Grammar: formation of the passive (answers)

1. This building was built in 1949.
2. My favourite TV show is going to be cancelled.
3. Windows has been reinstalled on all of these computers.
4. My package is being shipped to you at the moment.
5. This medicine shouldn't be taken on an empty stomach.

Grammar: formation of the passive (lesson & exercise)

Lesson:

We're finishing off our first calendar month at ESL Lessons with a relatively simple topic: passives.

Simple? A lot of people have a terrible fear of passives. They see them as very complex, confusing and difficult. Well, the truth is that they are none of these things. Today's lesson is not about the meaning or usage of passive verbs; it's just going to focus on their form. We're going to learn how to make passive verbs today.

The formula, the only formula you'll ever need to make passives, is this:

to be + V3

That's it. Really. Every passive sentence has these forms. What does it mean? Well, let's take a look. 'To be' refers, of course, to the verb 'to be'. Depending on tense, that can mean any of the following: 'am', 'is', 'are', 'was', 'were', 'have been', 'has been', 'had been', 'will be', 'should be', 'must be', 'has to be', 'is going to be', 'will have been', 'should have been' and, in the case of passives, 'am being', 'is being', was being', etc. 'V3', verb three, is also called the 'past participle'. It's the third form of verbs that you learn through memorization and are listed in the back of every ESL textbook. For example, the 'V3' form of 'steal' is 'stolen' and the 'V3' form of 'find' is 'found'. Being regular, verbs such as 'need' or 'control' get their V3 forms just by adding '-ed': in this case, 'needed' and 'controlled'.

Okay. So, for example, 'was stolen' and 'will be needed' are passive verbs, because 'was' and 'will be' are forms of the verb 'to be', and 'stolen' and 'needed' are V3 forms of the verbs 'steal' and 'need'.

Again, today's lesson doesn't focus on the meaning of these verbs - just the formation of them.

A very typical passive-related exercise would be one in which the student is given active (i.e. 'normal') sentences and asked to change them into passive sentences. They may be given this sentence:

• They have found the missing girl.

And asked to turn it into this sentence:

• The missing girl has been found.

How can you do it? Well, it's actually quite easy. When we look at the first sentence, we can find its subject ('They'), its verb ('have found') and its object ('the missing girl'). The object of our active sentence becomes the subject of our passive sentence, so our passive sentence is going to begin with the words 'The missing girl'. Now, for the verb, we need to look at the active sentence and decide two things: 1) Which tense is the verb in? 2) Which verb is it?

In this case, we can see that the verb ('have found') is present perfect, and the verb is 'find'. Remembering our magic formula 'to be + V3', all we need to do is choose the present perfect form of the verb 'to be' and the V3 form of 'find'. Because 'the missing girl' (she) is singular, our present perfect form of 'to be' is 'has been', and the V3 form of 'find' is, of course, 'found'.

Another example:

• We will sell 500 books this week.

What do we need to do? The verb is 'will sell' and the object is '500 books'. So we need to put the object ('500 books') first, then the future simple form of 'to be' ('will be'), and the V3 form of 'sell' ('sold'). Keeping the time expression, we get:

• 500 books will be sold this week.

Let's look at a few more examples, with the verbs in blue and the subject of the passive sentence in red:

• You can't mix oil and water. = Oil and water can't be mixed.
• They are cleaning the office. = The office is being cleaned.
• Thieves stole Renoir's painting in 1995. = Renoir's painting was stolen in 1995.
• They have discovered a new galaxy. = A new galaxy has been discovered.
• They will punish you for your actions = You will be punished for your actions.

Exercise:

Change these active sentences into passive. Do not include the 'by agent' in your answer.

1. They built this building in 1949. = ______________________________
2. They are going to cancel my favourite TV show. = ______________________________
3. We have reinstalled Windows on all of these computers. = ______________________________
4. They are shipping my package to you at the moment. = ______________________________
5. You shouldn't take this medicine on an empty stomach. = ______________________________

Vocabulary: over- and under- prefixes (answers)

1. The municipal government is trying to find a solution to the problem of overpopulation in the city's downtown area.
2. The police closed down the bar for serving drinks to underage people.
3. We had expected 250 guests, but almost 500 people came. We really underestimated how many people would come.
4. The HR manager looked at my three university degrees and told me I was overqualified for the job.
5. I wore a t-shirt to the part, and everyone else was wearing suits. I felt so embarrassed because I was underdressed.
6. I told her the news and she almost had a heart attack. I don't know why she overreacted like that.
7. People who work in this factory are usually overworked and underpaid: their job is difficult and they earn little money.
8. If you overload the donkey, you might break its back!
9. She always spends the whole day dreaming of magical castles and handsome princes. She has an overactive imagination.

Vocabulary: over- and under- prefixes (lesson & exercise)

Lesson:

It's said that there are upwards of a million words in the English language. Of course, it's impossible to learn every word: the average native speaker is said to know only about 30,000. However, to increase your vocabulary, it's very useful to be able to break a word down into parts and guess its meaning from this. A very easy starting place is to look at prefixes and suffixes, and an ideal starting point would be the prefixes 'over-' and 'under-'.

