Грамматика. Практикум

Note 1: The auxiliary verb to get is sometimes used instead of to be to form the passive. In such cases, get + Participle II indicates a change in status or condition. The person or the thing indicated by the subject of the sentence is responsible for the consequences/results.

He was fired last week. - He couldn't keep his mouth shut and got fired.

Note 2:Only transitive verbs (such verbs that take a direct object) can be used in the passive voice.

He runs fast. (to run – an intransitive verb)

Mr. Smith runs this restaurant. (to run – a transitive verb ) - This restaurant is run by Mr. Smith.

II.The Use

The Passive Voice is used when the doer of the action is either unknown or unimportant.

The goods have been delivered.

Note: in this case the subject of the active construction will be the indefinite pronoun “one” or the word “people”.

One sees this sort of advertisement everywhere. - This sort of advertisement is seen everywhere.

The Passive Voice is used when the doer of the action is of great importance and is emphasized. In this case the doer of the action is introduced with “by”.

Why are you always wearing this sweater? - It was made by Granny.

Note: The agentive by-object is used to say who did the action. The object introduced by “with” is used for instruments and materials or after the participles coloured, crammed, crowded, filled, flavoured, packed.

The jam was packed with a lot of fruit.

It was drawn with a stick.

The Passive Voice is used to make the statement more formal and more polite.

The ceremony will be held on July 12.

III.Types of Passive Constructions.

There are verbs which can take both a direct object and an indirect object. They are called ditransitive verbs.

The direct object (DO) is an object which follows a transitive verb and completes its meaning denoting a person or a thing affected by the action of the verb.

The indirect object (IO) is an object denoting the addressee or recipient of the action.

He gave me (IO) a book (DO).

In English there are two patterns with two corresponding passive constructions:

The subject of the direct passive construction corresponds to the direct object of the active construction.

The subject of the indirect passive construction corresponds to the indirect object of the active construction.

IV. Restrictions on the Use of the Passive Voice

There are no perfect continuous forms.

The intransitive verbs have no passive forms.

Note: The intransitive verbs to live, to sit and to sleep can be used in the passive voice with the preposition “in”:

The bed was slept in.

The house has never been lived in.

The statal transitive verbs such as to have, to become, to lack, to fit, to suit, to resemble are not used in the passive.

The verb “to let” is not used in the passive. It is substituted for the verb to allow.

Mum didn't let me go out. - I was not allowed to go out.

Only the direct passive construction is possible with the verbs which are used in the pattern Verb + Direct Object + to +Indirect Object with the obligatory “to”, such as to explain something to somebody,to dictate something to somebody, to demonstrate, to mention, to propose, to report, to suggest, to announce, etc.)

The rule was explained to them once more. They were explained the rule.

The indirect passive construction is impossible with the verbs of benefaction:

They bought me a book. = They bought the book for me. = The book was bought for me. I was bought …

In verb phrases containing a non-prepositional and a prepositional object only the non-prepositional passive is possible:

They told me about that event. - I was told about that event.

She is said to be staying in this hotel. - Говорят, она остановилась в этом отеле.

She is told to stay in this hotel. - Ей сказали поселиться в этом отеле.

The passive voice is not found in the sentences of the following type:

The book sells well.

This material wears long.

The novel reads easily.

The place was filling up.

Glass breaks easily.

The door opened.

Note: The library was open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. = The opening hours were from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. /The library was opened last summer. = The library started to work last summer.

V. Verbs used in the Passive Voice

English transitive verbs corresponding to Russian intransitive verbs:

English prepositional monotransitive verbs used in the Passive Voice:

PART TWO

THE NOUN

The Number EXERCISE № 1. Make the following nouns plural.

A. Pin, hat, fox, baby, day, potato, volcano, piano, photo, knife, roof, half, leaf, cliff, chief, life, family, queue, bath, berry, valley, century, taxi, person, penny, watch, lily, woodworm, child, man, foot, woman, sheep, deer, ox, tooth, ship, fish, fireman, swine, house, louse, goose, series, species, aircraft, story, play, glass, flag, photo, name, match, bush, page, radio, prize, set, key, factory, wolf, class, cup, city, lullaby, charity, oligarch, passport, bus pass, address, balloon, beauty, island, bodyguard, euro, local;

B. German, Swiss, Japanese, Maltese, Portuguese, Chinese, Milanese;

C. Criterion, datum, formula, crisis, index, phenomenon, oasis, nucleus, memorandum, basis, radius, analysis, hypothesis;

D. Passer-by, mother-in-law, roommate, forget-me-not, merry-go-round, fellow-worker, schoolinspector, commander-in-chief, boy-messenger, personnel-manager, woman-driver, man-servant, face-lift, spoonful, cupful, boyfriend, grown-up, office-block, workmate, sister-in-law, lily-of-the- valley, ticket-holder, governor-general.

