G The passive voice How to use it The construction of the transcontinental railroad is looked upon as a fantastic achievement. • The present simple passive is used when something is often done, regularly done or never done. It is also used to state facts. At the moment the tracks between Omaha and Fremont are being repaired. • You use the present progressive passive to describe what is being done at the moment and is still going on. A new book has been written about the men who built the railroad. • The present perfect passive is used to stress the effect of a past action on the present. The railroad was built by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific. • The past simple passive is used to stress that an event came to an end in the past. While the tracks were being laid, the workers were sometimes attacked by Native Americans. • The past progressive passive describes what was in progress at a certain time in the past. Before the actual work began, the railroad companies had been promised vast stretches of land along the lines. • The past perfect passive expresses that something happened before another activity or event in the past. A new railroad connection will be opened between Chicago and Buffalo soon. • The future passive is used to predict events in the future. The land the railroad companies were given could be turned into gold by selling it to settlers and developers. • The passive infinitive is used after modal verbs and in all other cases where an infinitive is needed. My father was given the promise that he could stay on the boat. The railroad companies were also offered land to build towns on. • The personal passive can be used with verbs like to give, to offer, to promise, etc. In most cases a person or a group of persons (e.g. My father, the railroad companies) is used as the subject of the passive sentence. Today, many people don’t know that the transcontinental railroad was built by Chinese and Irish immigrants. • When it is important to mention the person or thing that causes an action, a so-called by-agent is used. Direct and indirect (reported) speech If you want to report something that somebody else said, you use indirect speech. If the reporting verb (e.g. said, shouted) is in the simple past, the tenses that were used in direct speech have to be shifted one tense further back. a) Backshift of tenses and change of adverbials of time and place Direct speech (Excerpt from Joe Grimsby’s speech) Indirect speech (What The Gazette reported two days later) present progressive past progressive “We’re all working hard to make our dreams come true.” Mr Grimsby started his speech saying that they were all working hard to make their dreams come true. present simple past simple “This is a decisive moment in time and I promise to bring about fundamental changes.” He then said that it was a decisive moment in time and he promised to bring about fundamental changes. G 6 176 Grammar for reference (2) Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjU2NDQ5MQ==