Generally speaking, we can say that these prefixes carry the meaning of 'too much' or 'too little (i.e. not enough)'. For example, a person who ate too much might hold his stomach and complain that he had overeaten. So we can see that 'over-' can attach to verbs and, in this case, changes the meaning from 'to eat' to 'to eat too much'.

Usually, you will find these prefixes attached to verbs or to adjectives. Any good dictionary should contain a nice list. Here are a few examples:

• overbook (v.): to book too many tickets on a plane, in a hotel, etc.
• overcharge (v.): to charge too much money for something.
• overcrowded (adj.): having too many people or things in it; probematically crowded.
• overcook (v.): to cook something too long.
• overdo (v.): to exaggerate.
• overdrawn (adj.): having too much money drawn from a bank account.
• overdressed (adj.): wearing too much or too formal clothing.
• overgrown (adj.): grown too much; for plants, being excessively and problematically big.
• overload (v.): to load too much onto something, e.g. a truck.
• overpopulated (adj.): for a place, having too high a population.
• overprotective (adj.): trying too hard to protect someone, esp. a child.
• overqualified (adj.): having too many qualifications for a job.
• overreact (v.): to react in an exaggerated way.
• overworked (adj.): being forced to work too much.

The prefix 'under-' works in much the same way. Understanding, for example, that the adjective 'underfunded' means 'receiving not enough funding', you should probably be able to guess the meaning of these words: underachieve (v.), underage (adj.), underdeveloped (adj.), underestimate (v.), undernourished (adj.), underpaid (adj.), underrate (v.), undersell (v.), understaffed (adj.) and undervalue (v.). The following exercise will let you test yourself.

Exercise:

Fill in the blanks using one of the words on the list below (not all of the words on the list are acceptable words, but all of the correct answers are).

1. The municipal government is trying to find a solution to the problem of __________ in the city's downtown area.
2. The police closed down the bar for serving drinks to __________ people.
3. We had expected 250 guests, but almost 500 people came. We really __________ how many people would come.
4. The HR manager looked at my three university degrees and told me I was __________ for the job.
5. I wore a t-shirt to the part, and everyone else was wearing suits. I felt so embarrassed because I was __________.
6. I told her the news and she almost had a heart attack. I don't know why she __________ like that.
7. People who work in this factory are usually __________ and __________: their job is difficult and they earn little money.
8. If you __________ the donkey, you might break its back!
9. She always spends the whole day dreaming of magical castles and handsome princes. She has an __________ imagination.

• overactive / underactive
• overage / underage
• overdressed / underdressed
• overestimated / underestimated
• overload / underload
• overpaid / underpaid
• overpopulation / underpopulation
• overqualified / underqualified
• overreacted / underreacted
• overworked / underworked

Grammar: tag questions (answers)

1. The weather is beautiful today, isn't it?
2. You broke the window, didn't you?
3. It isn't safe to walk in this neighbourhood, is it?
4. She hasn't learned very much, has she?
5. This window looks pretty dirty, doesn't it?
6. Let's order a pizza, shall we?
7. Those kids are really growing up, aren't they?
8. I don't know what I'm talking about, do I?
9. Sit down, won't you?
10. There must be a mistake, mustn't there?
11. You have to go home early today, don't you?
12. The dog needs food, doesn't it?
13. I am in your class, am I not or aren't I?
14. I should listen to you, shouldn't I?
15. This exercise wasn't very difficult, was it?

Grammar: tag questions (lesson & exercise)

Lesson:

Tag questions, the quick little two-word way to turn a normal sentence into a question, are one of the easiest topics in English grammar. The name 'tag question' refers to the two words after the comma at the end of these examples:

• Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil, isn't it?
• You didn't see anything, did you?
• John should lose some weight, shouldn't he?

In each case, these truly are questions - the speaker expects the listener to say something. Depending on how the speaker says it, a simple 'uh-huh' from the listener might be enough or a full answer might be necessary.

Making tag questions is very easy - it's all about choosing the right helping verb and the right subject. A 'helping verb', also called an 'auxillary verb', is the verb you can see directly after the comma - the verb that we put before the subject in normal questions and the verb we put 'not' after in negative sentences. They include words like 'is', 'are', 'did', 'do', 'will', 'can', 'must', 'have' and 'had'. In the three examples above, you'll see that the helping verb in the sentence and the helping verb in the tag question are the same, just changed from positive to negative or vice versa. So 'is' in the first example becomes 'isn't' in the tag, and the negative 'didn't' in the second one becomes 'did' in the tag.

Present simple and past simple sentences, if they're positive, won't have helping verbs. In these cases, you need to use 'doesn't', 'don't' or 'didn't'. For example:

• They kill horses, don't they?
• You slept well, didn't you?

