3. The U.S.A. is regarded as one of the most powerful countries in the world
In this topic you are going to learn about the passive voice in English. We will focus on the present and past tenses. Notice that there are some differences in use between both Spanish and English passive voices.
Curiosity
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| By Pete Souza. Creative Commons. |
President Barack Obama
Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States.
His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
With a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton's army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank.
After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, President Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants.
He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African—American president of the Harvard Law Review. Upon graduation, he returned to Chicago to help lead a voter registration drive, teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and remain active in his community.
President Obama's years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose. In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. As a United States Senator, he reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the world's most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by putting federal spending online.
He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009. He and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.
Click on Obama's picture to watch the Commemorative Tree Planting at the White House
President Obama continues the long tradition of throwing the first scoops of dirt on a new tree going in on the White House grounds. (public domain)
Taken from www.Whitehouse.gov.
Reading activity
President Obama's years of public service are based around his unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose.
He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008.
Decide which one is in the Simple Present and which in the Simple Past, and how we form the Passive.
Important
Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action: who or what is performing the action is not relevant, important or known:
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my car was stolen. However, I do not know who did it.
AV - Reflexión
As you may have deduced, the basic form of the passive voice is:
| subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle |
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| By Julie70. Creative Commons. |
Van Gogh painted this picture (ACTIVE VOICE)
This picture was painted by Van Gogh (PASSIVE VOICE)
Solved exercise 1: passive voice with Simple Present
Example: Machine / repair > The machine is repaired.
1) The car / wash
2) Rice / grow in China
3) The letters / send via first class post
4) Cars / make in this factory.
5) The document / write by a machine.
Self-Assessment activity
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set into a flexible mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A. in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.
