Active or passive?

Exercise 1. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct active or passive tense.

1. This tree is very old. It was planted (plant) in the 19th century. 2. This piece of music _________ (not / record) yet. I’ve just composed it. 3. The thieves ________ (steal) the jewellery from the safe yesterday. 4. We began work early, but we _________ (not / finish) until late. 5. Jenny _________ (complain) to the manager about the faulty items at the moment. 6. This photograph ________ (take) by my grandfather when I was five. 7. Don’t touch the saucepan. You might ________ (burn) yourself. 8. We _________ (delay) because there was a lot of traffic this morning. 9. Not much _________ (know) about this complicated subject. 10. I’m going home now because all the work _________ (do). 11. The new nightclub ________ (close) by the council last week. 12. Jessica _________ (run) two kilometers every day before work. 13. Jim’s house is very modern. It _________ (build) only two years ago. 14. Don’t stay up late tonight, or else you _________ (be) tired tomorrow.

Exercise 2. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct passive or active tense, as in the example.

a) Mrs Wilson is a rich young lady. She ⁽¹⁾ lives (live) in a big house on the outskirts of the city with her husband and her two dogs. Every day, Mrs Wilson ⁽²⁾ _______ (take) into the city centre. Her car ⁽³⁾ ________ (drive) by her chauffeur. She then ⁽⁴⁾ ________ (go) shopping in her favourite shops. Her bags ⁽⁵⁾ ________ (carry) by the chauffeur. Mrs Wilson

⁽⁶⁾ _________ (buy) lots of things every week. She ⁽⁷⁾ ________ (need) lots of clothes because she goes to lots of parties. In fact, this week she ⁽⁸⁾_________ (invite) to a big birthday party which ⁽⁹⁾ _________ (hold) in a large mansion in the country. All of her friends will be there, so Mrs Wilson ⁽¹⁰⁾ _________ (look forward) to it very much.

b) A burglary ⁽¹⁾ was carried out (carry out) in the high street yesterday morning. Two men ⁽²⁾ ________ (enter) a jeweller’s shop and ⁽³⁾ _________ (order) the assistant to hand over jewellery and money. The thieves ⁽⁴⁾________ (escape) with jewellery worth $2,000, but ⁽⁵⁾ _________ (arrest) later, as they ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (try) to leave the country.

1. Floods ⁽¹⁾ ________ (cause) when a river ⁽²⁾ ________ (burst) its banks. This can happen if there ⁽³⁾ ________ (be) an unusual amount of rain, or if snow ⁽⁴⁾ ________ (melt) and the river ⁽⁵⁾ _________ (overflow). When a flood ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (take place), crops ⁽⁷⁾ ________ (destroy) and homes ⁽⁸⁾ _________ (damage).

2. Tony O’Connell ⁽¹⁾ ________ (work) for a large company. Last year, he ⁽²⁾ _________ (promote) to the position of manager. He ⁽³⁾ _________ (give) a large office and a company car. He now ⁽⁴⁾ _________ (have) a secretary who ⁽⁵⁾ ________ (answer) his calls, and he ⁽⁶⁾ _________ (pay) a lot more money than before. He ⁽⁷⁾ _________ (feel) very happy about his job now.

3. Dogs ⁽¹⁾ ________ (be) very loyal animals. They can ⁽²⁾ ________ (keep) you company and ⁽³⁾ ________ (protect) you. However, you must ⁽⁴⁾_________ (look after) your dog. They have to ⁽⁵⁾ ________ (take) for long walks and ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (feed) regularly. You may ⁽⁷⁾ ________ (find) that dogs are expensive pets, but they do ⁽⁸⁾ ________ (make) great companions.

Exercise 3. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct active or passive tense.

A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B: A: B:

Did you visit many places when you were on holiday? Well, on the first day we ^(1) were taken (take) on a tour of the historic monuments by our guide. Oh. Did you go everywhere with him? No, we also ^(2) _________ (go) to some places by ourselves. How did you manage to travel to the other places? We ^(3) _________ (advise) to hire a car, but we ^(4) ________ (choose) to travel on public transport because it is much cheaper. How did you know which buses and trains to catch, though? We ^(5) ________ (ask) at the tourist information centre and we ^(6) _________ (give) an excellent book which ^(7) _________ (tell) us everything we needed to know. So, you enjoyed it then? Oh. Yes! We had a really great time!

