Grammar Quote of The Day

“I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences.” 

― Gertrude Stein, Lectures in America

* Quote for today is especially dedicated to our beloved lecturer, Dr. Mazura, for helping us in discovering the ‘joy’ of doing grammar tree diagram =D

Fun Activity 2: Passive Form

LEVEL
Intermediate +

TIME
30 – 40 mins

MATERIALS
Cards or Slips of paper, Sheets of paper, Pencil/Pen

AIM
To consolidate students’ understanding of the passive form

STEPS

[An animal][a person] was Past participle by [an animal][a person]

For example: An elephant was swallowed by a snake; A hairdresser was frightened by a mouse; A lion was chased by a clown.

  1. Prepare 8 – 10 sentences of the pattern above
  2. Organise the class into groups of about four or five students. In each group there should be a sheet of paper and pencil or pen to draw with. Tell the class that the object of the game is to correctly guess the mystery sentences, each of which follows the past passive pattern. (X was –ed by Y)
  3. Select a student to be the ‘artist’. Teacher shows the artists the first sentences. The job of the ‘artist’ is to return to their group and attempts to draw the sentences, making sure that none of the other (seated) students can see it. The artists are not allowed to speak or to write words. The first team who can shout out the correct, fully formulated, sentence gets a point.
  4. Another member of each team takes a turn to be the artist, and these new artists are shown the next sentence. In this way the game continues until all the sentences have been used.
  5. The team with the most points win.
  6. After the game is completed, teacher instructs every group to write down the sentences on a mahjong paper, telling them to write down the passive form in a different coloured pen.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTION

For the weaker students, instead of asking the students to come up with their own examples of nouns and past participle, it will be better if the teachers can provide these information in the beginning. Just let the students string the words/phrases to make it grammatically correct. Remember! The aim of this game is not to get meaningfully sound sentence, but the correct passive form.

Fun Activity 1: Past Passive

LEVEL
Intermediate +

TIME
30 – 40 MINS

MATERIALS
A set of newspapers headings

AIM
To introduce the past passive

DISCOVERY

1. Write the following on the board:

THE MYTHICAL TIMES

Tell the students that this is the name of a newspaper. Then, write some of the headlines from the newspaper, choosing myths and stories that will be familiar in your students’ own culture. For example:

  •               Glass slippers found by prince
  •               Frog kissed by princess
  •               Three wishes granted by a genie

2. Ask the students if they recognise any of these “news” stories.

3. Ask the students, working in pairs, to write the first sentence of each “news” story by expanding each headline, using this model.

Yesterday a pair of glass slippers were found by Prince Charming

4. Write some of these sentences on the board, and use them to highlight the form of the past passive

5. Assign different pairs one of the news stories each, and ask them to continue writing it, summarising the main events, and even adding a comment from a witness. For example:

Yesterday three wishes were granted by a genie. Eighteen year-old Aladdin of the City of Agrabah found the magic lamp and released the genie accidentally when he attempted to sell the lamp by cleaning it. Witnesses said that Aladdin became an overnight sensation when he wished for a castle, a flying carpet and most shockingly, the King’s daughter, Princess Jasmine’s hand in marriage. “He was giddy with excitement”, commented a witness, who wished to remain unnamed. The Royal Family had been silent on the subject and their spoke person only said,” The King commands discretion in this matter.” 

ADDITIONAL NOTES

For lower level students, teacher can give the full article instead and ask the students to highlight the passive form.

Welcoming Speech

Hello there~

Welcome to our humble little blog. This blog is created by us (Ms. Vanessa and Ms. Lydia) to introduce one of the key components in the English Language – The Passive Voice.

Why the Passive Voice? Read on and find out~!

Do enjoy your stay and if you are leaving, do visit often.

Thank you.

Vanessa and Lydia
M.Ed (TESL)
Language and Communication Faculty
University Pendidikan Sultan Idris
121213