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
