12.3. Grammar. Active and passive tense revision.

Explain the difference between the active and the passive. How is the passive formed?

The passive is always formed by TO BE + PAST PARTICIPLE  The passive is possible in almost any verb tense although it is less common in some of the more complex ones.

 

It’s main uses are to talk about impersonal actions, and generalisations. Another common feature is that they are used to explain whether you are the person does the action, or whether it happens to you.

 

Compare: ‘She fired him.’ ‘She was fired by him.’ In the first the man lose his job, while in the second the woman loses hers.

 

The most interesting aspect of the passive is the way that you can use it to avoid responsibility for something: ‘We have fired him,’ (our responsibility) ‘He has been fired’ (responsibility not mentioned). 

 

SLEAZY SHEIKH’S BOOZE BINGE AND BIRD BENDER

Ali Fred, son of Raji Fred, future husband of the Queen’s niece, Lady Sara Winthorpe, and heir to the one the country’s richest business empires, has been seen last night dancing, singing and hell raising, during an all night session of drink and debauchery at the Royal Revue Strip Club. Raji, 24, had arrived drunk to Soho’s sleaziest club, after an all day bender which had begun  on one of the capital’s poorest housing estates.

 

Locals from the Nelson Mandela Housing Estate in the poor north London borough of Squatney, watched in amazement as the handsome playboy was lead into a typical run down flat on the estate early yesterday morning. ‘We just couldn’t believe it!’ said Hilda Dobson, 58. ‘I was returning from the post office with my friend Doris, when suddenly we saw Ali Fred accompanied by an English teacher, who has been living on the estate for three months. With him were two of his flat mates. One of them had blue hair, and the other high thigh-length boots and a mini-shirt. Plastic bags full of bottles of spirits and cans of beer from the local off-licence were being carried by a group of youngsters who looked like foreign students. 

 

Booze up. Ranjif Patel, owner of the off-licence was equally surprised. ‘It’s not every day that you get a member of one of the richest families in the world, come into your shop. What on earth he was doing in this part of town, I do not know!’

 

Several hours later, the sheikh left the flat, and made his way to the Soho night spot. There, he matched locals drink for drink, at a party which began at 11 o’clock and hadn’t finished when this edition went to press.

 

Stripper. According to reports, randy, boozed-up Fred, chatted up and kissed women, whistled at strippers, and shouted crude comments. The two hundred, or so, club-goers who were present were bought round after round of drinks by the millionaire. ‘It were bloody great!’ said Dave Hurley, 23 from Orpington, ‘Free booze all night, and top entertainment! That Ali Fred is a fantastic bloke!’

‘It’s certainly not normal to see a man of his fame and social standing, in a place like this. I thought it was against these people’s religion to drink. This guy had a girl on each arm and seemed to be having a great time!’ said Roy King, 37, the club’s security chief.

 

A spokesperson for Raji Fred, 60, father of the sleazy sheikh, refused to make a comment on what had occurred Mr. Fred who is currently holidaying with the royal family at Balmoral, declined to make a comment either.

 

 

Disappearance. The whereabouts of the drunken playboy are unclear. Certain rumours of a possible kidnap have been mentioned, but as yet remain unconfirmed.