VOA慢速英语--学习被动语态:这是可以做到的!

 

Imagine that you are planning to travel to another country. There is a lot that you need to do before you leave. Here are some things that might need to be done:

Your passport has to be renewed.

Your hair still needs to be cut.

Your shoes should be repaired.

And your dog is supposed to be taken to a friend’s house.

All of these sentences use either modals or something called “phrasal modals," and they are in the passive voice.

You may remember that, in a passive sentence, the person performing the action is not stated because it is not very important to know who that person is.

For example, in the sentence about the haircut, the listener does not know who will cut your hair. But that is ok, because it is not very important to that statement.

You may also recall that, for the passive voice, we use the structure be + past participle, as you noticed in all of the example sentences.

Now, let’s move on to a quick reminder¹ about modals:

Modals are helping² verbs that express possibility, ability, duty, permission or advisability. Words like can, could, may, might, must and should – and even will – are all modals. But modals also include something called “phrasal modals” – phrases such as has to, ought to and be supposed to.

As you heard in our examples at the start of the program, we sometimes need the passive form of modals and phrasal modals.

But, don’t worry! This is surprisingly simple.

The structure is: modal or modal phrase + be + the past participle.

For example, in the sentence about the haircut, need is the modal. Then comes the verb be, and its form does not change. And, cut is the past participle of the irregular verb to cut.

The past-passive form

Ok, now imagine that some of the things on your travel “to do” list are complete. But, some of the other things still need to be completed.

How can you tell someone this using the past tense of modals and phrasal modals?

For all modals and some phrasal modals, the only difference is changing be to have been. So, the structure becomes modal or modal phrase + have been + the past participle. Listen to an example.

My shoes should have been repaired last week.

In this sentence, should is the modal. Then comes have been – which stays the same – plus repaired, which is the past participle of the verb to repair.

But for other phrasal modals – ones that contain the verb be – the be changes to past tense. This includes the phrasal modals be supposed to, be able to and be allowed to.

The structure for this is: past tense form of be (with) phrasal modal + have been + the past participle.

Here is an example:

My dog was supposed to have been taken to a friend’s house.

Here, the be changes to was. And notice that the words have been still do not change. And, the past participle of the verb to take is taken.

Asking a question

But, what if you want to ask a question? Using the question form of many English grammar structures can be tricky³.

So let’s try to make questions out of a few of our example sentences. When asking a yes-or-no question, the question can begin with one of several words. For instance, it may begin with the modal, such as should, can and could, or with the word do, did or does or is or are?

Here is an example with does:

Does your passport have to be renewed?

Here is one with is:

Is your dog supposed to be taken to a friend’s house?

And, here is an example with should:

Should your shoes be repaired by next week?

Avoiding the passive

At times, it is best to avoid the passive voice; the sentence structure can create unclear statements. And, in some types of academic writing, such as essays, passive voice is usually discouraged. However, in other types of written and spoken communication, it is readily⁴ used. You will see and hear the passive voice in written and broadcast journalism⁵, scientific writing and sometimes in formal letters. And, of course, we use the passive voice in informal speech and writing. So, it is useful to know how to use passive modals.

What can you do?

So, what can you do to practice? Here are a few possibilities. Feel free to write your answers in the comments section:

1. Imagine that you manage a company. You must write a memo⁶ to remind your employees what the company policies are. This includes dress code, social behavior and use of the kitchen and appliances. Start your memo: “This is a friendly reminder about office rules.” Then, use passive modals to write the rules. For example: “Dishes may be used, but they must not be left dirty in the sink.”

2. Think about what is happening around your city. What are some things that need to, should, could or may happen or have already happened? For example, do the streets need to be repaired? For this practice, you can use the passive form or past-passive form. Here’s an example: “The new metro⁷ station should be completed in 2018.” That's the passive modal. Or “The new metro should have been completed in March.” That's the past-passive modal.

And, if you're feeling brave, you can even try using the question form of passive or past-passive modals.

Learning these grammar structures is not too difficult, and I am here to tell you this: it can be done.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

phrase - n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

irregular - adj. not normal or usual

practice - v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

discourage - v. to try to make people not want to do something

memo - n. a usually brief written message from one person or department in an organization or company

dress code - n. a set of rules about what clothing may and may not be worn at a school, office, restaurant, et cetera

sink - n. a wide bowl that has a faucet⁸ for water and a drain at the bottom and is usually positioned in a counter

brave - adj. feeling or showing no fear

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 readily   

adv.欣然地，容易地，很快地，立即

参考例句：

• I promise all costs will be readily returned.我保证所有的费用会迅速偿还。
• Most plastics do not readily conduct heat or electricity.大多数塑料不易传热或导电。

5 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

6 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

7 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

8 faucet   

n.水龙头

参考例句：

• The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。
• She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。