Make Your Way 5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

Grammar station: The passive 13 How to form the passive Present simple: Reported UFO sightings are investigated by the air-force. Present continuous: A report is currently being investigated . Past simple: Last year, approximately 800 UFO sightings were reported . Past continuous: 30 separate reports were being investigated in June. Present perfect: Has this report been investigated yet? Past perfect: The sighting had been reported by several people before the meteorological officer called. Future simple: These reports will be investigated as soon as possible. Modal verbs (Present): This report can be investigated now. Modal verbs (Past): No explanation could be found for the sightings. Active or passive Whether we use the active or the passive depends on what we want to say: Frequent use of the passive The passive is used to describe processes or events. Examples: A: Has Pope finished the investigation yet? B: Has the investigation been completed? In A we want to know if Pope has done what he was supposed to do. In B we simply want to know if the investigation is finished (it doesn’t matter who was responsible). (You can nevertheless make it clear who did the action: This report was investigated by Pope . ) He ran a special department which was nicknamed “the UFO desk”. Look at this example of the passive from paragraph 1 of the text in exercise 8. 14 Which tense is the verb in? Examples: Making a film: The dialogue is written. Actors and actresses are chosen. Costumes are designed and made. Now look at the text carefully and underline all the other examples of the passive form. • Use the list in the “Grammar station” to help you. Which three tenses of the passive are used in the text? • 53 3 Extensive unit 3: Unsolved mysteries Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv