Tham khảo tài liệu 'market leader upper intermediate coursebook phần 8', ngoại ngữ, kỹ năng đọc tiếng anh phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | Grammar reference 5 Passives 6 Adverbs of degree We use the passive when the person who performs the action is unknown unimportant or obvious. The file was stolen. The roof was damaged during the storm. She s been given the sack. 1 The passive can be used in all tenses and with modal auxiliaries. A new fitness centre is being built. The job was going to be done on Friday. He had been asked to do it twice before. She maybe required to work on Sunday. The best employees should be given a performance bonus. He would have been told eventually. 2 If we know who performed the action the agent we use by The file was stolen by a secret agent. 3 In a passive sentence the grammatical subject receives the focus a Giovanni Agnelli founded Fiat in 1899. b Fiat was founded by Giovanni Agnelli in 1899. In a our attention is on the agent - Giovanni Agnelli. In b it is Fiat rather than Agnelli that is the topic of the sentence. 4 The subject of the sentence can be a pronoun. H e were informed that the firm was going to be taken over. 5 Passive constructions are common in formal contexts for example in reports or minutes and help to create an impersonal style. Using it as a subject enables US to avoid mentioning the person responsible for saying or doing something. It was felt that the system needed to be changed. It was decided that expenditure would be limited to 250 000. It was suggested that staff be given stock options. It was agreed that the proposal should be rejected. 1 If we want to amplify the quality an adjective describes we use an intensifying adverb. These are some of the most common The presentation was really very good. She s dead certain to get the job. The new design looks pretty good. I was extremely surprised by her reaction. She s a thoroughly efficient organiser. 2 The relative strength of adverbs is shown on this scale Strong absolutely altogether awfully completely greatly highly quite terribly totally very Moderate fairly mildly moderately partly quite .
