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8/16/2019 An Arrogant Lady - Passive Voice
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An Arrogant Lady
An arrogant lady had been shown round a private art gallery in Paris. Standing at the door of
the gallery as she was leaving, the woman looked at a modern painting of a woman by
Picasso and said:
“I suppose you call this painting a work of art.
!he owner, who had been annoyed by the woman"s negative attitude to his collection, said:
“#o, I call that a mirror.
Passive $oice
%se of passive voice in preference to the active
$erbs not used in the passive
Certain verbs describing states, such as have, be, belong, lack, resemble and seem,
cannot be made passive.
Passive with “get”
In informal &nglish, “get can be used as an alternative to “be in passive forms which
describe actions. 'e often use “get” to describe an unusual or unexpected action.
• My fat got burgled when I was on holiday.
• How did he get hurt?
When should we use the passive voice in preference to the active?
!"#"$W", $%&'$!( $) *+"+)- *+"
/ when the agent is not known: “(e was attacked in plain daylight. instead of “Someone
attacked him in plain daylight.
0 when the agent is obvious from the context: She was being paid more than her
colleagues. instead of (er employer was paying her more than her colleagues.
) when the agent is not important or relevant, or when it is too general: 'ars have
been fought throughout history. instead of People have fought wars throughout history.
*+"+)- )!1
* +ou are talking about a general truth: ules are made to be broken -by whoever, whenever
-C# $2 )+(P$"('%'-'3
0 when we want to avoid mentioning the agent , not to take responsibilit4 for one5s
actions .. or not to give someone awa4: All my toothpaste has been used. instead of /im
has used all my toothpaste.
/ +6P1('( $" 1+ C'$"7
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0 when we describe rules, procedures, processes 8in formal +nglish9. !he focus is on
issues rather than on people. !he research was carried out over a period of three months.
/ "+W '"2$ : $-; '"2$
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