The Passive Voice

The passive voice is normally used when we are interested in the person or thing affected by the action rather than in the performer of the action. It is also used when the performer of the action is unknown. Passive sentences can only be formed from active ones containing an object. Consider these sentences:


Active: Sir Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity.

Passive: The law of gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton.

Form of Passive Sentences:
(Passive) Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (Verb + -ed or 3rd column of irregular verbs) + (Agent = by-phrase)

Example:
Active: Mary wrote a letter.
Passive: A letter was written by Mary.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

- the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
- the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
- the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the passive sentence (or is dropped)




To have a complete review on this topic, click on these links:

Explanation and activities. (Spanish).
Explanation and activities. (Beginners).
Explanation and activities. (Intermediate).
Explanation and activities. (Advanced).
Active or Passive Test.
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Congratulations Russia! Congratulations Dima Bilan!

In this video you can watch and listen to the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 winner song "Believe", by Dima Bilan from Russia! Congratulations again!

MANCHESTER UNITED'S heroes are returning home in glory today

Alex Ferguson's Double winners are set to touch down after winning the European Cup in Moscow last night.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Co are basking in the spotlight after their epic victory over arch rivals Chelsea in the Champions League final.

United edged the Blues in a dramatic penalty shoot-out 6-5, leaving skipper John Terry and his players to fly back empty-handed into Gatwick today.

For more information, click here.

The long history of man's evolution ...

European week: Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and UEFA Champions League Final

This week we have two significant events in Europe: the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and the UEFA Champions League Final. I have devoted a post to each of them, but today a colleague has given me some interesting information about the Contest and I want to share it with you.

What is the European Broadcasting Union?
The European Broadcasting Union is the largest association of national broadcasters in the world. It promotes cooperation between broadcasters and facilitates the exchange of audiovisual content. The EBU works to ensure that the crucial role of public service broadcasters is recognised and taken into consideration by decision-makers. It was founded in 1950, it has got 75 active members, from 56 countries in and around Europe. It counts on with 45 associate members around the world. Member broadcasters reach an audience of 650 million weekly!

The EBU helps its members to access high quality programming for radio and television, and works with them to develop content for new platforms. Radio activities are wide-ranging, from news and sport, to drama and classical music. They have obtained the radio broadcast rights for the entire season of the New York Metropolitan Opera (20 operas to 20 countries). Their television co-productions include, animation: Tom, drama: Henry Dunant – Red on the Cross, documentary: Democracy and of course they also run the Eurovision Song Contest, and its website. The EBU acquires sports rights on behalf of its Members, including the Olympic Games, the Football World Cup and the World Championships in Athletics.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest running television shows in the world. It was on the 24th of May, 1956, that Europe saw the first ever Eurovision Song Contest. After 52 runnings, the contest is one of the most typical European traditions.

For the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, click on this link.

More information: EBU and Wikipedia.

And here you have one of my favourite songs from the European Song Contest. The song title is "Everyway that I can" and the singer is Sertab Erener, from Turkey. She was the winner of the 2003 Contest.

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), better known as Andy Warhol, was an American artist and a central figure in the movement known as Pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, an avant-garde filmmaker, a record producer, an author, and a public figure known for his membership in wildly diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy aristocrats. A controversial figure during his lifetime (his work was often derided by critics as a hoax, or "put-on"), Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, feature and documentary films since his death in 1987.

It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of famous American products such as "Campbell's Soup Cans" from the Campbell Soup Company and Coca-Cola, as well as paintings of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Troy Donahue, and Elizabeth Taylor. He founded "The Factory", his studio during these years and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He switched to silkscreen prints which he produced serially, seeking not only to make art of mass-produced items but to mass produce the art itself. By minimizing the role of his own hand in the production of his work and declaring that he wanted to be "a machine", Warhol sparked a revolution in art. His work quickly became very controversial and popular.

More information, here.

If you want to test your knowledge on Warhol and Pop Art, click here and take the quiz.

2008 UEFA Champions League Final: Manchester United versus Chelsea

Calling all football fans! It's time to get ready to watch the UEFA Champions League Final taking place in Moscow, Russia, on 21st May at the impressive Luzhniki Stadium, which once hosted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The Champions League is the most important and the most prestigious European football cup arresting millions of football fans to their TV screens and drawing thousands of supporters at the stadiums. Scores of clubs from 53 UEFA associations fight for the right to play in the Champions League, but only 32 teams reach the main stage. It's a seasonal tournament - it starts in the end of summer and ends in the end of spring.

The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League is the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. The Final will be played on 21st May 2008 and, unlike the other knockout rounds, it is played in only one match with extra time in case of a draw after 90 minutes. If the teams are still level following the extra time, a penalty shoot-out will determine the winner. For the first time in the history of the European Cup, the final will feature two teams from England: Manchester United will play against Chelsea, making it an all-English club final.

UEFA made football history when they announced earlier on in the year that they plan to hold club football's most prestigious event in Moscow, the furthest East the cup final has ever been played. What a chance then for Moscow and Russia to showcase not just the two best teams of 2008 playing for glory, but also this vast and beautiful metropolis we know as Moscow.

Enjoy the match and may the best one win!

Leona Lewis: "Bleeding Love"

Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and winner of the third series of The X Factor UK television talent show. Her UK debut single, "A Moment like This", was released in December 2006, breaking a world record after it was downloaded over 50,000 times within 30 minutes.

Her second single, "Bleeding Love", was the biggest-selling single of 2007 in the United Kingdom, topped over thirty national singles charts and became a number one single on the first week in France on March 22 and number one in the US on April 5, 2008.

Her debut album, Spirit, was released in Europe in November 2007, and became the fastest-selling debut album ever in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. Released in North America in April 2008, Spirit debuted at number one in the US Billboard 200 chart and made Lewis the first British artist to top the chart with a debut album.

With her album reaching number one in at least three continents and nine countries, Lewis has had the most successful launch of any television talent show contestant ever.

For more information on Leona Lewis, click here.

Oxford

This is Oxford, a famous city in England. If you do the following exercises, you will find more information about this wonderful city.

Exercise 1: Pre-listening: Vocabulary: Match the term with its definition.

Exercise 2: Click on the words you hear.

Exercise 3: Listen again and complete the text.

Exercise 4: Is this exactly what you hear?

More listening activities.