Unit 15: The passive
Ngữ pháp The passive / the causative / direct and indirect objects
📘 Giải thích tiếng Việt
Câu bị động (the passive)
Hình thức: tân ngữ + be (chia đúng thì) + V3 (+ by/with...). Dùng khi không biết, đã rõ, hoặc không quan trọng ai thực hiện; hoặc để nhấn mạnh thông tin mới / văn phong trang trọng. Dùng by cho người/tác nhân, with cho công cụ. Không dùng bị động ở các thì perfect continuous.
Bị động phi cá nhân (impersonal passive)
Nêu ý kiến chung một cách trang trọng với say, think, believe, estimate...: He is thought to be a great chef hoặc It is thought that he is.... Hành động trước đó dùng perfect infinitive: He is believed to have been a great chef.
Thể sai khiến (the causative)
Hình thức: chủ ngữ + have/get + tân ngữ + V3. Dùng khi nhờ/thuê người khác làm: I have my groceries delivered. Cũng dùng cho việc không mong muốn: We had our garden vandalised. Get thân mật hơn have. So sánh: have somebody do / get somebody to do (nhấn vào người thực hiện).
Tân ngữ trực tiếp & gián tiếp
Với động từ như give, send, offer, show, tell..., có hai tân ngữ nên có hai câu bị động: My sister was given this book (nhấn người nhận) hoặc This book was given to my sister (nhấn vật). Cách nhấn người nhận phổ biến và tự nhiên hơn.
Theory
The passive
Form: noun + be in the correct form + past participle (+ by/with + noun)
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | They grow bananas in tropical areas. | Bananas are grown in tropical areas. |
| Present continuous | They are redecorating the café. | The café is being redecorated. |
| Present perfect simple | Has anyone peeled the carrots? | Have the carrots been peeled? |
| Past simple | They served the meal in an elegant dining room. | The meal was served in an elegant dining room. |
| Past continuous | They were preparing the bill. | The bill was being prepared. |
| Past perfect simple | Someone had eaten all the food. | All the food had been eaten. |
| Will future | We will deliver your pizza in forty minutes. | Your pizza will be delivered in forty minutes. |
| Be going to future | Customers are going to sue Burgerland. | Burgerland is going to be sued. |
| Future perfect simple | They will have harvested all the grapes. | All the grapes will have been harvested. |
| Modal | You should brush the chicken breast with oil. | The chicken breast should be brushed with oil. |
| Modal + perfect infinitive | They should have delivered the groceries. | The groceries should have been delivered. |
| -ing (gerund) | I don't like people telling me what to do. | I don't like being told what to do. |
Use the passive when:
- We don't know who does/did something: My groceries have been stolen!
- It's obvious who does/did something: A boy was arrested for stealing an apple.
- It's not important who does/did something: The French bistro is being knocked down.
- We want to emphasise new information or use formal style: The potato was brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh.
⚠️ Notes:
- We do not normally use the passive in present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, or future perfect continuous. Instead, use a different phrase: The restaurant has been under construction for four years.
- Use by to say who did something (when it's important): Margarine was invented by a French chef.
- Use with to talk about the thing used: The soup should be stirred with a spoon.
- Some verbs are not normally used in the passive, including intransitive verbs (appear, die) and some common transitive verbs (have, let, lack).
The impersonal passive
To express other people's opinions formally. Used with verbs like: say, believe, think, claim, estimate, suggest, etc.
Form: noun + is/are said to + bare infinitive / perfect infinitive
It is said that + clause
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| People think he is a great chef. | He is thought to be a great chef. / It is thought that he is a great chef. |
| People believe he was a great chef. | He is believed to have been a great chef. / It is believed that he was a great chef. |
| People estimated his restaurant was worth $10 million. | His restaurant was estimated to be/to have been worth $10 million. / It was estimated that his restaurant was worth $10 million. |
The causative
Form: noun + have/get in the correct form + noun + past participle (+ by/with + noun)
| Use | Example |
|---|---|
| To show someone arranges for someone else to do something for them | I have my groceries delivered. / We had a large wedding cake made. / Have you had your kitchen decorated? |
| To refer to an unpleasant situation which hasn't been arranged | We had our herb garden vandalised. / The Smiths have had their microwave stolen. |
⚠️ Notes:
- Get is usually more informal than have: Can you go and get this recipe photocopied for me?
- We can also use get somebody to do and have somebody do: Why don't you get the chef to prepare you a vegetarian meal? / Why don't you have the chef prepare you a vegetarian meal?
Direct and indirect objects
Some verbs can be followed by both a direct and an indirect object (usually a person): bring, buy, get, give, lend, make, offer, owe, pass, promise, send, show, take, teach, tell, write, etc.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| A friend gave my sister this cookery book. A friend gave this cookery book to my sister. | My sister was given this cookery book by a friend. This cookery book was given to my sister by a friend. |
Exercise A
Choose the correct word or phrase.
Exercise B
Complete using the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets.
Exercise C
Write sentences in the passive.
Exercise D
Rewrite using the phrase given.
Exercise E
Rewrite in the passive starting with the words given.
It __________
It __________
Christmas __________
It __________
It __________
Crocodile __________
The Vikings __________
Heart disease __________
Exercise F
Choose the correct answer.
Exercise G
Complete each second sentence using the word given, so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Write between two and five words in each gap.
My car __________ on the door!
Tommy __________ right now.
Have __________ party?
This play __________ Shakespeare in 1587.
A new law to ban smoking __________ following new research.
I __________ my mum.
I didn't understand a word so I __________ it to me.
Exercise H
Find the extra word in each line.
Wedding disaster
1 My wedding had been being arranged for months. I knew exactly what I
2 wanted for that special day. I had the caterers to give me a menu and
3 have got them to provide me with samples so that I could be sure we
4 would have the best food. I also wanted to have us a string quartet play
5 classical music and I arranged that, too. My dress was been being made
6 specially and I had told the dressmaker put silver thread in it. Finally, the
7 big day got arrived. My dress was being delivered in the morning, but by
8 ten it still hadn't arrived. They called me and said it had been being
9 damaged! I was furious! I had my best friend quickly to pop out and get
10 a new dress. I had got my lawyer to call to get my money back.
Exercise I
Rewrite with the indirect object at the end of the sentence.
Example: My dad got me a great computer game! → My dad got a great computer game for me.
Exercise J
Write one word in each gap.
The European Diet
It's hard for us to imagine what (1) __________ included in the European diet before America (2) __________ discovered (3) __________ Columbus in 1492. So many ingredients which today (4) __________ grown all over the world (5) __________ unknown to medieval Europeans. Potatoes, tomatoes, maize and chocolate (6) __________ all originally imported from the New World. Until then, meals had (7) __________ prepared using ingredients native to Europe, such as root vegetables. Of course, spices such as pepper (8) __________ been traded and added to food for centuries. When the potato (9) __________ first introduced, it was surprisingly unpopular. It (10) __________ considered to be poisonous and it took a long time to become common. There is a story of Parmentier, a French army officer, who (11) __________ potatoes planted in the royal garden and (12) __________ Marie Antoinette to wear a potato flower to make them fashionable. The poor peasants were curious about the new plants and many of them (13) __________ stolen to be planted in their own gardens. It was the start of French fries!
