The Active Voice The Passive Voice

On Friday 11^th August Paul Harding looked in his diary. He had an appointment at 11 o’clock with Mr. Rawson, the local manager of the General Company for Foreign Trade.

The GCFT was in the City. Its offices were on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of a very tall building. The enquiry office was on the ground floor. Inside the company building the woman in the enquiry office telephoned Miss Wells, the manager’s secretary. She arrived and accompanied Paul to her room on the fifth floor. Miss Well had an office next to Mr. Rawson’s. As soon as her boss was free, she buzzed him on the intercom. Mr. Rawson immediately asked her to show Paul into the office.

 

RAWSON	Ah! Mr. Harding. Come in, please. My name is Rawson.
HARDING	How do you do?
RAWSON	How do you do? Please sit down. Did you have a good trip?
HARDING	Yes, thank you. Not at all bad.
RAWSON	Good! Now this morning I want you to meet some of our heads of Department… Miss Wells, ask Mr. Jones to come in here, please.
WELL	I’m afraid Mr. Jones is not available… Mr. Smith is not available either. But Mrs. Collier’s here.
RAWSON	Good. Ask her to come in, please. When were you here last, Mr. Harding?
HARDING	Oh! I was here about six months ago.
RAWSON	Did you meet Mrs. Collier then?
HARDING	No, I didn’t I’m afraid.
RAWSON	Well, she’s my Personal Assistant. You will like her. She’s a very charming lady… Ah, Mrs. Collier.
COLLIER	Please, don’t get up.
RAWSON	I’d like to introduce you a colleague from America. Mrs. Collier, Mr. Harding.
HARDING	How do you do?
COLLIER	How do you do?

UNIT 11

Section A (Grammar reference)

THE PASSIVE VOICE (СТРАДАТЕЛЬНЫЙ ЗАЛОГ)

В английском языке имеются два залога: действительный залог (The Active Voice) и страдательный залог (The Passive Voice).

Формы залога показывают, является ли подлежащее лицом / предметом, совершающим действие, или лицом / предметом, подвергающимся действию.

Когда подлежащее является лицом / предметом, совершающим действие, глагол употребляется в форме действительного залога:

They will sign the contract next week. Они подпишут контракт на следующей неделе.

Когда подлежащее является лицом / предметом, подвергающимся действию со стороны другого лица / предмета, глагол употребляется в форме страдательного залога:

The contract will be signed next week. Контракт будет подписан на следующей неделе.

Времена страдательного залога образуются при помощи вспомогательного глагола to be в соответствующем времени и формы причастия прошедшего времени (Past Participle) смыслового глагола. Таким образом, при спряжении глагола в страдательном залоге изменяется только глагол to be, а смысловой глагол имеет во всех временах одну и ту же форму - Past Participle.

Present Simple:The contract is signed. Контракт подписан.

Is the contract signed? – Yes, it is. / No, it isn’t.

The contract is not (isn’t) signed.

 

Past Simple:The contact was signed last week. Контракт подписали (был подписан) на прошлой неделе.

Was the contract signed last week? – Yes, it was. / No, it wasn’t.

The contract was not (wasn’t) signed last week.

 

Future Simple:The contract will be signed next week. Контракт подпишут (будет подписан)

на следующей неделе.

Will the contract be signed next week? – Yes it will. / No it won’t.

The contract will not (won’t) be signed next week.

 

В английском языке в страдательном залоге часто не указывается лицо (предмет), которое производит действие. При необходимости указания данного лица или предмета употребляется предлог by или with. Предлог by употребляется при обозначении действующих лиц, предлог with - для неодушевленных предметов.

The contract was signed by Mr. Brown.

The picture was drawn with a piece of chalk.

Глаголы, которые употребляются с предлогами, в страдательном залоге эти предлоги сохраняют. Например:

The Active Voice The Passive Voice

They speak much about this film. This film is much spoken about.

Об этом фильме много говорят.

They listened to her with great interest. She was listened to with great interest.

Ee слушали с большим интересом.

 

Exercises

I. Раскройте скобки, употребив глагол в нужной форме в Passive Voice (Present, Past, Future Simple Passive)

1. A lot of mail (receive) yesterday.

2. The products of our firm (export) to many countries.

3. The construction of the plant (complete) next year.

4. Electronic equipment (produce) at our plant 6 months ago.

5. A lot of models (modify) every year.

6. The invitations (send) 2 weeks ago.

7. Letters usually (type) by our secretary.

8. The goods (deliver) in four months.

9. The price problem (settle) the day before yesterday.

10. I can’t drive to work today. The car (fix) only on Friday.

11. The managing director always (assist) by executives.

 

II. Образуйте специальный вопрос в Passive Voice

1. The company was founded in 1993. (When?)
2. The contracts are signed in the conference room. (Where?)
3. The discount was offered to him because he was a regular customer. (Why?)
4. The goods will be delivered next week. (When?)
5. English language is spoken by many people. (What?)
6. The talks will be held on Tuesday (What? When?)
7. The sales department was headed by Mr. Flake a few years ago. (What?)
8. The catalogues were looked through yesterday. (When?)
9. The tests of the machines were carried out at the plant. (Where?)
10. All the terms were discussed because it was a trial order. (Why?)