AIMS: Natural world vocabulary • The passive • Using sequence markers • Describing a process for Task 1

1. Match the words to their definitions.

2. Now complete the sentences with the correct forms of the words from Exercise 1.

1. In summer it can be very hot here; the can reach 40°.

2. The plants were destroyed by from the factory.

3. Farmers their crops at the end of summer.

4. The volcano and lava started to flow down the mountain.

3. Number the phrases in the box 1-6 to describe the stages in a plant’s life.

4. We can use the passive to describe a process. We use the passive for the following reasons:

1. When who or what did the action (= the agent) is not known
2. When who or what did the action is not important
3. When we want to focus on the object of the action more than the subject

Passive = Volcanoes are formed by the movement of the Earth's surface.
Active = The movement of the Earth's surface forms volcanoes.

Passive = Bananas are grown in hot climates.
Active = People grow bananas in hot climates.

We form the passive with the verb to be + past participle.
Sometimes an agent with by is included:

Sometimes there is no agent:

Complete the sentences using present simple passive forms of the verbs in brackets.

1. Water (store) in reservoirs and used in the fields.

2. Grass (eat) by cows and cows (eat) by people.

3. Many buildings (destroy) by bad storms in winter.

4. Rainforests (inhabit) by thousands of plants and insects.

5. Forests (damage) by acid rain from factories.

6. Most pollution (cause) by human activity

5. Correct the errors in the passive in these sentences.

1. In many countries birds is are fed by people in the winter.

2. Chemicals are used farmers to protect plants from insects.

3. Seeds are plant in the spring.

4. Elephants and camels used as working animals in some countries.

5. Volcanoes and other natural disasters is studied by scientists.

6. Fields be watered by a special system called irrigation.