nUNIT 37: Passive voices (câu bị động)

Topic 22: Technology (công nghệ)

I.          Grammar

This is in contrast to the active voice, which focuses on the action. (đây là loại câu ngược với câu chủ động, nhấn mạnh vào hành động)

• Examples:

Active: John stole my mobile phone.

Passive: My mobile phone was stolen by John.

1.  Form: To be + past participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: My camera was broken by Kan.

• the “to be” is “was” and the past participle is “broken” (động từ “to be” là “was” và động từ quá khứ là “broken”)

The form of “to be” shows the tense of the sentence. (dạng của “to be” thể hiện thì của câu  văn)

• “by-clause” is used at the end of the sentence, only when the action performer is important. (mệnh đề -by thường dùng ở cuối câu văn, khi người thực hiện hành động là quan trọng).
•   Example:
• My picture was drawn by a famous artist (simple past)
• My picture is being drawn by a famous artist (present continuous)
• My picture will be drawn by a famous artist (simple future)
• Watch out!

If there is no direct object, the sentence cannot be turned in passive voice. (nếu không có tân ngữ trực tiếp thì không thể chuyển sang bị động)

Examples: He is a student / My name is Mary.

2.  Usage.

a)  Summary of verb tenses (tóm tắt về các thì)

• present simple:

Active: We invent the wheel today.

Passive: The wheel is invented today.

• present continuous

Active: We are inventing the wheel now.

Passive: The wheel is being invented now.

• present perfect

Active: We have invented the wheel in the Stone Age.

Passive: The wheel has been invented in the Stone Age.

• past simple

Active: We invented the wheel a long time ago.

Passive: The wheel was invented a long time ago.

• past continuous

Active: We were inventing the wheel while we started to use tools.

Passive: The wheel was being invented while we started to use tools.

• past perfect

Active: We had invented the wheel before the computer.

Passive: The wheel had been invented before the computer.

b)  The future and modal verbs in passive. (thì tương lai và động từ quyết thiếu trong dạng bị động)

                 Modal/auxiliary + be + past participle.

Example:

1a. Active: He can’t send this email.

1b. Passive: This email can’t be sent by him

2a. Active: He couldn’t have stolen that camera.

2b. Passive: That camera couldn’t have been stolen by him.

3a. Active: They will close the gates this evening.

3b. Passive: The gates will be closed this evening.

c)  Exercise:Change the following sentences into passive voice.

1. I will invite her to my birthday party.

2. The teacher gave us some exercises.

3. They teach English here.

4. I can’t download this file.

5. I must upload this picture for him right now.

6. I have finished this exercise.

7. She is doing the housework at the moment.

d)  Have/get + sth + past participle. (nhờ ai làm gì)

Example:

Active: He helps me to repair my printer. (anh ta giúp tôi sửa xe đạp).

Passive: I had/get my printer repaired by him. (tôi nhờ anh ta sửa xe)

Exercise: Change the following sentences into passive voice.

Example: Yesterday, (I / cut / my hair)

           I had my hair cut.

1. Every Friday, (Joe / wash / his car)

2. Tomorrow, (she / repair / her washing machine)

3. Each Saturday, (we / deliver / a pizza) to our home.

4. Last year, (Bob / clean / his house) by an old woman.

5. As Phil had a broken arm, (he / type / his texts) by his secretary.

6. (I / pick up / the goods) tomorrow in the afternoon.

7. (We/redecorate/our walls) last summer.

e)  Verbs of opinion (động từ thể hiện ý kiến): I think, say, believe …

• Examples:

Active: People say that he is a good doctor.

Passive: He is said to be a good doctor.

•  If the clause after “say, think, believe “… are present tenses, future tenses (nếu mệnh đề sau “say, think, believe”... là các thì hiện tại, tương lai):

            to be + said / thought / believed + to + infinitive verb

Example: 

Active: Almost all people think she will lose the game.

Passive: She is thought to lose the game.

• If the clause after “say/think/believe” … are past tenses (nếu mệnh đề sau “say, think, believe”.. là các thì quá khứ):

To be + said/thought/believed + to + have + past participle of the verb

Example:

Active: They believed that I won the competition.

Passive: I was believed to have won the competition.

Exercise: Change these following sentences into passive.

1. People believe that 13 is an unlucky number

2. They declared that she won the competition.

3. They know that English is an international language.

4. They reported that the President has suffered from a heart attack.

5. They reported that the new manager was coming.

II.        Exercise

1.         Change the following sentences into passive.

a. Mr. Jones watched the TV.

b. The people are speaking about the new invention.

c. He is reading comics.

d. We have used this calculator for 6 years.

e. They would sing the song.

f. I was taking pictures by his camera.

g. He has been writing messages.

h. They can’t lend him my laptop because I need it now.

i. The workers are building a new bridge near my school.

j. They will hold the meeting before Friday.

k. No one believes his story.

l. The teacher gave each of us two exercise books.

m. Some one will show him how to use the CD player.

n. People don’t make the children work hard.

o. Don’t speak until someone speaks to you.

2.  If it is possible, put the following sentences in the passive voice when they are in active voice or active voice if they are in passive voice.(nếu có thể chuyển những câu văn dưới đây sang thể bị động nếu chúng ở dạng chủ động và chuyển sang chủ động nếu ở dạng bị động)

• Example:

If I eat those candies I will be sick. (active voice)

If those candies are eaten by me, I will be sick. (passive voice)

a. This is a shame. The microphone was broken by Jim and he said nothing.

b. Don't worry. Someone is going to tell him that the company canceled the meeting.

c. My mother doesn’t buy food from this restaurant. She was told that the quality is not good.

d. They don't want to leave tomorrow. The weather is getting worse.

3.  Change these following questions into passive voice.

a. Is she going to write a poem?

b. Has Tom finished the work?

c. Why didn’t they help him?

d. How long have they waited for the doctor?

e. What time can the boys hand in the paper?

IV. TOPIC 23: Technology

Technology has been part of our lives since the very beginning of human being and as well as in our environment in both good and bad ways. On the one hand, people can not exist without using technologies. It starts with simple tools like a hammer or chopsticks, continues with the usage of fire and electricity (the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1897 and is one of the most important tools in our lives) and finally comes to all the electric devices we are used to nowadays. 

If recent technological developments such as telephone, Internet, laptop, computer ... hadn’t been invented, people couldn’t contact each other so easily. In the daily life, without fan, light, mobile phone, or radio our living standard would be very difficult and thus very low. Thanks to technologies, we can connect with people all over the world. Thanks to the Internet (the world-wide-web), we can easily send and receive an email to contact and share information, we can download and upload a lot of pictures, images, necessary files from a series of links in the Internet. Thanks to printers, we can copy and print many documents in a few minutes. Thanks to cameras, we can take many photos to keep our nice memories and share these experiences through pictures with others. In general, technologies are very important in our life.

But technologies have been used not only for peaceful purposes but also for violent reasons. Mainly the environment is getting damaged increasingly with a lot of bad impacts such as: greenhouse effect, global warming, acid rain or pollution... Moreover people are becoming extremely dependent on computers, as well as other items which involve technology. Another bad influence of technologies is non-peaceful issues such as the development of weapons or nuclear weapons which threaten human being day by day.

Questions:

1. Who invented the light bulb and when?

2. Make a list of all technologies named in the text.

3. What are the advantages (positive, pros) and disadvantages (negative, cons) of technology?