29 Pin Down the Passive

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Teacher sheet

29 Pin down the passive

Teacher input required / Medium/some involvement
Framework substrand / 9.2 using grammar accurately and appropriately
Lesson level / B
National Curriculum ref. / 2.3u use grammar accurately in a variety of sentence types, including subject–verb agreement and correct and consistent use of tense

Learning objective

To understand how to use the passive form correctly and appropriately.

Resources required

Student instructions, student resource sheet, optional access to IWB for using Teachit’s interactive Syntex activity in plenary.

Lesson guidance

· Starter – working individually, students read the information on their sheet and complete Task 1 (underline different parts of the sentence). If possible, work the example on the board first. (10–12 mins)

· Development

a) Change the active sentences to the passive form. When complete, work with a partner to compare/correct answers.

b) Whole class oral activity to consolidate: first student reads out their made-up sentence (e.g. I trod on the cat’s tail). The second student must transform it into the passive and drop the object (The cat’s tail was trodden on…) then read out their own sentence; the third student transforms that one and so on.

c) Student resource sheet activities in pairs. (35 mins)

· Plenary – students arrange the jumbled words into a notice. (If possible, use Teachit interactive version on IWB – Syntex: no smoking notice). Discuss why the passive is used (e.g. to make it sound official, impersonal, applying to everyone not just ‘you’). (10 mins)

(Answer: In accordance with Warwickshire’s health regulations, it is forbidden to smoke anywhere in this building.)

Differentiation

Sentences 1–4 are the most straightforward and within grasp of level 5. Sentence 10 is there for a challenge. Additional work for early finishers is on the student resource sheet.

Student instructions

29 Pin down the passive

Learning objective

To use the passive form appropriately when writing official and impersonal texts

Success criteria

By the end of the lesson I will:

· know how to identify the subject, verb and object of a sentence

· be able to change a simple active sentence into the passive form

· understand why the passive form is useful when writing in an official or impersonal style.

Warm up

Task 1

Read the information and then underline and label, or highlight in different colours, the subject, verb and object in the following sentences.

Information

The verb is the ‘doing’ or ‘being’ word (e.g. runs, disappeared, will eat, is) in the sentence.

You can find the subject of the sentence by asking ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ before the verb, and the

object of the sentence by asking ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ after the verb … so:

The small boy is gobbling the delicious cream cake greedily.

Practice

Underline and label the three main parts of each sentence. (Don’t worry at the moment about any extra information such as ‘greedily’ that doesn’t seem to belong to any of the three parts.)

1. The cat ate the canary.

2. Mice like cheese.

3. Kelly slammed the front door.

4. Many children enjoy reading.

5. The greengrocer put the CLOSED sign in the front window.

6. The headteacher will announce the results at next week’s assembly.

7. Enthusiastically, the policemen enter the dining room.

8. I am seeing the doctor on Thursday.

9. The rain soaked the newly-dug flowerbeds.

Extension (A tricky compound sentence):

10. The convicted criminal expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness.

All of these sentences are in what is called the active form: this means that the subject performs the action of the verb. It is the way we usually write, but there is another option we can use – the passive form.

Take Cover 29 Pin down the passive

Your main tasks!

Task 2

It’s easy – just change the sentences into the passive form by swapping the subject and object over … and, of course, changing the form of the verb so that the meaning stays the same!

Example:

Active: The cat ate the canary hungrily.

Passive: The canary was eaten by the cat hungrily.

Note that the action of the verb is now performed by the object of the sentence, and not the subject.

And a tip about any extra bits of information: there is often more than one place they can go – use your judgement about what sounds best.

Practice

Rewrite the sentences from task 1 in the correct passive form. Remember to change the form of the verb so you keep the meaning the same, but don’t change the tense.

Task 3

What is the advantage of using the passive form? Well, the great thing about the passive form is that you can take away the object and your sentence still makes sense … so it is useful if you want to avoid saying who performed the action of the verb (especially if it was a naughty action!). “Oh dear, the canary has been eaten …”

Here’s your chance to see how it can help you avoid taking the blame for something that has gone wrong.

Write a sentence in the active form about yourself using the structure Subject – Verb – Object in which you describe something you did which was wrong, naughty, accidental or mischievous. Example: “I drove your brand new car into a tree.” (It doesn’t have to be true.)

Everybody in the class is going to have a turn to say their sentence out loud and to turn somebody else’s sentence into the passive form without saying who is to blame. In other words, you will change their sentence from the active to the passive and then drop the object. Our example would become “Your brand new car was driven into a tree …”

(Extension) Task 4

Work with a partner to complete the activities on the student resource sheet.

Round it off with this

a) Can you arrange these words into a sensible order?

it / in / in / is / to
accordance / this / with / smoke / health
anywhere / building / forbidden / regulations / Warwickshire’s

b) What might the notice say if it had been written in the active form?

c) Why has the passive form been used?

Student resource sheet

1. With a partner, read this example of a newspaper report, taking a paragraph each, in turn. (Can you work out what novel it is based on?)

2. The first two paragraphs contain examples of the passive form – highlight them.

3. Draft a new version of the two paragraphs that uses the active form of the verbs.

4. Discuss and compare the effect of the two versions.

Thursday 4th March 1838 FINAL EDITION One penny

5. Have a go at writing the opening paragraphs of a newspaper report in a similar style, using passives. Base your ideas on any story, TV programme or film, or on events in the news.