Active and passive voice in English
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This chapter will discuss the active and passive voice in English, these are not tenses. However, the verbs in the passive and active voice can be conjugated to all the tenses, for example present simple or past perfect. Active and passive voice is about the structure of the sentence and differ in who is performing the action in the sentence.
In the active voice, also known as direct voice, a subject performs an action.
Examples:
Structure: Subject + main verb + receiver of action.
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The passive voice is used to put more stress on the action and not on the persons that perform the actions. The passive voice is mostly used when it is not important who performed the action.
Examples:
The passive voice is formed with the auxiliary verb 'to be' and the past participle of the main verb.
Structure: Subject + verb 'to be' + past participle of the main verb
Subject | Main verb | Object | |
---|---|---|---|
Active voice | A car | hit | the dog |
Passive voice | The dog | was hit | by a car |
The difference between active and passive voice in different tenses is shown in the table below.
Verb tenses | Active voice | Passive voice |
---|---|---|
Simple Present | Joe writes a letter. | A letter is written by Joe. |
Present Continous | My sister is keeping my house tidy. | My house is being kept tidy by my sister. |
Simple Past | The government built a school. | A school was built by the government. |
Past Continous | The band was singing my favourite song. | My favourite song was being sung by me. |
Present Perfect | The earthquake has destroyed the whole city. | The whole city has been destroyed by the earthquake. |
Past perfect | Michael had published an article. | An article had been published by Michael. |
Simple Future | My mother will keep our dog. | The dog will be kept by my mother. |
Conditional Present | If you told me, I would keep your secret. | If you told me, your secret would be kept. |
Conditional Past | I would have repaired your bicycle here if you had left it with me. | Your bicycle would have been repaired here if you had left it with me. |
To transform an active sentence into a passive one, the steps below have to be followed:
Active | Explanation | Passive |
---|---|---|
She wears a blue sweater. |
| A blue sweater is worn by her. |
My father is painting the wall. |
| The wall is being painted by my father. |
She cooks our dinner. |
| Our dinner is cooked by her. |
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Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2), it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
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If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
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Esra is a very good teacher who uses her self made PowerPoint slides which can be very helpful because of the pictures involved.
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Hello, my name is Corinne and I am a qualified ESL English teacher from England. I have been teaching in classrooms and online for over 3 years and I have many satisfied students.
My lessons are student-centred and usually take place on Skype. I treat every student as an individual and tailor my lessons to meet their goals. I use a variety of text books and free online resources including exercises, articles and videos. I usually give out a little homework at the end of each lesson to reinforce what we have done together.
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I learn a lot during my lessons with Corinne and I recommend her a lot! She is a fantastic teacher and a really sympathic person. I like her very much.
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Hi everyone!
My name is Abigail Sosa. I'm a Mexican student living in Belgium at the moment. I study Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Ghent and I teach Spanish aside.
I started teaching Spanish almost 5 years ago and as a result of this, I fell completly in love with language education and speech.
I have worked with children, teenagers and adults (also students with ADHD of Autism) in groups of levels or in private classes. My teaching methods always vary depending of the student that I have because not everyone learns at the same manner nor at the same rythm; with some students you need to work slower and with others faster; some students are more visual, others are more auditory or others are more verbal. However, I always teach the four elements that are crucial in order to master a language which are: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.
How do I do this?
With a previously planning of the class. This means choosing the activies, the topics or exercices to work during the class. They could be a video, a text or exercices of gramatica among others. Alongside we use, of course, a book: Aula Internacional. I share all the material via GoogleDrive.
My classes are very relaxed and I am very flexibel. The important thing is to enjoy what we are learning! I hope we see each other very soon, and please, don't hesitate to contact me in case you have more questions.
Greetings and a big hug dear future students,
Abi
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Abigail has 4 years of teaching experience and is a native speaker from Spain. She is very enthusiastic and eager to help you learn Spanish! She teaches to all levels (A1-C2). You'll sure feel comfortable in her presence.
