THE PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT TENSES

1.1. The Passive Voice is characterized by its emphasis on either the action (the verb) or the result  of the action (the object), but NOT the subject. For instance:

• Mexico IS KNOWN for its amazing and interesting culture.

1.2 Please notice that we usually speak using the active voice (95% of the time). Contrary to the passive voice, the active voice highlights the subject of the sentence, the one who performs the action. That is, in the active voice:

• The Subject is the most important part of the sentence.
• It has a stronger more direct tone than the Passive Voice.
• Erick cleans his room every Saturday.

In the Passive Voice:

• The Object or the Verb becomes the focus of the sentence.
• The Subject can be omitted if  we consider it irrelevant or it is unknown.

 The  room  IS CLEANED every Saturday.

1.3 In the Present Simple,  the Passive Voice is constructed using a form of the verb  TO BE  (AM, IS, ARE) and the past participle of any verb.  Analyze the examples in the following chart:

Here are some examples:                          

• The code is written by the engineers.
• In that novel, the princess is rescued by the hero Kerem.
• I am visited by my family every year.
• My dog Ikki  is loved by the whole family.
• Our Golden Retriever   is groomed  at the salon every four months .
• Cakes and desserts are usually baked in my LG oven.
• You are woken up by your alarm clock every morning, aren´t you?
• The exams are graded by the teacher .
• Dinner is served at 8 o'clock.
• The Teotihuacan Pyramids are visited by millions every year.
• The president is elected every  4 years.

1.4  SPECIAL USES OF THE PASSIVE VOICE

• It emphasizes the object or  the result of the verb:

Star Wars was directed by George Lucas.

• The agent is not known, irrelevant or obvious:

The house is being built.

(we don't need to say by the builders because it is obvious)

Many thieves are arrested every day.

(it is obvious that it is done by the police)

• It is used to  hide the identity of the subject

Committee members  are told private information about participants.

• There is no subject or the action  is done by peolple in general:

Mickey Mouse  is known  worldwide.

1.5  THE PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT CONTINUOUS

In the Present Continuous, the Passive Voice is constructed using a form of the verb be in the present continuous  and the present participle of the verb. Analyze this second chart:

Here are some examples:

• Babies are being born everywhere .
• I am being monitored by my boss.
• The floor is being mopped right now.
• The dishes are being washed.
• The Oscars are being presented by Mila Kunis .
• The movie is being directed by the students.

Now let´s do some exercises.

READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY BUILDING.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATED THROUGH THE NEWS?

Every day at any time much news around the world are shared by social media, TV channels, radio stations and newspapers. Sometimes news tends to be full of negative connotations because it is said that tabloid journalism focuses on the dramatics rather than the actual information. In this text, you are going to find a variety of news, a different one in each paragraph.

The shipping industry says it's been hit by the global financial crisis and the recent spate of piracy attacks off Somalia. The chairman of the Hong Kong Ship Owners Association and chief executive of the Anglo-Eastern Group, Peter Cremers said ships are wary of sailing through the Gulf of Aden which has boosted costs as vessels are diverted.

Analysts polled by Reuters news agency say they believe China's economy grew by just seven per cent in the last quarter of last year. If borne out by official data, this would be the worst figure in a decade. The Chinese authorities believe a minimum growth rate of eight per cent is needed to avoid severe unemployment and social disruption. China's manufacturing sector has been badly hit by recession in its main export markets.

Temperatures over Hong Kong dipped on Sunday morning with the mercury plunging to minus one degree celsius in Ta Kwu Ling. A spokesman for the Observatory said it was the lowest temperature recorded in Ta Kwu Ling since a weather station was set up there more than two decades ago. The Observatory says the average temperature recorded in the urban areas was 10 degrees. But, it was considerably colder in some parts of the New Territories.

The Secretary for the Environment, Edward Yau, says the government will come up with a basket of proposals on ways to put together a new air pollution index later this year. Mr Yau said a public consultation will begin later this year. He said the exercise would decide when a new index is put in place; and what measures were needed to acheive that. Mr Yau admits that the current index, which is measured using standards established 21 years ago, is obsolete.

Somali pirates have released a Hong-Kong registered cargo ship, chartered by Iran, which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in November. Iran's state broadcaster reported that the vessel, named Delight, was released on Friday evening and was sailing towards the Iranian coast. It said that all 25 members of the crew were safe, but did not say whether any ransom had been paid. Pirates seized the Delight as it headed for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat.

Hong Kong Airlines, a local airline serving mainly Asian cities, has laid off about 50 staff. The Confederation of Trade Unions said the workers received their severance notice by post, but were not told of the reason.

Azar, B. S., Azar, D.A., & Koch R.S. (2009). Understanding and Using  English Grammar. Longman.

Barker C. and Mitchell, L. (2004). Mega 1 (First Ed.). Macmillan Publishers.

Hewings, M. (2013) Advanced Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study Reference  and Practice Book for Advanced Learners of English. Cambridge   

                  University Press.

Murphy, R. (2012). English Grammar in Use. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

Murray, L. (2014) English Grammar.  Cambridge University Press.

Images_Compra propia de licencias de banco de imágenes de Pixton y Pngtree, exentas de derechos de autor. https://www-es.pixton.com/ & https://es.pngtree.com/free-backgrounds.Reading Text adapted fromhttps://www.eltbase.com/worksheet-714-news-stories and fromhttps://es.scribd.com/document/392077223/Ingles-Trab#

• All practice exercises and charts were  written by Karla Shareni Murillo Granados_2022_ENES- LEÓN-UNAM
• Audio version performed by Kimberly, Isabella, John and Matt_Compra propia de licencia de uso de voces en Voicemaker, exenta de derechos de autor. https://voicemaker.in/ _Connie Reyes Cruz_2022_