Lesson 53
Dialogue
1/ Sentence Practice
John is carried into the operating theatre by two medical orderlies.
John is being operated on by a surgeon. There is a nurse and an anesthetist in the operating theatre.
The doctor was trained to carry out surgical interventions in Italy. Some hospitals have been harmed by government cutbacks.
This hospital will be modernised soon because the building is a little old.
A computer is used to monitor John during the intervention.
The improvement in the success rate of surgical operation has been made possible by a computer technology.
Human error was almost eliminated by the advent of technological innovation.
This hospital was built more than one hundred and fifty years ago.
The operation was carried out successfully. Now John will be transferred to the recovery room by the two medical orderlies.
In the recovery ward John is woken up by the patient in the next bed.
He has been knocked out by the anesthetic. John was told by the doctor to expect a feeling of nausea for a few hours.
He presses the buzzer for the nurse to come. John is told by the nurse to lie down or he will make himself ill.
John takes the advice of the nurse and lies down.
Vocabulary
2/Vocabulary Practice
- the passive voice
- to carry into
- the operating theatre
- medical orderlies
- a surgeon
- a nurse
- an anesthetist
- The doctor
- to be trained
- to carry out
- surgical interventions
- in Italy
- to be harmed
- government cutbacks
- to be modernised
- to monitor
- during the intervention.
- the improvement
- the success rate
- to make possible by
- computer technology.
- Human error
- eliminated
- the advent of
- technological innovation.
- more than one hundred and fifty years ago.
- to be transferred
- the recovery room
- the ward
- the patient
- in the next bed
- to knock out
- the anesthetic.
- was told to expect
- a feeling of nausea
- for a few hours
- to press the buzzer
- to lie down
- to make oneself ill
- to take advice
Grammar
Passive Voice
The active voice is often referred to as the normal voice. However the passive voice is necessary as we might not know or have the active subject.
Active voice (simple sentence with 1 clause): S + V + O
Here the Object receives the action of the Verb.
Sandra has bought the tickets.
All the elements of the sentence are important in the active voice.
Passive voice
Subject + Verb + by + passive agent
Sometimes in the passive voice we remove the passive agent as it is not considered important.
The subject of the active voice (active subject) becomes the passive agent in the passive voice and is introduced by the preposition “by”.
The tickets have been bought (by Sandra).
The tense changes in the passive voice too.
Use of the passive voice:
1/ all the importance is given to the active agent (the object of my active voice > the subject in the passive voice)
2/ active subject is unknown
I had my wallet stolen. (I don’t know who stole my wallet so I have no passive agent in my sentence)
3/ structure variety and flow: if I take the object from my previous sentence
To do the Tense transformations from active voice to passive voice please review the following points:
past participle
irregular verbs
tense review
Transformations when going from the active voice to the passive voice. What tense to use?
Example:
Her visa + “to be” + past participle of main verb (to extend > extended)
We take the tense used in the active voice, to conjugate the verb “to be” in the passive voice and add the past participle of the main verb of the active voice (to extend > extended).
Firstly, Simple present
They extend her visa. (active voice)
Her visa is extended. (passive voice)
Secondly, Present continuous.
They are extending her visa.
Her visa is being extended.
Thirdly, Simple past.
They extended her visa.
Her visa was extended.
Fourthly Present perfect.
They have extended her visa.
Her visa has been extended.
Fifthly, Past perfect.
They had extended her visa.
Her visa had been extended.
Sixthly, simple future.
They will extend her visa.
Her visa will be extended.
Seventhly, future perfect.
They will have extended her visa.
Her visa will have been extended.
Eighthly, simple conditional.
They would extend her visa.
Her visa would be extended.
Ninthly, conditional perfect.
They would have extended her visa.
Her visa would have been extended.
Passive Voice revision + further terminology and tense transformations
More about passive and active voices:
We can also distinguish personal from impersonal passive.
Firstly, Personal passive = the object of the active sentences becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So all transitive verbs can form a personal passive, (a transitive verb means that it can be followed by an Object).
Example: She built a new house. A new house was built.
Secondly, Impersonal passive = verbs that cannot have an object are intransitive verbs. They cannot form a personal passive sentence (meaning there is no object in the active voice that can be used as the subject of the passive form/sentence). In this case and in order to use the same verb in both the active and passive voice, you will need the preposition “it” (impersonal construction).
Example:
They said becomes, It is said.
More Examples of transformations:
His dog + “to be” + past participle of main verb (to leave behind becomes left behind)
We take the tense used in the active voice, to conjugate the verb “to be” in the passive voice and add the past participle of the main verb of the active voice (to leave behind > left behind).
Firstly, Simple present.
They leave the dog behind. (active voice)
Their dog is left behind. (passive voice)
Secondly, Present continuous.
They are leaving the dog behind. (active voice).
Their/The dog is being left behind. (passive voice).
Thirdly, Simple past.
They left the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog was left behind. (passive voice)
Fourthly, Present perfect.
They have left the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog has been left behind. (passive voice)
Fifthly, Past perfect.
They had left the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog had been left behind. (passive voice)
Sixthly, simple future.
They will leave the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog will be left behind. (passive voice)
Seventhly, future perfect.
They will have left the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog will have been left behind. (passive voice)
Eighthly, simple conditional.
They would leave the dog behind. (active voice)
The dog would be left behind. (passive voice)
Ninthly, conditional perfect.
They would have left the dog behind. Active voice.
The dog would have been left behind. Passive voice.
Questions and answers
Questions and Answers
Is your car being repaired?
Yes, it is being repaired.
Why do you ask?
My car is being used and I needed a lift.
This car was designed in the eighties, wasn’t it?
It certainly looks as if it was.
The car was stolen at midnight, wasn’t it?
I believe so.
Weren’t we surprised by the weather?
We certainly were.
You were given the tickets, weren’t you?
I haven’t been given them yet.
It is thought to be old, what do you think?
It looks quite old to me.
Was that explained to you correctly?
Yes, it was, thank you.
Did you get your bike fixed?
I did get my bike fixed.
What is a computer used to monitor?
A myriad of different things.