Countries and cultures

Present simple passive
We form the present simple passive with the subject + be + past participle. Regular past participles end in –ed. For a list of irregular past participles.

We use the passive when the person who does the action is:

If we want to say who or what is the “doer” of the action, we use by.
All my clothes are designed by Federico Pirani.
Active or passive? Compare the following examples.
1. Martine makes all her own bread at home.
2. The bread is made in a large outside town.

Past simple passive
We form the Past simple passive with the subject + was/were + past participle.

Complete with present or past passive.
The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889. (complete)

Complete these sentences with the verbs in brackets. Use the past simple passive.
Lamps and candles ............................... for light, because there was no electricity. (use)
A coach instead of a car ................................. to move from place to place. (buy)
By the 1860's bicycles ................................. along with horses. (ride)
A simple small house ...................................... by a poor family. (build)
Luxurious palaces .................................... by wealthy aristocratic families. (own)
Top hats and suits with tails ................................. by men in cities. (wear)
A dress ........................................ to hide woman's legs. (design)
Girls from well-off families ........................................ at home. (educate)
Boys from rich families ........................................ to public schools. (sent)
A child from a poor family ........................................ to work. (force)

Use the passive voice to rewrite these sentences.
We used this car for our trips.
This car .........................................................................................................................................
They didn't clean the bird cages.
The bird cages ..............................................................................................................................
You could cut the branch with this knife. .......................................................................................................................................................
Too many tourists annoyed me. .......................................................................................................................................................
They didn't tell us what to do. .......................................................................................................................................................

Use these verbs to create your own sentences in past simple passive.
1. The boot was made for walking.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Rewrite the sentences in the passive, beginning with the highlighted words.
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in 1603.
Hamlet was written by Shakespeare in 1603.

Used to

Look at how John has changed. Write sentences about how he was IN THE PAST.

Make sentences with used to, didn’t use to, or did … use to?

Choose the correct words to complete each sentence.

Use the pictures below to express things that you used to do or didn’t use to do.

Past continuous

Complete the sentences with a verb in the past continuous.

Look at Ann’s diary. What was she doing on Friday afternoon and evening? Pay attention to the example and change the possessive adjectives when necessary.

Fill the gaps using the verb in brackets in the past continuous tense.

Preposition Rules
A preposition must have an object
All prepositions have objects. If a "preposition" does not have an object it is not a preposition—it's probably an adverb. A preposition always has an object. An adverb never has an object. Look at these example sentences:
They are in the kitchen. (preposition in has object the kitchen)
Please come in. (adverb in has no object; it qualifies come)
There was a doorway before me. (preposition before has object me)
I had never seen it before. (adverb before has no object; it qualifies seen)
I will call after work. (preposition after has object work)
He called soon after. (adverb after has no object; it qualifies called)

2. pre-position means place before
The name “preposition” indicates that a preposition (usually) comes before something (its object):
I put it in the box.
But even when a preposition does not come before its object, it is still closely related to its object:
Who did you talk to? / I talked to Jane.

3. A pronoun following a preposition should be in object form
The noun or pronoun that follows a preposition forms a ‘prepositional object’. If it is a pronoun, it should therefore be in the objective form (me, her, them), not subjective form (I, she, they):
This is from my wife and me.
That’s between him and her.
Mary gave it to them.

4. Preposition forms
Prepositions have no particular form. The majority of prepositions are one-word prepositions, but some are two- or three-word phrases known as complex-prepositions:
one-word prepositions (before, into, on)
complex prepositions (according to, but for, in spite of, on account of)

Circle the correct preposition.

Complete with: about, by, from, in, on, round, through, to, with.
1. My dream is to travel ……… the world.
2. How would you go? ……… plane?
3. No. ……… boat and ……… foot.
4. The traffic in the city was so heavy. It took us two hours to drive ………it.
5. ……… Manchester we took the plane ……… London.
6. She doesn´t seem very happy. ……… fact she looks quite depressed.
7. When the film finished, we all had tears ……… our eyes.
8. That novel isn´t ……… Henry James. It´s ……… him.
9. ……… time ……… time he worries ……… his future.
10. The man ……… blue jeans was ……… love ……… the girl ……… glasses.

Complete the sentences with one of the prepositions from the box.