Lexical Grammar Unicorns I: The Passive Voice Alex Walls Director - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Lexical Grammar Unicorns I: The Passive Voice

Alex Walls

Director of Studies, Windsor English Language School

Grammar Unicorns

• Unicorn = something difficult to capture
• Grammar Unicorns = areas of grammar that

students (and teachers) still have trouble with

Lexical Grammar

• Teaching lexis lexically is reasonably

straightforward

• Teaching grammar lexically takes more

thought

Passive or Active?

Which is active? Which is passive? A: The police have arrested a man on suspicion of burglary. B: A man was arrested following a fight outside a nightclub.

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

• 1. Focus on form
• 2. Overgeneralised rule
• 3. Mechanical transformation
• 4. Decontextualised examples

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.107)

Look at sentences Decide if active or passive Based on what? Knowledge of FORM

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.107)

Inductive questions Focuses on FORM and meaning (a bit)

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.107)

Put the verbs in the passive Focus on FORM

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.107)

Match the questions and answers Verbs are already in passive More examples

• f passive?

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.160)

Focus on FORM Overgeneralised rule

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.160)

Explanation of meaning Multiple meanings as categorised by FORM

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.160)

Choose active or passive But… decontextualised guessing game!!! 1, 6 and 8 could be either

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

A coursebook sequence

New Cutting Edge (3rd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p.160)

Put the verbs into the passive in the right place Back to focus on FORM

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

So focus on FORM is wrong?

No… but meaning is also important and neglected. Sometimes teachers supplement with “more of the same”

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

Why is an overgeneralised rule unhelpful?

Students understand a rule as a “punishable by death” law Subject + am/is/are + past participle Except – appeared, seemed, happened, occurred, taken place, existed, died, seemed, been, etc.

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

You mentioned mechanical transformation?

New English File Intermediate (3rd edition) Student’s Book (p.142) Facebook (April 2020)

Treatment in coursebooks and lessons

What about context? Many passive exercises focus on single sentences. This limits information about meaning and use.

What’s the problem?

Student’s can make passive sentences (from active ones) until the cows come home. But, they can’t:

• Make passive sentences correctly and

spontaneously

• Choose when to use passive or active

What is the passive?

What level would you teach the passive? What are the main uses of the passive?

1

A more lexical approach (5 Cs)

• Categorise meaning (focus on meaning)
• Colligation (focus on verbs that colligate)
• Chunks (derive from colligations)
• Context (based on meaning)
• Choice (students have to choose active or

passive)

• No transformation! (unless maybe it’s on an

exam – but limit it)

• Cat. A: Anonymise Agent
• Unknown agent

a bank was robbed a suitcase was left unattended

• Obvious agent

a man was arrested a new president has been elected

• Unimportant agent

it’s already been done

• Obscured agent

your laptop won’t be repaired today regrettably mistakes were made

• Cat. B: Processes/Procedures
• Processes (man-made)

metal is heated and bent into shape

• Procedure

subjects were observed and then interviewed about their experiences

• Cat. C: Theme & Rheme

Look at the short texts below. Why is one passive and the other active?

Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare between 1594 and 1596. William Shakespeare Between 1590 and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays.

• Cat. C: Theme & Rheme

Known information tends to be fronted (theme) New information comes afterwards (rheme) Particularly when new information is –

• what happened to subject – I’ve been fired
• who or what did it – Jurassic Park was directed by

Spielberg

• how it was done – The pandemic was badly managed

• Cat. D: Miscellaneous
• To avoid long subjects
• Many people have been refused help by the new

commission set up to look into possible abuses in the allocation of social housing.

