Passive voice

Intermediate

1. Text “The story behind supermarket success”2. Questions about the text.3. Exercises 4. Passive Voice5. Questions on the theory6. Exercises on Passive Voice 7. History of the subject 8. Test9. Vocabulary10. Additional information

I.

ARE supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more? When you enter a supermarket, the manager knows better than you do how you will behave – which way you will walk, where you will look, what will make you buy one product rather than another. When customers go into a shop, they naturally look to their left but move clockwise, towards the right. So supermarket entrances are usually on the left of the building, and the layout is designed to take shoppers around the store, aisle after aisle, from left to right. Then shoppers will pay attention to all products.

Questions

II.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need.

Questions

III.

People walk quickly through narrow aisles, but they move more slowly in wide aisles and give more attention to the products. One best-selling position for products is at the end of aisles, because shoppers slow down to turn into the next aisle. Another is on shelves at eye level. Supermarkets are paid by manufactures to put their products in each of these high-selling places.

Sweets are often placed at children’s eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.

Questions

IV.

More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product (e.g. cereals, washing powder) than from a ten-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.

Questions

1. Where is the entrance to the shop?

2. What does the supermarket display near the entrance? Why?

3. Where are basic foods like sugar and tea? Are they near each other?

4. Do you move more quickly or more slowly if there is a lot of space between shelves?

5. Where do staff put large quantities of a product that they want to sell quickly?

6. Are the shelves full at all times?

Text

• the entrance• a narrow aisle• a wide aisle• shoppers• shelves• the checkout• trolleys• a special display

a) f)

b) c)

d) e)

Vocabulary

g)

h)

Uses:

We use present passive forms:•when we do not know who performs an action•when this information is uninteresting, unimportant or obvious

In English, the most important information is often at the beginning of a sentence. Compare the emphasis in these sentences:

Active A lot of people in Britain eat pasta

Passive Pasta is eaten by a lot of people in Britain

Passive forms are used to describe processes.

EXAMPLES: The jeans are sent from the factory to the warehouse. They are then delivered…

Questions

Exercises

Forms•The present simple passive is formed with the present tense of the verb to be + a past participle.

EXAMPLE: Fish is imported from France•We use by if we want to say who performs the action.

EXAMPLES: The fruit is picked by students.

The cars are built by skilled craftsmen.

Questions

Exercises

1. When do we use Present Simple Passive?

2. Where is the most important information in the sentence?

3. What are passive forms used to describe?

4. How is Present Simple Passive used?

I. Complete the sentences using one of these verbs in the correct form:

cause include hold make show Many accidents are caused by dangerous driving. Cheese ______________ from milk. A cinema is a place where films _________ . There’s no need to leave a tip. Service __________ in the bill. In the United States, election for President ______ every four

years.

II. Rewrite the sentences in passive voice.

1. He opens the door. - The door is opened by him.2. We set the table. - 3. She pays a lot of money. - 4. I draw a picture. - 5. They wear blue shoes. - 6. They don't help you. - 

Grammar

It is believed that passive voice was invented around 400 BCE by the Greek poet Homer, a deaf, dumb and blind boy who lived in a quiet vibration land. Because of his simpleness Homer was taken where minds can't usually go, and thanks to this some of the greatest techniques for writing, among them metaphors, in media res and Russian Reversal were invented. However after Númenor was defeated by the Last Alliance there was a lull in writing innovation and the next Golden Age of Passive voice was initiated centuries later by medeval authors.Only a few years after Passive Voice was brought into its heyday, a group that is called the "Plain English Movement" (El Movimiento de íngles ordinario) that was not taught how to appreciate stylistic devices decide that reading texts was made difficult by passive voice and so labeled it a stylistic mistake. A widespread witchunt was begun in the name of "Plain English" and, under pressure, some of America's greatest slogans were changed to meet this new conception of English.

Complete the text with active or passive form of the verb in brackets

Basic foods differ throughout the world. Rice and noodles 1) ... (eat) in south-east Asia, while bread 2) ... (be) more common in Arab countries. Europeans also 3) ... (eat) a lot of bread, but potatoes 4) ... (grow) everywhere. In Italy, pasta 5) ... (use) as the main ingredient of many dishes. In some north African countries, couscous is very popular. Couscous 6) ... (make) from semolina.

CheckGrammar

Basic foods differ throughout the world. Rice and noodles are eaten in south-east Asia, while bread is more common in Arab countries. Europeans also eat a lot of bread, but potatoes grow everywhere. In Italy, pasta is used as the main ingredient of many dishes. In some north African countries, couscous is very popular. Couscous is made from semolina.

Test

• checkout - the place where you pay in a supermarket or other large store

• entrance - the place where you can enter a room, building, or area

• narrow aisle - a narrow passage between rows of shelves of a supermarket

• shelf - used for talking about the goods that are available in shops

• shopper - someone who goes to a shop in order to buy or look at the things that are sold there

• special display - an arrangement of things for people to look at

• trolley - a large container with wheels that you push and use for carrying things in a supermarket

• wide aisle - a wide passage between rows of shelves of a supermarket

Vocabulary ex.

I. Many accidents are caused by dangerous driving. Cheese is made from milk. A cinema is a place where films are shown. There’s no need to leave a tip. Service is included in the

bill. In the United States, election for President is held every

four years.

II.

2. The table is set by us

3. A lot of money is paid by her

4. A picture is drawn by me

5. Blue shoes are worn by them

6. You are not helped by them

Exercises

• The rules:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/

verbs-voice_passive.htm

• Exercises

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive/exercises?simple-present

http://www.native-english.ru/exercises/pasvoice