A Skillful Piece of Work

A Skillful Piece of Work Once Birmingham and Sheffield, two of the largest towns in England, began to quarrel.
The quarrel started as each of them claimed to be able to produce the most skillful piece of work. A special jur was chosen to decide which cit would show the greatest skill. The da arri!ed. A steel spider with long thin legs was produced b representati!es of Sheffield. The spider was made b the best workers. "t was as small as a pea. "t ran about on the table as if it were ali!e. A wonderful mechanism had been put in that little bod . E!er bod was sure that the first place would be gi!en to Sheffield. Then a sewing needle was laid on the table b representati!es of Birmingham. A smile appeared on the lips of the jur when the needle was noticed. Then the top of the needle was screwed off and # needles were drawn out, one from another. The first needle, as it was, had been the case of the four other needles. The needles were handed o!er to each member and e$amined with great interest. "n whose fa!our did the jur decide% Use of the passive voice: &. 'assi!e !oice is used when the focus is on the action. "t is not important or not known, howe!er, who or what is performing the action. Example: (A letter was written.( The focus, here, is on the fact that a letter was written. )e don*t know, howe!er, who wrote it. +. Sometimes a statement in passi!e is more polite than acti!e !oice, as the following e$ample shows, Example: A !ase was broken. -ocus, here, is on the fact that a !ase was broken, but we don*t blame an one. .ompare this to, (/ou broke the !ase.( Form of the passive voice: Subject + the appropriate form of to be + Past Participle 0OTE, The appropriate form of to be 1 To be is put in the the tense of the acti!e !oice main !erb. )hen rewriting acti!e sentences in passi!e !oice, note the following,
The object of the acti!e sentence becomes the subject of the passi!e sentence. The form of the !erb is the appropriate form of to be 2the tense of the acti!e !oice main !erb3 4 the past participle. The subject of the acti!e sentence becomes the object of the passi!e sentence 2or is dropped.3
Examples of the passive voice: Tense Simple Present Subject Active: 0anc Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Present Pro"ressive Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Simple Past Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Past Pro"ressive Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Present Perfect Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Past Perfect Passive Tea : Active: 0anc Future simple Passive Tea : makes is made is making is being made made was made was making was being made has made has been made had made had been made will make will be made erb tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc . Tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc . !bject
Active: 0anc Future perfect Passive Tea : Active: 0anc #on$itional Passive Tea : Active: 0anc %o$als Passive Tea :
will ha!e made
tea.
will ha!e been made b 0anc . would make would be made can make can be made tea. b 0anc . tea. b 0anc
Passive voice sentences &ith t&o !bjects: 5ewriting an acti!e sentence with two objects in passi!e !oice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. )hich object to transform into a subject depends on what ou want to put the focus on. Active'Passiv e Active: Passive: Passive: Subject 0anc A flower " erb offered was offered was offered !bject ( a flower to me a flower !bject ) to me. b 0anc . b 0anc .
mpersonal Passive: Stud these e$amples,

The sa that the planet is in danger. "t is said that the planet is in danger.
This t pe of passi!e is called impersonal because we use the impersonal form (it is...( This is onl possible with !erbs of perception 2e. g. sa , think, know ...3 E$amples,
"t is said that...
"t is thought that... "t is belie!ed that... "t is known that...
*uotations 6efine the tense form of the !erb in the 'assi!e 7oice in each of the following quotations. E$plain them. o )isdom is onl found in truth. 28. ). 9oethe3 o An injur is much sooner forgotten than an insult. 2'h. .hesterfield3 o E!en when laws ha!e been written down, the ought not alwa s to remain unaltered. 2Aristotle3 o )hen peace has been broken an where, the peace of all countries e!er where is in danger. 2-. 6. 5oose!elt3 o )hat is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. 2S. 8ohnson3 o 0ew opinions are alwa s suspected, and usuall opposed, without an other reason but because the are not alread common. 28. :ocke3 o :ibraries are not made, the grow. 2A. Birrell3 o .ommon sense is the most widel shared commodit in the world, for e!er man is con!inced that he is well supplied with it. 25. 6escartes3

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A Skillful Piece of Work Once Birmingham and Sheffield, two of the largest towns in England, began to quarrel.

will ha!e made

mpersonal Passive: Stud these e$amples,

"t is said that...

"t is thought that... "t is belie!ed that... "t is known that...

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