Grammar Challenge: Simple passives

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Welcome to Grammar Challenge from BBC Learning English dot com.

Let's meet this week's challenger.

Hello, my name is Jin.

I'm a student. I am studying electronic engineering at university in Croydon.

???

My grammar is better speaking.

Right now, we're going to listen to two short audio clips.

In the clips, Helen is talking about a bank robbery that happened last week.

Listen carefully and then tell me is she saying the same thing in the two clips

or is she saying something different?

Did you hear about the bank robbery yesterday?

Yes, I did.

The robbers stole over £20,000.

Did you hear about the bank robbery yesterday?

Yes, I did.

Over £20,000 was stolen.

OK, so did Helen say the same thing twice or was it,

did she say two different things?

It's different.

The first one is, I think, active sentence and the second one is passive form.

Well, let's go over to our grammar expert, Catherine,

to find out if you're right.

Hi, Jin, well done.

The two dialogues had the same meaning, but the grammar was slightly different.

Helen said the robbers stole over £20,000 in the first one,

but in the second one, she said over £20,000 was stolen.

So, what's the difference between active and passive simple tense sentences?

Well, an active sentence has a subject, verb and object, in that order.

Here's Helen.

The robbers stole over £20,000.

So, subject — the robbers.

Past simple verb — stole.

And object — £20,000.

But, if we want, we can put the object at the beginning of the sentence, like this.

Over £20,000 was stolen.

Now, this is a passive sentence, in a simple tense, and it works like this.

The object goes first.

Then, the verb 'to be' — present or past,

for example, 'is', 'was', 'were', et cetera.

After that, you need the past participle of the verb.

In Helen's sentence, the verb is 'steal', so it's 'steal', 'stole', 'stolen'.

Listen again.

Over £20,000 was stolen.

Did you catch it? Object, verb to be, past participle.

This is a passive sentence in the simple past.

But where's the subject?

Well, you can add it to the end of the sentence like this.

Over £20,000 was stolen by the robbers.

OK, that's all from me.

Good luck with your grammar challenge!

— Are you ready for the Grammar Challenge? — Yes.

I'm gonna say a sentence in the active form

and I want you to give it to me in the passive form.

— OK. — So, for example, if I say the sentence,

'the BBC makes Grammar Challenge',

you could say,

'Grammar Challenge is made by the BBC'. OK.

How about, 'lots of people visit the park every year'?

The park is visited

by the year...

— By the year? — No, I...

The park is visited every year by lots of people.

Excellent.

'The park is visited by lots of people every year'

or 'the park is visited every year by lots of people.

Somebody cleans my office every day.

My office is cleaned every day.

Very good, you don't need to say 'somebody', do you, because it's obvious.

It's not necessary.

It's not necessary, exactly.

Last one.

The police never arrested the criminals.

The criminals never were...

The criminals were never arrested by the police.

Excellent, Jin. The criminals were never arrested by the police.

Grammar Challenge from BBC Learning English dot com.

Jin, is your country famous for producing anything?

So, for example, in England, we have fish and chips.

Yeah.

What's your national dish in South Korea?

My national dish is bulgogi.

It's made of beef.

So, how do you cook bulgogi, Jin?

You can grill on the fan.

So, the beef is...

The beef is grilled on the frying pan.

And then it is cooked for maybe ten minutes.

And then it is time to eat the bulgogi.

???

BBC Learning English dot com.