The difference between active and passive voice made easy through the use of super-slow motion.

Please join us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bangkokpostlearning>

Note: You can find all of our grammar-related columns here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-together/332883/the-grammar-place

Passive voice in slow motion

Teachers: Note that slow motion adds duration to an action, allowing the progressive to be used in cases where it normally wouldn’t. Duration was covered in here: http://bit.ly/SpJ85g

If you have studied English for a reasonable length of time you have probably studied the passive voice and you have probably done exercises where you have changed active voice into the passive, like this one:

John wrote the book.    The book was written by John.
Cooks prepare food.     Food is prepared by cooks.

One problem we often see here in Thailand is that once learners have learned the structure of passive voice, they start using it too often, even in cases where they should use the active voice.

What’s the difference? The lesson should help, particularly since all the video clips are in slow motion. Thus it will be easy to see who or what is receiving the action (passive) and who or what is creating the action (active).

Tomato meets samurai sword

In this video clip, there are two objects: a tomato and a very sharp samurai sword. It is not hard to guess which one will receive the action. For verbs, you might choose either “cut” or “slice” and I would add the phrase “in half”.

Watch the video and describe what you see. First, focus on the tomato. Will you use active or passive voice to describe what you see? Then watch/describe again, focusing on the sword.

Since this is super slow motion, you can use the progressive (be + verb + ing) while the action is happening, or you can wait until the action is finished and use the past. I’ll have more discussion at the bottom of the page.

Ball meets head

That’s Gavin on the left and Dan on the right. One of them is going to throw a football. The other one is going to be hit by the football. Watch the video focusing first on Gavin and then on Dan and describe what you see. Again, you have a choice of the progressive or the past. Since you know what to do, try both.

Incidentally, if you like this sort of thing, Gavin and Dan have a channel on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/theslowmoguys

Limited space, unlimited water

Gavin is back, this time with an unnamed female friend. This video clip is the most fun of all. Here is a situation where you are forced to use the progressive because the action takes so long to complete.

The object involved is a balloon and the verb is obviously “fill”. As you watch begin by using “balloon” as your subject and then switch to “Gavin”.

Quickly decide when to use the active/passive voice. You will also have enough time to describe what his friend is doing (filming in slow motion). Use Gavin’s friend as the subject for one sentence and “the balloon” for another.

OK. Now that the action is finished, describe in one sentence what happened. You might want to try a verbs like “drench” (ทำให้เปียกโชก) and “burst” (โพล่ง, แตก, ระเบิด)

Discussion

Tomato meets samurai sword

I’ll use the verb “cut” but you can use slice just as well.

Tomato: The tomato is being cut in half by the samurai sword; The tomato was cut in half by the samurai sword.
Samurai sword: The samurai sword is cutting the tomato in half; The samurai sword cut the tomato in half.

Now suppose you are with someone who has not seen the video clip. You could describe what they are going to see before they watch:

The tomato is going to be cut in half by the samurai sword.
The samurai sword is going to cut the tomato in half.

Ball meets head

There are lots of different ways to describe this. Notice that first we see that action in normal speed. It happens so fast that we can only describe it after it happened – with the simple past.

Gavin hit Dan’s face with a football; Gavin threw a football that hit Gavin’s face.
Dan was hit by a football (thrown by Gavin). Dan was hit on the face with a football (thrown by Gavin).

The slow motion clip focuses on Dan, so passive voice is best here:

Dan’s face is being hit by a football; Dan is being hit on the face with a football.

You can probably think of other ways to describe this as well.

Limited space, unlimited water

Here are some possibilities:

The balloon is being filled with water (by Gavin)
Gavin is filling the balloon with water.
The balloon filling is being filmed by his friend.
His friend is filming Gavin fill the balloon with water.
The balloon burst and drenched Gavin with water.
Gavin was drenched with water when the balloon burst.