Exercise 4. Read this letter from Maurice, who is on holiday in Britain, to his sister Sally in New Zealand. Put the verbs in a suitable tense, active or passive.

Dear Sally,

How are you? We’ve been having a lovely time. We’re being very well looked after by our hosts. We ⁽¹⁾ _______ (take) sightseeing and we ⁽²⁾ _______ (introduce) to some of their friends, who ⁽³⁾ _______ (make) us feel very welcome. Last night we ⁽⁴⁾ ________ (show) round a castle, by the owner! Most of the land in this area ⁽⁵⁾ ________ (belong) to his family for about five hundred years. Apparently, the land ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (give) to them after one of his ancestors ⁽⁷⁾ ________ (kill) while trying to save the king’s life. Quite romantic, isn’t it?

The castle itself was a little bit disappointing, to be absolutely honest. The owner told us that it ⁽⁸⁾ _______ (suffer) serious damage during a fire about thirty years ago. When it ⁽⁹⁾ _______ (restore) they ⁽¹⁰⁾ _______ (add) central heating and things like that. So once you’re inside it ⁽¹¹⁾ _______ (not feel) much different to any other large, old house. But the owner is a real character. He told us lots of stories about things that ⁽¹²⁾ _______ (happen) to him when he was young. He ⁽¹³⁾ _______ (send) abroad to work in a bank, but he hated it, so he ⁽¹⁴⁾ _______ (behave) very badly in order to ⁽¹⁵⁾ ________ (sack). He kept us laughing for hours. I hope he ⁽¹⁶⁾ _______ (invite) here before we leave.

I’ll have lots more to tell you when we ⁽¹⁷⁾ _______ (get) back. Take care.

Yours affectionately, Maurice

* Exercise 5. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct active or passive tense.

a) Chocolate ⁽¹⁾ is (be) a food that ⁽²⁾ _________ (make) from cocoa beans. It can ⁽³⁾ _________ (eat) or ⁽⁴⁾ _________(drink).

The cocoa plant ⁽⁵⁾ _________ (first/grow) by the Mayas, Toltecs and Aztecs more than 3,000 years ago. They ⁽⁶⁾ _________ (prepare) a drink from the beans and often ⁽⁷⁾ _________ (use) the beans as currency instead of money.

Columbus first ⁽⁸⁾ _________ (take) the beans to Spain in 1502 and Hernán Cortés later ⁽⁹⁾ _________ (introduce) the bitter cocoa-bean drink there, too. There, it ⁽¹⁰⁾ _________ (sweeten) and ⁽¹¹⁾ _________ (flavour) with cinnamon and vanilla and ⁽¹²⁾ _________ (serve) hot. This drink ⁽¹³⁾ _________ (remain) a Spanish secret for almost a hundred years before it ⁽¹⁴⁾ _________ (introduce) to France.

In 1657, a Frenchman ⁽¹⁵⁾ _________ (open) a shop in London selling solid chocolate. Soon, more shops opened in other European capitals. During the 1700s, the English ⁽¹⁶⁾ ________ (improve) chocolate by adding milk. Sweet eating chocolate ⁽¹⁷⁾ _________ (produce) for the first time in 1847 by the English firm Fry and Sons.

* b) Coffee ⁽¹⁾ is said (say) to originate from Kaffa in Ethiopia and most species of coffee plant ⁽²⁾ _________ (find) in the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere. The species which ⁽³⁾ ________ (think) to be the earliest coffee plant ⁽⁴⁾ ________ (ever / cultivate) by man is Coffee arabica. Today it ⁽⁵⁾ _________ (grow) mostly in Latin America.