EXERCISE № 2. Make the following nouns plural.

A. Army, baby, bag, bed, beer, bench, bird, box, boy, brother, brother-in-law, brush, bush, cage, cake, child, chop, college, country, day, daughter, deer, dish, dog, dress, egg, exercise, face, family, fish, foot, goose, half, handkerchief, hospital, house, housewife, knife, lady, lamp, lawn, leaf, library, man, mass, match, mother-in-law, mouse, niece, nursery, orange, page, pantry, parrot, party, passer-by, patch, penny, phoneme, piano, policeman, potato, postman, roof, saleswoman, sentence, shelf, sheep, sister-in-law, sitting-room, sofa, son-in-law, sportsman, story, study, suffix, swine, tape-recorder, tea-pot, test, text, tie, toast, tomato, toy, turkey, wife, waitress, wolf, woman, writer, woman-servant.

B. Basis, bath, birth, bunch, clergyman, court martial, crisis, criterion, cry, datum, downfall, echo, enemy, Englishman, finger-tip, forget-me-not, formula, fox, genius, hero, joy, journey, key, lie, looker-on, loss, man-of-war, mischief-maker, ox, penknife, pie, portfolio, possibility, rock, ship, spy, stepdaughter, thief, volcano.

EXERCISE № 3. Make the following nouns singular.

Children, women, lorries, bodies, men, brushes, knives, keys, colonies, halves, ministries, flies, matches, universities, babies, watches, lives, ways, ladies, shelves, copies, libraries, wolves, tomatoes, potatoes, bushes.

EXERCISE № 4. Change the italicized word from singular to plural. Then make the necessary change in the form of the verb.

Well, we are living on the outskirt/outskirts of town, not far from the company headquarter/headquarters where Bill works. We've spent nearly all our saving/savings on the house. That wouldn't matter so much if I hadn't crashed the car last week and done some damage/damages to the front of it. More bills! But at least I wasn't hurt. The house is nice actually, but the surroundings isn't/aren't very pleasant. We are on a very busy crossroad/crossroads.

I'm doing the course I told you about. Statistics is/are an easy subject, but economics give/gives me problems.

I am looking forward to seeing you soon. With love,

Rita

3.I know he's clever, but brains …………(not) the only thing in life.

10.The acoustics in this room …… very good.

11.This crossroads ……. dangerous.

12.There …… four crossroads in our village.

13.Acoustics ….. a subject I know little about.

14.Our company headquarters …… in London.

15.There …… many series of books on birds.

16.The statistics in these report …… inaccurate.

17.…… there any statistics for road accidents?

18.Many species of moth ……. disappeared.

19.This species …… green and white spots.

20.Our works ….. a good canteen.

EXERCISE № 15. Correct the mistakes in these sentences.

1.I need some informations.

2.We had a lovely weather.

3.The furnitures are very old.

4.I'm looking for a new jeans.

5.Your hairs are getting very long.

6.Do you have a scissors?

7.We had a lot of homeworks yesterday.

8.Do you think she's making a progress with her English?

9.These trousers is too small.

10.She gave me some good advices.

11.We had such a terrible weather that we left the camp-site and got an accommodation in town instead.

12.In the North of England, most houses are made of stones, but in the South, bricks are more common.

13.I love antique furnitures, but I would need an advice from a specialist before I bought any. My knowledges in that area are very poor.

14. Her researches are definitely making great progresses these days. She has done a lot of original works recently.

EXERCISE № 16. Cross out the incorrect noun.

1.To press you need iron/an iron.

2.Language/a language is a unique phenomenon.

3.In her youth she was beauty/a beauty.

4.We are looking for people with experience/an experience.

5.He kept his money in tin/a tin under the bed.

6.She has been looking for work/a work for three months.

7.You should study law/ a law at the University.

8.Then everybody called for him to make speech/ a speech.

9.There is an egg/egg on your cheek.

10.I don't eat a chicken/chicken, I'd rather have a fish/fish.

11.A paper/paper is made of wood.

12.''Waiter, a coffee/ coffee and two cakes, please.''

EXERCISE № 17. Translate from Russian into English.