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I have struggled learning Spanish in the past, but Catherine has helped me understand and connect with the material. She is creative, professional, and sincerely interested in helping her students with their personal learning goals. And she has been to so many different places! I find that so inspiring. Her experience has given her a great perspective. I look forward to learning from her in the future. Thank you, Catherine!
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Hello! I am a CELTA-qualified native English teacher offering lessons carefully tailored to your needs. Learn by dynamic conversation exchange, written pieces, songs lyrics, podcasts, and fun and challenging exercises. Try out a trial lesson and let’s work together to bring you closer to your English language goals!
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she is a professional mother language teacher. She is strongly problem solving oriented. She offers a wide range of tools to learn the language. She has a nice way of teaching.
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Hi, welcome to my profile!
My name is Alessia and I currently live in Italy. I lived some years in America where I deepened my knowledge of English and American dialects. I am currently specializing in the Spanish and German. In all these years I have given private lessons of Italian, English, Spanish and Japanese, at the moment the most required language. Regarding Japanese, I had the opportunity to experience the teaching of the language in an American College with a native Japanese teacher, implementing the method that they themselves use to learn their language. I will help you in a simple way; conversation is really important to learn a language and even more a good method. No days spent on textbooks are needed, constancy and fun during lessons are the most important part for learning. You will see the results immediately! I am patient, flexible and I will adapt in all ways to your personal needs. I'll wait for you on my profile for the trial lesson and discover an easy and fun method to learn a language as soon as possible.
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We only did two lessons but it seems to me that Alessia has understood what I need! She is very good and knows all the terms and idioms of everyday life, just what I need! :)
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Let me help you improve your English for any purpose. I am a native English speaker with a Master's degree in English, a Bachelor of Science degree and a CELTA teaching qualification.
I have been teaching for four years. As a copy-editor, I have been helping people improve their written English for over ten years (so yes, I can edit documents for you). Interviews: send me your CV and the job description and I will help you prepare.
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NB If you are writing a test like IELTS or TOEFL 'in a month or two' and you need to obtain a minimum score to enter a university, remember that according to education bodies like British Council and Cambridge English, it takes an average of 120-130 lesson hours to move from one level or band to the next. So with 'one or two' months, you need to already be at B2 or Upper Intermediate level to start preparing.
For B2-C2 level students who enjoy photography: Would you would like to improve your English conversation and your photography? In a typical lesson, you will show me your latest photos and describe how and why you took them. Then we will discuss how photos are assessed in photographic competitions and, if necessary, we can go over the essentials of using a digital camera (although it's perfectly fine if you use your mobile phone to take photos).
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Sandra is a very experienced and kind teacher. She is amazing at making you feel at ease, so that you can really enjoy your class and focus on your learning. She provides great learning materials and organises the lesson according to your needs and level.
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Hello! I am a CELTA-qualified native English teacher offering lessons carefully tailored to your needs. Learn by dynamic conversation exchange, written pieces, songs lyrics, podcasts, and fun and challenging exercises. Try out a trial lesson and let’s work together to bring you closer to your English language goals!
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Melissa is a teacher with great empathy. She clearly enjoys teaching English and does this in a very professional manner.
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I’m French, currently living in the Netherlands.
I lived in Paris for almost twenty years, and I know very well my country (and of course my language, French, my mother tongue). I taught French for two years in Spain, conversation class about culture essentially.
In Paris, I was Spanish teacher, I have the Agregation degree which is the highest degree for teaching in France, I'm bilingual. I've participated too in several editorial projects about Spanish teaching and DELE preparation.
I have a Spanish Studies Master and I'm currently doing a research about the Spanish and Sefardi Judaism.
I have a French as foreign language and a Religious Studies Masters too.
I enjoy sharing what I know. I’m a very eclectic person and curious about everything. To give you an idea, my interest (and sometimes hobbies) are: philosophy, spirituality and religions in general, meditation, psychology and psychoanalysis, history, geography, literature, writing (in particular creative writing, and I’m used to write everyday), art (painting, photography), sciences (vulgarisation level) and cultural matters in general. I travel a lot (as a backpacker), sometimes by foot, and the places I know well are France, the Netherlands, Italy and Serbia.