The coffee shrub ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (reach) a height of 8-10 metres and ⁽⁷⁾ _________ (have) white scented flowers. It ⁽⁸⁾ _________ (produce) a red fruit which ⁽⁹⁾ ________ (call) a cherry. The cherry ⁽¹⁰⁾ _________ (contain) two seeds which ⁽¹¹⁾ __________ (join) together. These seeds, which ⁽¹²⁾ _________ (also/know) as beans, ⁽¹³⁾ _________ (first / roast) and then they ⁽¹⁴⁾ _________ (grind) to make coffee. The grounds ⁽¹⁵⁾_________ (then / process) in a variety of different ways. Sometimes they ⁽¹⁶⁾ _________ (filter) and sometimes they ⁽¹⁷⁾ __________ (soak) in water to make the drink which is popular with so many people. Coffee is available as grounds or as instant coffee powder and (18) _________ (drink) by one third of the world’s population.

Exercise 6. Underline the correct answer.

Fire ⁽¹⁾ swept / was swept through a furniture warehouse yesterday afternoon. Most of the stock inside ⁽²⁾ was damaged / damaged, but shocked workers ⁽³⁾ have been managed / managed to save a small amount of it. The police ⁽⁴⁾ are being investigated / are investigating the cause of the fire, but it ⁽⁵⁾ is thought / thinks that it was an accident. The shop manager ⁽⁶⁾ is being looked / is looking for another warehouse where stock can ⁽⁷⁾ keep / be kept. ‘A lot of stock ⁽⁸⁾ has been lost / has lost, but the shop ⁽⁹⁾ will open / will be opened tomorrow as usual,’ said the manager. ‘I’m just glad no one ⁽¹⁰⁾ hurt / was hurt.’

E xercise 7. Change one verb in each of the following news stories. Some need to be changed from active to passive, and some from passive to active.

e.g. Donald Thomas was escaped from prison in Rhode Island, US, after serving 89 days of a 90-day sentence. He was captured and sentenced to an extra six months.

1. Philip Johnson, 32, from Prestonburg, Kentucky, shot himself in the chest because he wanted to see if it would hurt. He was discovered that it does.

2. Bank robber John Perkins, 37, arrested at Los Angeles airport. When he was asked if he had anything to declare, he joked ‘Only a bomb!’ Customs men searched his bag and found the stolen money.

3. Andre Gurmon, from Lyons, France was put an advert in the newspaper saying: ‘Ladies – write to me if you are bored with the man in your life.’ He received a reply from his wife.

4. Francesco Rivera, 26, from Pisa in Italy, was on his way to a fancy-dress party and was dressed as a gorilla. He shot with tranquilizer darts by local zoo keepers.

5. Circus girl Jacquelyn Labow, 22, jailed for six days in Nice for riding naked on an elephant on a busy road.

6. Harrison Ford has false teeth. Ford was made the confession after an American magazine voted him the sexiest man alive.

Exercise 8. Change the following sentences from active to passive or from passive to active.

1. The profit and loss account summarises the profitability of the company. 2. This company pays $1,8 million in tax. 3. The preference shareholders received a fixed dividend of $50,000. 4. Earnings of $ 11,5 million are retained by the company. 5. The accountants calculate the taxable profit. 6. Considerable costs have been incurred by investing in property. 7. We will maximize our profits by deferring taxation. 8. Savings would have been made by reducing production capacity. 9. We might ignore market segment differences. 10. A marketing program can be designed to appeal to most buyers. 11. You can keep transportation costs low by a single product line. 12. Several market segments may be targeted. 13. More total sales are created by differentiated marketing. 14. A company may broaden its base. 15. Many examples of concentrated marketing can be found. 16. The segment may be attacked by larger competitors. 17. Many factors must be considered when choosing a strategy. 18. Down-market products could have been added to the product range.

Exercise 9. Use the notes below to describe stages in the launch of a new car. Include passive and active structures. Use words like first, next, then, finally.

1. designer / choose

2. design / produce

3. model / build

4. modifications / make / R&D/ engineers

5. design / modify

6. prototype / build

7. new engine / use / or existing engine / develop / can be very costly

8. new model / test / special tracks or roads

9. deal with problems / costly if problems serious

10. journalists / invite / test-drive model

11. reviews / write / by journalists / major newspapers and car magazines

12. model / display / famous motor exhibition / Geneva Motor Show