Learner uses the passive to hold one participant in the subject position across several sentences, which is the main reason academic writing uses it at all.
Preview · progress not saved — Chapter 1 is free
Five sentences. One subject has to survive all of them.
Order these five sentences into a paragraph about the congestion charge. Each one keeps the charge as its subject.
Six short paragraphs. Read the subjects, not the topic sentence.
The scheme was introduced in 2019. It was extended twice. It has since been copied by three other cities. What is this about?
The problem, the fix, and the real reason for all those passives.
You want four sentences about a scheme.
The scheme is the doer in only one of them.
The city introduced the scheme. Officials extended it. Three cities copied it.
Your subject just changed three times.
Ten passives in context. Five are doing no continuity work.
Sort each item into the correct category
Eight follow-on sentences. Three should stay active.
Holding: the scheme. The scheme began in 2019. Officials extended it twice. →
Holding: commuters. Commuters were offered free travel. A housing charity surveyed them in June. →
Holding: the report. The report appeared in March. It caused an immediate row. →
Holding: the bridge. The bridge opened in 1890. Engineers widened it in 1954. →
Holding: the policy. The policy was announced in May. Three unions criticised it at once. →
Holding: the council. The council met on Tuesday. It approved the plan the same evening. →
Holding: the data. The data appeared in 2019. A committee of seventeen regional health authorities verified them. →
Holding: applicants. Applicants submitted forms by May. The university rejected a third of them. →
Hold one participant across four sentences.
Pick one thing to write about: a policy, a building, a study, or a group of people.
Write four sentences. That one thing should be the subject of every sentence.
At least one sentence will need the passive to manage it.
One paragraph.
Rewrite one sentence active. What does the paragraph become about?