One of my qualities is my capacity of adaptation, I enjoy preparing documents to help the student to acquire autonomy, but I love speaking too, and it’s the best way to learn a language.
I'm waiting for your message, please when contact me, explain quickly who you are, why you want to study French and what you are looking for exactly.
See you soon.
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Rosa is an excellent teacher, clear in explanations, attentive to the student's goals, with a vast culture that enriches the conversation in the language.
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Hi! My name's Renata. Born and bred in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Languages are what I'm best at. I've studied Russian at college but as luck would have it I got a job as an English teacher after graduation and that's what I've been doing for the past ten years. I worked in a private school where I taught English for 6 years. After that, I started my own small business offering translation, teaching and guiding services. I'm also a licensed tour guide for the City of Zagreb. For the past year, I've been doing online lessons with both children and adults. I currently have 10 students, some of them learn English and some Croatian.
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Renata has over 6 years of teaching experience. She is very kind and patient. Furthermore, she is specialized in teaching Croatian to beginners. She has a wide variety of interactive learning materials.
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Hello, my name is Allison! I have been teaching German for four years and English for two. I work to fit my lessons my students' needs as well as trying to make them enjoyable.
In terms of special topics, I have experience giving lessons in German pronunciation. Also, in addition to my BA in German Studies, I also have an undergraduate degree in music.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to meeting you!
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After nearly 100 lessons still interesting, lot of fun and many things I learned. I feel able to talk and follow conversations with others. Thanks a lot!
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My name is Yora Atanasova. I have been a tutor of English and Bulgarian online since 2013, in-person in non-formal language schools, and then solo online.
I have also worked as a staff training and qualification expert within the Bulgarian career guidance system in education. For a decade, I have been an independent EU expert in the fields of vocational training and guidance and non-formal education mainly.
Writing short stories and blogging is my hobby. Currently, eco skills have also become of prior importance to me; as I have moved to live in symbiosis (commensalism) with nature.
MY EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
First of my Master's degrees is in Pedagogy, the second one is in Cultural and Historical Heritage.
I have obtained an IELTS certificate, band 7.5,, and also a 50-hour TESOL certificate through a MOOC .
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Facilitating natural learning through creative solo activity and in-group interaction and communication, with some flavor of art.
Methods used are largely based on Suggestopedia and "democratic education" under the school models of Sudbury Valley (USA) and Summerhill (UK), plus ICT.
This creative language learning in small groups through reading/writing and communication includes:
- TWO GROUP EVENTS a week: a webinar and a presentation event;
- DAILY TASKS between the group events: SOLO ones - on individual creative projects, and peer project reviews IN MICRO GROUPS of 3÷4 people.
There is much solo work of creative character to be done and enjoyed, as well as feedback e-forms to be filled in.
The two group activities take place on:
✓ Monday and Wednesday;
or
✓ Tuesday and Thursday.
The weekly project produce can be:
- A written text, original or translation;
- An audio story / video with the text display;
- A combination of both.
THIS FORMAT WILL SUIT:
✓ Creative people;,
✓ Active freedom lovers, who'd rather co-build their course;
✓ Those who like learning like in a hobby club.
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The lesson was again very useful for me but at the same time difficult. We used different learning materials that make it easier for us.
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My education is :
Master in Art & Businees George Washington University
Tesol certifiction from Wordl Academic London UK 2.020
Br degree in Accountant Catholic University America .
Working for more than 8 years teaching ESL as second Language in : USA , UK , Latin America , Spain .
My teaching methods are : Using American Learning Program explain :
Subject + verb + Complement
and learning : nouns , verb , adjetive , adverb , modals , in general preparation TOEFL test .
Addicional I am preparing Power Point material to help you .
Having : Seft Study Book ( Digital ) to talk together and fill out sentences .
Reader American Family Book ( Level begginer and advanced )
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Mirna has a lot of teaching experience. She is patient and teaches Spanish grammar among other things. She can also help you with your business language.
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