The passive

Structure:

We form the passive voice with be + past participle. We use be in the same tense that we would use in the active sentence.

Tense.............................Active..................Passive
Present simple..................holds....................is held
Present continuous........are planning.........are being planned
Past perfect................have organized......have been organized
Past simple....................invented...............was invented
Past continuous........were encouraging......were being encouraged
Past perfect...............had employed..........had been employed
Will..........................will celebrate...........will be celebrated

When we change an active sentence to a passive sentence, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

Music companies advertised the CD
(subject) (verb) (object)

The CD was advertised (by music companies)
subject) (verb) (agent)

Use:

We use the passive voice:
- to emphasize the action (the verb) rather than who or what carried out the action (the agent)
- to put the most important idea at the beginning of the sentence

• They will sell millions of trainers next year: Millions of trainers will be sold next year

Vocabulary unit 4

Law and justice: adjectives:

Guilty: culpable
Innocent: inocent

Law and justice: nouns:

Court: tribunal
Crime: delicte
Criminal: criminal
Detective: detectiu
Evidence: evidència/proves
Judge: jutge
Jury: jurat
Justice: justícia
Law: llei
Lawyer: advocat
Police officer: policia
Prison: presó
Punishment: sanció
Sentence: sentència
Suspect: sospitós
Victim: víctima
Witness: testimoni

Law and justice: verbs:

Arrest: arrest
Commit (a crime): cometre un delicte
Investigate: investigar
Prove: demostrar

Compound nouns:

Bus stop: parada d'autobús
Community service: servei a la comunitat
Defence lawyer: advocat defensor
Detective series: sèries de detectius
Exam result: resultat dels exàmens
Football team: equip de futbol
Police car: cotxe de policia
School building: edifici de l'escola
Summer holiday: vacances d'estiu
Traffic lights: semàfors

Crimes and criminals:

Burglar: lladre
Burglary: robatori
Burgle: robar
Kidnap: segrestar
Kidnapper: segrestador
Kidnapping: segrest
Mug: atracar
Mugger: atracador
Mugging: atracament
Murder (noun): assassinat
Murder (verb): assassinar
Murderer: assassí
Rob: robar
Robber: lladre
Robbery: robatori
Shoplift: robar en una botiga
Shoplifter: lladre que roba en una botiga
Shoplifting: robatori en una botiga
Steal: robar
Theft: robatori
Thief: lladre
Vandal: vandal
Vandalism: vandalisme
Vandalize: destrossar

Other words:

Disappointment: decepció
Clever: intel.ligent
So-called: en qüestió
Command: ordre
Request: petició
Ask: demanar
Advise: aconsellar
Remind: recordar
Encourage: animar
Warn: avisar
Agree: acordar
Offer: oferir
Promise: prometre
Refuse: rebutjar
Reply: contestar
Reveal: revelar
Add: afegir

Reporting verbs

We can use many different verbs to introduce reported speech. They take the following patterns:

Verb + object + infinitive (with to). These are usually the verbs we use in reported commands and requests, when one person asks another to do something. They include: ask, advise, invite, order, remind, tell, ecourage, persuade, warn.

• "Whatever you do, don't touch the gun!" : He warned me not to touch the gun.

Verb + infinitive (with to). These verbs include: agree, offer, promise, refuse.

• "I'll drive you to the police station." : He offered to drive me to the police station.

Verb (+ that) + subject + verb in reporting tense. These verbs include: admit, declare, explain, insist, promise, recommend, reply, reveal, say, suggest, add. In informal language, we can usually omit that.

• "Why don't you get a burglar alarm." : She suggested ( that) we got a burglar alarm.

Verb + for + -ing: apologize for.

• "I'm sorry I was rude." : She apologized for being rude.

REMEMBER!

The reporting verbs say and tell have the same meaning, but their use is different:

Say (+ that) + reported speech.

• The police officer said (that) they had found the vandals.

Tell + indirect object (+ that) + reported speech.

• The police officer told me that they had found the vandals.

Reported questions

Reported questions have a different word order from direct questions. They use the same word order as affirmative sentences:

Verb + subject (direct question) : subject + verb (reported question).

• "What's your name?" he asked. : He asked (her) what her name was.

We do not use do/did/does in reported questions.

• "Do you recognize the suspect?" : They asked if she recognized the suspect.

If a direct question uses question words ( for example who, why, when, how, what) we repeat the question word in the reported question.

• "When will you finish the book?" : He asked (her) when she would finisk the book.

If a direct question does not use question words (who, why, when, how, what), we use if or whether in the reported question.

• "Can I see your driving licence?" : The detective asked him if/whether she could see his driving licence.

REMEMBER!

We do not use question marks (?) in reported speech.

• "What are you doing?" : They asked us what we were doing.

Reported commands and request

In direct speech, we use the imperative to give commands an make requests. When this is changed to reported speech, we use the following structures:

Commands: tell + object + infinitive (with to).

• "Watch the door!" : The lawyer told the court to watch the door.

Requests: ask + object + infinitive (with to).

• "Please can you explain?" : The lawyer asked the judge to explain.

If we want to make a negative command or request in reported speech, we put not before the infinitive (with to):

Subject + verb + object + not + infinitive (with to).

• "Don't touch anything!" : The detective told us not to touch anything.

• "Please don't send my client to prison." : The lawyer asked the judge not to send his client to prison.

There are other verbs that we can use to give commands and make requests in reported speech. For example: advise, ask, encourage, invite, order, persuade, remind, tell, warn.

• "You should tell the police" : My friend advised me to tell the police.

Reported statements: other changes

When we convert direct speech into reported speech:

Most modal verbs (for example, should, could, would, might, ought to) do not change.

• "You should report the theft." : She said that I should report the theft.

Pronouns usually change.

• "I'm watching you." : He said that he was watching me.

Expressions of time and place usually change.

DIRECT SPEECH.............REPORTED SPEECH
Here....................................There
This.....................................That
These..................................Those
Now.....................................Then
Next week............................The following week
Today..................................That day
Tonight.................................That night
Tomorrow............................The following day
Yesterday............................The day before
Last week............................The week before

Reported statements: tense changes

When we convert direct speech into reported speech, we change the tense of the main verb by putting it one step further into the past.

DIRECT SPEECH...............REPORTED SPEECH
Present simple......................Past simple
Present continuous...............Past continuous
Present prefect simple..........Past perfect simple
Past simple............................Past perfect simple
Will.........................................Would
Can.........................................Could
Must.......................................Had to


REMEMBER!

We don't change the past perfect simple in reported speech.

• "He had to leave." : She said that he had to leave.