Passives

Use: the passive is used for the following reasons:

-to talk about actions, event or process is seen as more important than the agent. This is often the case in scientific writing.

Santa Cruz was founded in 1495.

-to put new information later in the sentence.

The film was directed by Quentin Tarantino.

-to put longer expressions at the end of the sentence.

I was offended by the way she pushed past me.

Form: appropriate tense of be + past participle

Present Simple: am/is/are +past participle

Audio and video tapes are kept in the resource centre.

Present Continuous: am/is/are + being + past participle

Our car is being repaired at the moment.

Past Simple: was/were + past participle

The parcel was delivered right on time.

Past Continuous: was/were + being + past participle

I dreamt I was being chased by a tall blond man with moustache.

Present Perfect: have/has +been + past participle

Have you been invited to Simon’s party?

Past Perfect: had + been + past participle

We had been told to get there no later than ten o’clock.

Future Perfect: shall/will (shan’t/won’t) +be + past participle

She’ll be looked after very well there.

Future Perfect: will(won’t) + have +been +past participle

The house will have been completely repainted by the time you get back.

Am/is/are going to + be + past participle:

The procession is going to be led by the Lord Mayor.

Modals: can, may, might, etc. + be+ past participle (can, may, might etc. + have +been + past participle

Sale items may not be returned.

The door must have been left open.

Passive Gerund: being + past participle(having + been + past participle):

Our cat doesn’t like being patted.

When we are interested in the agent, we use the preposition ‘by’.

The games were designed by a new Japanese company.

Modal verbs (Lesson 6,10)

Form: modal verbs do not change in the third person. They are followed by the infinitive without ’to’.

1.Ability

-can

We use ‘can’ to talk about present and future ability

I can pick you up on Saturday morning.

Can’t you ride a bicycle?

-could

We use ‘could’ to talk about general past ability.

I could read before I started school.

2.Asking for and giving permission

-can

We use ‘can’ to ask for and give permission.

Can I borrow your calculator for a few minutes?

You can stay up and watch the late night film, but then you have to go to bed.

-could

We use ‘could’ to ask for permission when you are not sure what the answer will be.(Note: could is not used for giving permission)

1. Could I ask you a few questions?

2. Yes, of course you can.

-may

We use ‘may’ to ask for or give permission in formal situations.

May I leave early today? I’ve got a dentist’s appointment.

You may leave the exam room after the examiner has collected your paper.

3.Possibility

Theoretical possibility

a) Can; We use ‘can’ to:

-say that things are possible without saying what chance there is that they will happen.

Anyone can learn to use a word processor.

-talk about typical behavior of people or things.

Dogs can be jealous of small babies.

-speculate or guess about past events (Note: this is only in questions and negative sentences)

Form: can’t + have + past participle

Can+ subject + have + past participle

Wh-word +can +subject + have +past participle

She can’t have understood what you meant.

Can he have thought we‘d left already?

Where can they have gone?

b ) could

We use could to talk about theoretical possibility in the past

Uncle Tony could be very funny sometimes.

2. Factual possibility: could, may, and might

We use could, may and might to:

-say there is a chance that something might happen in the future

We may go to Australia next Christmas.

-say that something is possibly true at the moment of speaking

She might be angry about something you said.

-talk about the possibility that past events happened

Form: could/may/might + have + past participle

They may have decided to stay the night there.