‘Passive’ refers to the voice of verbs in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb as opposed to ‘active voice.’
While working on another piece of grammar, I noticed a complex piece of grammar that is not listed in the English Grammar Profile. There are many grammar points that are listed that are about adverbs in the middle position, but none about two which should be listed at C2. A search in iWeb corpus for …
There is no entry in the English Grammar Profile for the continuous infinitive passive. Therefore, we say this is a C2 grammar structure. A search in NOW corpus for: * to be being * 1 BELIEVED TO BE BEING HELD 18 The following example has past passive + infinitive + continuous passive: The driver of the lorry was believed to be being held by police. …
Because there is no past perfect continuous passive in the English Grammar Profile, we can say it is C2. A search in NOW corpus shows that this grammar is extremely rare. 1 HAD BEEN BEING TREATED 10 The woman had left the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, where she had been being treated. belfastlive.co.uk 2 HAD BEEN BEING ABUSED 7 3 ‘D BEEN BEING ABUSED 7 4 HAD …
In this post, we explore the passive + prepositional phrase with gerund complement: ‘Be banned from doing‘ For example: I was banned from seeing her. listen You‘re banned from busking. listen In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘ban’ is listed at B2: VERB [T usually passive] (-nn-) to forbid something, especially officially NOUN [C] an official order that prevents something from happening An iWeb …
Here’s a STUDENT EXAMPLE: Therefore, people should educate themselves on their human rights and the basic human rights that other nations have in order to avoid being deceived. PELIC Arabic female level 4 writing class. GSE 64 B2 NP + VP +VP gerund (passive) An iWeb search for: * _VV being _VVN * 1 TO AVOID BEING HIT BY 313 2 TO AVOID BEING HIT . 185 3 N’T LIKE BEING TOLD WHAT 182 …
The future perfect passive is formed with the structure: WILL HAVE BEEN + PASSIVE PARTICIPLE Here’s an EXPERT EXAMPLE of future perfect passive: If you live to 90, then 32 years will have been spent entirely asleep. TED The ending -t in (spent) is an irregular inflection for the passive participle, which regularly ends in -ed: PEARSON GSE 67 B2+ future perfect passive simple …
Point 73 GSE B2+ is defined: express impersonal belief and opinion using ‘thought/considered/believed/etc.’ +’ to’ + VP infSTUDENT STUDENT EXAMPLES: Moreover, English is considered to be an international language. PELIC Thai male level 5 writing class. In addition, he is believed to be the first teacher, because the first education system in ancient China was established by Confucius. PELIC Chinese male level 5 grammar class. EXPERT EXAMPLE: After all, the first intentional human burial is thought to have occurred around 100,000 years ago. …
Here’s an example of the preposition ‘after’ complemented by a non-finite perfect form of the passive ‘having been p.p.’ Roughly a month and a half after having been laid, the surviving eggs hatch. Listen In the English Grammar Profile, there are two similar C2 points in the category of passives: Point 38: non-finite ‘-ing’ perfect forms of the passive as the complement of prepositions. Point …
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 2 in the category of PASSIVES : ‘BY’ to add information about something already known. B1 point 12 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: passive with ‘by’ to give focus. All the A2 examples use the pronoun IT + is|was + past participle + by The one …
B1 Point 6 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: past simple passive with a limited range of verbs needing two objects, putting the indirect object in subject position. *There is more information about this grammar at B2 TLC SPEAKING TEST EXAMPLE: I was given a big horse. female Russia B1 PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: When my husband was given a blow to the head in Oakland last year, I got frightened. …
There are two B1 passive grammar points that overlap to some degree. B1 point 7 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: PRESENT CONTINUOUS, AFFIRMATIVE limited range of verbs B1 point 9 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: PRESENT CONTINUOUS, FUTURE REFERENCE There are no examples of this grammar in the TLC …
B1 Point 10 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: PRESENT SIMPLE, NEGATIVE + range of pronoun and noun subjects *although ‘range of subjects’ is mentioned above, there is no entry for present simple negative elsewhere. There is no way to automatically check whether these might actually be C1: ‘it’ with the passive voice …
Point 5 in the category of passives is defined as: a range of forms of ‘get’ + past participles. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: I would like to get rid of my bad habits. Korean, Female, Level 3, Writing Class. A search in iWeb for: GET _VVN 1 GET RID 313567 2 GET STARTED 233345 3 GET PAID 68050 4 GET CAUGHT 54284 …
Here are two grammar points from the English Grammar Profile. A2 point 3 in the category of PASSIVES: present simple passive affirmative with a singular subject. B1 point 13 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: PRESENT SIMPLE, AFFIRMATIVE with a range of pronoun and noun subjects. For example: The proposed mission is called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe and would shed some light on the mostly unexplored ice giant. …
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 36 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: ‘it’ as a dummy subject, to summarise or evaluate in discussions, usually in formal or academic writing. This point often overlaps C1 impersonal modal passive reporting. *This might clash with B2. A search of the formal patterns found in the …
‘It should be noted that’ (passives to summarise) Read More »
C1 English Grammar Profile point 35 in PASSIVES is defined as: ‘get’ + object + ‘-ed’ to talk about causing or instructing something to happen or to be done by somebody else, often informally For example: Now, as it happens, I do have some connections in the drilling business who might help get us started. listen A search in iWeb for: GET _N _VVN *not all the following match our grammar …
Point 33 in PASSIVES is defined as: ‘GET’ + OBJECT + ‘-ING’ to talk about causing someone or something to do something. For example: And working with Craig got me thinking. Not all of the following in iWeb match our grammar: GET * _VVG 1 GOT ME THINKING 14965 2 GET IT WORKING 7858 3 …
C1 point 32 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: NON-FINITE CLAUSES ‘-ing’ form as a subordinate clause or a noun clause to give explanatory background information. A search in the iWeb corpus for . Being _VVN * * gives us our being + past participle list 1 . BEING LOCATED IN THE …
The pronoun ‘it’ can be used where the subject is unclear at C1, and verbs such as ‘conclude’ are only used by C1 learners. For example: It was concluded that it never existed. However, this post is about reporting with modal verbs. C1 point 208 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘can’ in passive reporting clauses in a more formal impersonal …
It can | could + be + said | argued | concluded | considered Read More »
Let’s take a look at an IELTS writing task 2 example with this grammar: It is argued that volunteering should be made a part of the school curriculum. In the above example, ‘is argued‘ forms the passive part. The active form of this is probably: ‘People argue that…” In our example, ‘people’ is not important or maybe we don’t know who …
