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ESLgo.com's Raiders class 1, part F.


So active verbs describe what someone does. Passive verbs describe what happens to someone. The present passive is made with is/are + past participle. Past passive is made with was/were + past participle.

The passive is an important part of English and it's difficult to know when to use it. I hope that by showing you how active and passive sentences are used to describe events in Raiders of the Lost Ark, I've helped you understand. There's only one way to get comfortable using the passive: practice.

One more exercise before you go write on the message boards: complete this sentence with the past passive of the verb "allow".

When I was a child, I (allow) to watch ___ hours of TV a day. You can fill in the gap with any number, however many hours your parents let you watch.



Congratulations!

You've worked hard to finish the course. You've learned some difficult vocabulary words, but you can remember them because you saw them in the movie. You know when to use the active and when to use the passive. Go show off your knowledge on one of the message boards. The TV sentence above should help you get started on the TV message board. If that doesn't sound exciting take a look at the list of forums. If you're looking to test yourself on vocabulary from the entire Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, or the passive voice in other tenses, here are some diffcult quizzes.

The Raiders class consists of:

Class partActivityTime
Intro General information about the class. 5 minutes plus however long it takes you to get the video.
Part A Introduction to some vocabulary (5 nouns). 5 minutes
Part B Introduction to some more vocabulary (5 verbs). 5 minutes
Part C Watch the first part of the movie and order sentences based on the vocabulary from parts A and B. 15 minutes
Part D Examine the active and passive verbs found in the sentences from part C. 5-10 minutes
Part E Convert present tense sentences from parts C and D to past tense sentences. 5-10 minutes
Part F Review the rules for active and passive verbs in the present and past tense. Use your knowledge on one of the message boards. 5 minutes for the review, then spend as much (or as little) time on the message board as you like.


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Created by James Trotta. This page was last revised in April 2003. © 2003. All rights reserved.