Students' Worksheet Writing Explanation (1)

STUDENTS’ WORKSHEET

WRITING EXPLANATION (1)

Indicator:

-          Writing Passive sentences

-          Identifying Explanation Paragraphs

Task 1:

LET’S STUDY “PASSIVE SENTENCES”

Read the following sentences.

1.      Do you know who made this cake?

Active             : My mother made this cake

Passive            : This cake was made by my mother

2.      Do you know who built my house?

Active             : My grandfather built my house

Passive            : My house was built by my grandfather

Conclusion:

·         In an active sentence, A does B

·         In a passive sentence, B does A

You make passive verb forms with the different tenses of ‘be’ followed by the past participle

Examples:

TENSES	PATTERNS	PASSIVE SENTENCES
Simple Present	S + is/am/are + past participle	English is studied
Simple Past	S + was/were + past participle	English was studied
Present Perfect	S + have/has + been + past participle	English has been studied
Past Perfect	S + had + been + past participle	English had been studied
Simple Future	S + Modal + be + past participle	English will be studied
Future Perfect	S + Modal + have + been + past participle	English will have been studied
Present Continuous	S + is/am/are + being + past participle	English is being studied
Past Continuous	S + was/were + being + past participle	English was being studied

·         Passive Sentences Using ‘by’

You are normally not interested in the ‘agent’ of an action in a passive sentence. When you want to mention the ‘agent’, you use the preposition ‘by’. The whole phrase is called by-agent in English.

Active             : John reads a book.

Passive            : A book is read by John.

When you do not know who does the action, you use someone or somebody in the active sentence. You leave out these words in the passive sentence.

Active             : Someone took my pen

Passive            : My pen was taken.

·         Active Sentences with Two Objects in Passive

When there are two objects in an active sentence, there are two possible active sentences and two possible passive sentences.

Active sentences:

Possibility 1: The teacher explained the students the lesson.

Possibility 2: The teacher explained the lesson to the students

An indirect object is very often a person, while a direct object is often an object (thing). When a direct object is followed by an indirect one, you put ‘to’ in front of the indirect object.

Each of the objects can be the subject in the passive sentence.

Passive sentences:

Possibility 1: The students were explained the exercise (by the teacher)

Possibility 2: The exercise was explained to the students (by the teacher)

Here are the patterns and the examples:

ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
Simple Present: SA  +  VI  + O                             SB      VS I eat rice three times a day He writes letters every week	SA  +  to be  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O SB Rice is eaten by me three times a day Letters are written by him every week
Simple Past: S  +  VII/ed  +  O He drank wine yesterday We bought flowers last week	S  +  was/were  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O Wine was drunk by him yesterday Flowers were bought by us last week
Present Cont: S  +  to be  +  V-ing  +  O She is washing her clothes now They are looking at a painting right now	S  +  to be  +  being  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O Her clothes are being washed by her now A painting is being looked at by them right now

Past Cont: S  +  was/were  +  V-ing  +  O It was drawing a carriage last night I was doing the home work two weeks ago

S  +  was/were  +  being  +  VIII/ed  + by + O A carriage was being drawn by it last night The home work was being done by me two weeks ago

Present Perfect:  SA  +  have  +  VIII/ed  + O  SB       has The police have arrested the criminal The cook has made some cakes	SA +  have  +  been  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O SB The criminal has been arrested by the police  Some cakes have been made by the cook
Past Perfect: S  +  had  + VIII/ed  +  O The doctor had examined the patients The nurses had assisted the doctors	S  +  had  +  been  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O The patients had been examined by the doctor The doctors had been assisted by the nurses
Present Future: S  +  Modal  +  VI  +  O Simple Modal           (present) Mother will sew my dress tomorrow A bank may give loans to customers	S  +  Modal  + be  +  VIII/ed  +  by  +  O         (present) My dress will be sewn by mother tomorrow Loans may be given to customers by a bank
Past Future: S  +  Modal  +  VI  +  O Past Modal           (past) Father could see a ghost last night Uncle might repair a computer yesterday	S + Modal + be + VIII/ed + by + O       (past) A ghost could be seen by father last night A computer might be repaired by uncle

Task 2:

CHANGE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES INTO PASSIVE

01. Waitresses and waiters serve customers.

02. The teacher is going to explain the lesson.

03. Bill will invite Anne to the party.

04. Two horses were pulling the farmer’s wagon.

05. Mr. Jones manages the export division.

06. The orchestra performed Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony at the concert last Wednesday.

07. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, the system for talking over long distances     using wires or radio waves.

08. Futuristic carmaker Moller International invented a flying saucer car.

09. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute pioneered technology which powers up our electronic gadgets using body heat.

10. Thermoelectric generators extract electrical energy from the temperature difference between a hot and cold environment.

Task 3:

COMPLETE THE TEXT WITH THE CORRECT WORDS IN THE BOX

a.       Effect                    c. heat                  e. glass                 g. sunlight           i. warming b.      Surface                                 d. atmosphere  f. greenhouse   h. gases                                j. temperature

 

The Greenhouse Effect

The (1) … effect is a warming of the air around us. It gets its name from the greenhouses that people use to grow plants. These greenhouses let in heat from (2) … and trap it inside. The Earth’s (3) … the layer of air that surrounds our planet-also traps heat.

            Greenhouse effect is raised (4) … at a planet’s surface as result of (5) … energy being trapped by gasses in the atmosphere. Certain (6) … cause the atmosphere to act like the (7) … in a greenhouse. As a result, the temperature of a planet’s … may be higher than it otherwise would be-on the Earth about 33⁰ C (59⁰F) higher. The main gases that produce the greenhouse (9) … on the Earth are water vapor and carbon dioxide. Scientists suspect that increased discharge of carbon dioxide from human activities (notably motor transport and industries) is contributing to global (10) …

Task 4 a:

PUT THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES IN THE CORRECT ORDER TO GET A GOOD TEXT

Alternative Energy

Sunlight can also power solar ovens, which cook using sunlight-powered heat, and solar water heaters

To anticipate the lack of non-renewable energy, some countries have made some efforts to make use of renewable energy, such as solar power, wind power, and biomass or biofuel power.

Solar power plants can be set up, but this technology is also useful on a small scale, for solar power home heating, and home electricity generation.

Solar cells generate electricity from the sunlight that hits them

Solar power works when solar cells are made into solar panels set up to receive sunlight.

Task 4 b:

The Creation of the Earth

Finally, the effects of weather over many thousands of years have further shaped the landscape.

The crust, together with the upper part of the mantle, forms the lithosphere.

Between 65 and 140 million years ago, as a consequence of continental drift, the land masses came to be placed in the positions that we see on maps today. When the plates come together the result is major geological activity such as the creation of mountain ranges.

The solar system was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago from a spinning cloud of interstellar dust and gas. During this time, the planets took shape and the Earth was formed.

The lithosphere is divided into a number of plates that move around on top of the asthenosphere.

As the Earth cooled, a crust formed. This crust varies in depth from 8 kilometers to 65 kilometers.

This movement, known as continental drift, has led to land and sea formations that we see today.

Geologists feel that the continents reached their present positions after the original mass of land broke up 600 million years ago.