The last word of the tag question is just the subject again. You can see in the two examples above that the first word of the example and the last word are the same. In the examples above, we've used pronouns where necessary ('he' for 'John', 'it' for 'Rio de Janeiro'), but the logic is still the same.

So that's really all there is to tag questions: take a normal sentence, put a comma at the end, then put the opposite helping verb (negative if the original sentence is positive and positive if the original is negative) plus the subject again (using a pronoun if necessary), a question mark, and you're done!

Let's look at a few more examples, this time with colours. Blue shows subjects, red shows helping verbs.

• There's an empty room here, isn't there?
• My sister was waiting here, wasn't she?
• We've gotten lost, haven't we?
• This school doesn't have an air conditioner, does it?
• Susan and Louise worked here, didn't they?
• You can reach the button, can't you?

Note: two final observations on this topic. Firstly, as you might know, you can't contract 'am not'. So tag questions starting with 'I am...' lead to a problem. The two possible solutions, each of which is a little problematic, are a) to say '...aren't I?' or b) to say '...am I not?'

The second observation is that most textbooks list '...shall we?' as the appropriate tag question after 'Let's' and '...won't you?' or '...will you?' after imperative sentences. A few closing examples to illustrate these points:

• I'm sitting in the right seat, aren't I? or:
• I'm sitting in the right seat, am I not?
• Let's go home now, shall we?
• Lend me $5, will you?

Exercise:

Fill in the blanks with the correct words to make a suitable tag question.

1. The weather is beautiful today, __________?
2. You broke the window, __________?
3. It isn't safe to walk in this neighbourhood, __________?
4. She hasn't learned very much, __________?
5. This window looks pretty dirty, __________?
6. Let's order a pizza, __________?
7. Those kids are really growing up, __________?
8. I don't know what I'm talking about, __________?
9. Sit down, __________?
10. There must be a mistake, __________?
11. You have to go home early today, __________?
12. The dog needs food, __________?
13. I am in your class, __________?
14. I should listen to you, __________?
15. This exercise wasn't very difficult, __________?

Slang: "ain't" (answers)

1. Your mother isn't going to be happy about this.
2. We haven't (or aren't) finished with you yet.
3. There isn't enough time today.
4. Isn't that my luck?
5. I am not allowed to stay out past 10:00.
6. Haven't you ever eaten shrimp?
7. She hasn't got any bed to sleep in.
8. If it isn't broken, don't fix it!
9. Playing tennis isn't my idea of a good time.
10. It isn't acceptable to use slang words in English grammar class.

Slang: "ain't" (lesson & exercise)

Lesson:

For the first lesson, I thought I'd say a few words about a topic my students ask me about a lot - the word 'ain't'.

It's not surprising that students are interested in it. They hear it in songs all the time, and perhaps they've seen a teacher or two shake their heads as if it were a dirty word or something.

Is 'ain't' a dirty word? No, it isn't. You can say it on television. Your mother will not slap you if you say it. But it is slang, which means you shouldn't use it in formal situations. Also I would advise you never to use it in writing, except maybe things like SMS messages. In fact, I would advise you never to use it - not because it's a bad word, but because it sounds unnatural when most English learners say it.

So what is it? Well, originally, hundreds of years ago, 'ain't' was simply the short form of 'am not'. Just as 'is not' can become 'isn't' and 'will not' shortens to 'won't', 'ain't' was used to shorten 'am not'. The problem came when people started use 'ain't' to shorten other things, such as 'is not'. So because it was bad grammar to shorten 'is not' to 'ain't', the teachers of good English grammar decided to completely banish 'ain't' from 'good' English, to the point that today the word 'ain't' is not considered proper grammar in any situation, and 'am not' has no acceptable contraction (though you can, of course, say "I'm not").

Still, you can hear the word all the time. It does still mean 'am not', but it can also mean 'is not', 'are not', 'have not' and 'has not' (it's very rare that this can cause confusion). So, also thinking about how double negatives are not acceptable in standard 'proper' English but can often be used informally, we can see how 'ain't' is used in a few examples:

1. '*I ain't your girlfriend.' = 'I am not your girlfriend.'
2. '*He ain't coming home.' = 'He isn't coming home.'
3. '*Ain't you heard the news?' = 'Haven't you heard the news?'
4. '*There ain't no reason to cry.' = 'There isn't any reason to cry.'

Note that we can't use 'ain't' in place of all negative contractions. '*I ain't drink wine' or '*She ain't be home tonight until 10:00' would be incorrect sentences, not merely non-standard ones.

Exercise:

All of these sentences use the word 'ain't'. How would you write these sentences in standard English, i.e. the kind of English that is acceptable in writing and in English lessons?

1. Your mother ain't going to be happy about this.
2. We ain't finished with you yet.
3. There ain't enough time today.
4. Ain't that my luck?
5. I ain't allowed to stay out past 10:00.
6. Ain't you ever eaten shrimp?
7. She ain't got no bed to sleep in.
8. If it ain't broken, don't fix it!
9. Playing tennis ain't my idea of a good time.
10. It ain't acceptable to use slang words in English grammar class.

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