• Set phrases
• It is sometimes/often said/argued that …
• A case can be made for …

Colligations to Chunks

• Identify verbs which are common for the use of the

passive

• Build or find common, natural chunks from these

verbs

Colligations to Chunks

mistakes were made the bag was left unattended It’s believed he was pushed has been elected is being questioned has been charged was acquitted of all charges it’s already been done nothing was stolen was nominated for 6 Oscars has been recognised for services to humanity I thought it was finished was broken

• A. Unknown agent
• B. Obvious agent
• C. Unimportant agent
• D. Avoid responsibility

2

Colligations to Chunks

Processes Grown/harvested/collected/mined/extracted Heated/frozen/broken up/removed/added Packaged/transported/sent/sold Procedures Reported/filed/notified Observed/interviewed/surveyed

3

Colligations to Chunks

was promoted at work was composed by it was a poorly managed event was well attended were relieved of their duties was ably performed by was first performed by

New information:

• A. Happened to subject
• B. Is who or what did it
• C. Is how it was done

4

Colligations to Chunks

it is believed thought argued said thought agreed understood held averred disputed that an argument the case can be made

Contexts for the passive

What topics connect to these verbs:

• 1. stolen/murdered/robbed/pushed/attacked
• 2. suspected/arrested/charged/convicted
• 3. nominated/elected/awarded/recognised
• 4. fired/sacked/promoted/given a raise
• 5. written/performed/directed/played
• 6. managed/organised/planned
• 7. grown/harvested/frozen/packed/transported
• 8. observed/interviewed/surveyed
• 9. believed/thought/understood

5

Identifying Passive Verb Chunks

Milton Glaser, the influential American graphic designer who created the "I ♥ NY" logo, has died aged 91. Made for a 1977 tourism campaign, the logo rapidly gained recognition across the world and has been described as the most frequently imitated in history. He also created a famous poster of Bob Dylan with psychedelic hair and was a co-founder of New York magazine. His poster of Bob Dylan featured a silhouette of the musician based on a self-portrait by Marcel Duchamp and brightly coloured locks of hair borrowed from Islamic art. The poster was included in Dylan's 1967 album Greatest Hits, which was bought by six millions fans, and adorned countless walls.

Source: BBC 27th June 2020

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Identifying Passive Verb Chunks

Lexical mining:

• 1. Underline passive verbs
• 2. Circle form of “to be” before it
• 3. What words come before and after

Controlled Practice

Choose active or passive in context (i.e. a paragraph)

Outcomes (2nd edition) Pre-Intermediate (p. 103)

Controlled Practice

Same grammar, different co-text (p.64 Teaching Lexically, Dellar and

Walkley)

My neighbour was arrested. Apparently, he’d been selling drugs. My boss has been promoted. It’s about time! I’ve never known someone work so hard! I’ve been nominated for an award. I doubt I’ll win but it’s a pleasant surprise. The seminar was very well attended actually. Perhaps we should do another on this topic.

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Controlled Practice

What is done? (p.191 Grammar Practice Activities, Ur)

Controlled Practice

What is done?

• accounts are opened/closed
• money is exchanged/deposited/withdrawn
• payments are made
• bills are paid

Can do with a park, restaurant, cinema, museum, supermarket, gym, etc.

Freer Practice

Gender stereotypes (p.198 Grammar Practice Activities, Ur) Make a list of:

• 5 things usually done by men
• 5 things usually done by women
• 5 things usually done by both

Which of these situations should be changed? What needs to be changed so that these can be done by both?

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Freer Practice

Fun with ambiguity

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Feedback and Feedforward

Many kinds of trees are existed on the island. Correct sentence:

• Many kinds of trees exist on the island.

Correct use of passive:

• Many kinds of trees can be found on the island.

Don’t just provide the correct sentence, help students to use the passive!

Further Reading

Grammar for English Language Teachers (2nd Edition), Parrott, CUP Grammar Practice Activities, Ur, CUP Teaching Lexically, Dellar and Walkley, Delta Publishing Lexical Grammar, Selivan, CUP

Questions?

Thank you for your attention and participation! Slides will be put online at www.teflup.com. Feel free to email at dos.msk@windsor.ru.