering the lecture at the

moment.
Passive: The lecture is being delivered by the
professor at the moment.
----------------------------------------------------------- Active: The surgeon is extracting the necrotic pulp now.
Passive: The necrotic pulp is being extracted by the
surgeon now.

Past Continuous, Passive Voice

Active: They were carrying the injured

person to the hospital.

Passive: The injured person was being
carried to the hospital.
Active: The dentist was questioning the
patient from 2 to 3 p.m. yesterday.
Passive: The patient was being
questioned by the dentist yesterday from 2
to 3 p.m.

NB!
Future Continuous is not used in Passive

Voice, we use Future Simple instead:

At ten oclock tomorrow Nick will be writing
the letter.
At ten oclock tomorrow the letter will be
written by Nick.

Passive Voice Constructions

passive voice constructions in simple present

and simple past tenses are obligatory (e.g.,

the tolerability of this surgical technique was
examined).
the passive voice provides the effect of
objectivity, thus constituting a prevalent
feature of academic texts.

Contextual Use of Verb Tenses in

Academic Writing
the present tense is appropriate for citations of

sources, in abstracts and background information

(Most physicians argue that it is reasonable to apply
X-ray for early diagnostics);
the present perfect tense is traditionally used in
introduction sections of academic papers (This
method has been considered inappropriate for
treating xerostomia);
the actual research (the results section) is written in
the past tense (Saliva flow in patients was
measured by sialometry)

Video: Pulpitis