Six stages, one document
Six stages of a passport application, out of order. Put them into the order they happen.
One parcel, ten sentences
Where is it now?
The parcel was posted on Tuesday from a shop in Leeds. It has been scanned four times since then, which is how we know it exists.
It is sorted overnight at a hub near Doncaster. It was being loaded onto a van when the depot lost power on Thursday, and by the time the system came back up it had been mixed in with the following day’s work.
It is being held at the depot at the moment. It will be delivered on Monday, or it is going to be returned to the sender, depending on which of two systems is believed.
Nothing can be done about it before Monday. It must have been scanned at Doncaster, because there is a record; it can’t have been loaded, because the van arrived empty of it.
Four questions about the shape of those sentences.
1. What is in every single passive verb in that text?
2. What changes between is sorted, was being loaded and had been mixed?
3. It must have been scanned — what has been added to the passive?
4. How many people are named in the whole text?
The whole system on one page
Passive across the tenses · be changes, the participle never does
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | They sort it overnight. | It is sorted overnight. |
| Present continuous | They are holding it. | It is being held. |
| Past simple | They posted it on Tuesday. | It was posted on Tuesday. |
| Past continuous | They were loading it. | It was being loaded. |
| Present perfect | They have scanned it. | It has been scanned. |
| Past perfect | They had mixed it in. | It had been mixed in. |
| Future · will | They will deliver it. | It will be delivered. |
| Future · going to | They are going to return it. | It is going to be returned. |
| Modal | Nobody can do anything. | Nothing can be done. |
| Modal perfect | Somebody must have scanned it. | It must have been scanned. |
The two places the auxiliary goes missing. Both are places where English does not stress it, so it is not heard, so it is not produced.
1 · after will and after a modal. It will delivered — the be is gone. Say it’ll be delivered, /ˈɪtl̩ bi dɪˈlɪvəd/, and hear that there are two small words between it and the participle.
2 · in the perfect. It has scanned four times — the been is gone, and the sentence now says the parcel did the scanning. It’s been scanned, /ɪts bɪn skænd/.
Two more things worth having
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Questions and negatives | Nothing new: the auxiliary moves or takes not. Has it been sent? · It hasn’t been sent. · Was it checked? · It wasn’t checked. |
| Verbs with no passive | A verb with no object cannot have one. happen, arrive, occur, exist, die, seem, belong, fall. |
| Two objects, two passives | They gave me a form → I was given a form (usual) or A form was given to me (less usual). English strongly prefers the person at the front — Portuguese cannot do this at all. |
Ten passive forms. Match each to what it says about time.
Five questions.
1. Which is correct?
2. Which is correct?
3. Which of these has no passive at all?
4. They gave me a form. Which passive would an English speaker use?
5. Which is the correct question form?
Every tense, one object
Two to four words per gap. Each gap is a passive verb in a different tense.
The application online in March and within five days. Neighbours by letter, which they usually are. While the consultation was running, two more objections , so the case to a second officer before the report was written. It at the committee meeting on the ninth. Nothing before then.
Eight sentences. Seven contain an error; one is correct.
1. The parcel will delivered tomorrow.
2. It has scanned four times.
3. The accident was happened on the bridge.
4. The samples are being tested at the moment. — correct as written
5. Has been the report written?
6. The forms was checked in Leeds last year.
7. Me was given a reference number.
8. It is going to returned to the sender.
The life of one object
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 8 minutes, fast
Choose one object: a parcel, a passport application, a blood sample, a returned library book, a job application.
Between you, tell its whole life in eight passive sentences — one for each tense on the table.
- Take turns. A does present simple, B does present continuous, A does past simple, and so on down the table.
- No by-phrases unless you can say why the agent is news.
- Anybody who drops a be or a been hands the turn back, and the same tense is attempted again.
- Second round: same object, same eight tenses, but negative or question forms only.
Why the second round is negatives and questions. That is where the auxiliary moves or doubles — hasn’t been sent, has it been sent — and it is where the missing word is most audible to a partner and least audible to you.
What got handed back
Two questions.
1. Which tense produced the most handbacks?
2. What does that tell you about the cause?
One pattern, ten forms
Two questions. Twenty seconds.
1. Which part of a passive verb changes with the tense?
2. Why can happen not be passive?
Next. When to use it, when to leave the agent out, and the one case where leaving it out is doing something else entirely.