English Composition/Sentence Writing (Part 2)

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English Composition ＞ Sentence Writing (Part 2)

Sentence Writing (Part 2)

Passive and Active Voice

In contrast to active voices that emphasize the subject itself of the sentence, in passive sentences (be + past participle), only transitive verbs with objects are used, with a perspective placed on actions and states. The heavy use of passives tends to make the text flat and unclear. There is no problem with chats and regular conversations, but try to use active as much as you can for public texts such as business letters and papers.

Let's compare passives and actives with example sentences:

is, was, have,been,etc.

Example:

□　Somebody cleans the room every day. (= actives)

□　The room is cleaned every day by somebody. (= passives)

In passives, it is often unclear or unimportant who or what causes the movement or condition, but use by when you want to be clear. However, when the subject uses the tool to perform its operation, use with.

□　The spring lock was broken with a wrench.

□ Somebody will clean the room later. (= actives)

□ The room will be cleaned later. (= passives)

□ Somebody should have cleaned the room. (= actives)

□ The room should have been cleaned. (= passives)

□ Somebody has cleaned the room. (= actives)

□ The room has been cleaned. (= passives)

□ Somebody had cleaned the room. (= actives)

□ The room had been cleaned. (= passives)

□ Somebody is cleaning the room right now. (= actives)

□ The room is being cleaned now. (= passives)

□ Somebody was cleaning the room when I came in. (= actives)

□ The room was cleaned when I came in. (= passives)

□　My grandfather built this house in 1960. (= actives)　

□ This house was built in 1960 by my grandfather. (= passives)

□ The meeting ’’took’’ place the day before yesterday. (= actives)

□ The meeting ’’was taken’’ place the day before yesterday. (= passives)

being, doing, etc.

Example:

□ My boss doesn't like people keeping him waiting. (= actives)

□ My boss doesn't like being kept waiting. (= passives)

□ I remember my mother giving me a handmade doll on my fifth birthday. (= actives)

□ I remember being given a handmade doll on my fith birthday. (= passives)　

Use passiveness more positively when focusing on the situation / state than the subject.

Example:

□ In the south coast area, more than four hundred houses were destroyed by the storm.

In everyday conversation, when expressing situations / conditions where something happens or changes, we often use get instead of be. (be can be used at any time.)

Example:：

□　There was an trafic accident at the corner yesterday, but nobody ’’got hurt’’.　

□ How much did you ’’get paid’’ for this job?

□　Most of the students in the class are getting confused.

Exercise 1

Q.1: Rewrite the next sentence to be passive and fill in the parentheses (＿＿).

A car run over my dog.
→ My dog (＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿).
I don't like people telling me what to do.
→ I don't like (＿＿＿＿＿) what to do.
Has anybody told you what to do?
→ Have (＿＿＿＿＿＿＿) what to do?
They offered Tim the new position, but he refused it.
→ Tim (＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿), but he refused it.
We can see the whole city from the top of this sky tower.
→ The whole city (＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿) from the top of this sky tower.

Q.2: Rearrange the words in parentheses to create a passive or active sentence. Use verbs in the correct form.

（cancel, flights, of, snow, all, because, heavy, are）
（the shop, in, to, I, return, days, should, this, three, DVD）
（make, monday, until, decision, a, next, not, will, be）
（when, 20 years old, in 1776, was, Mozart, this, wrote, he, concerto, piano ）
（Mozart, was, in 1776, piano, by, concerto, this, written）

→ Exercise1 Answer

Articles

The article is one of the so-called "determiners". Consider the following three articles: a / an, the, and nothing zero article. Understanding articles that are not in Japanese usage is complicated, but here you will learn the basics.

a/an

a / an which means "one thing, one person" attached to the front of countable noun.

□ I bought a nice birthday present for my girlfriend.

□ There's an accident . I saw a car drive down the street over the speed limit.

□ My brother is unemployed. He is looking for a job.

Note: job is a countable noun but work is a countable noun

□ I need to find a job. ⇔ I need to find work.

Many nouns are used as countable and uncountable nouns. When used as uncountable nouns, there is no a / an.

□ I eat a banana every morning.(countable）

□ I like bananas.(uncountable）

□ We had some interesting experiences while we were on vacation.(countable）

□ They offered me the position because I had a lot of experience.(uncountable）

Use some for countable nouns and plurals of countable nouns.

□ I'd like to send some flowers to my mother on her birthday.

□ Some students of this class applied for the test.

□ We are looking for some volunteers who can stay in the area for three weeks.

a / an representing "what kind of thing, what kind of person" is added before the countable noun.

□ Cat is an animal.

□ Nicole is a really nice person .

□ Brazil is a country in South America.

Add a / an before the profession.

□ Jeorge's father is a doctor.

□ Would you like to be an English teacher?

a / an + date, unit

□ Potatoes are on sale only for 2 dollars a pound.

□ Jennifer works nine hours a day, five days a week.

Proper use of a / an

Basically, the word that begins with a consonant is preceded by "a", and the word that begins with "a" vowel is preceded by "an", but be careful with exceptions.

"an" is inserted before the word (hour, honor, honest, herb, etc.,) that starts with a silent (non-speaking) "h".

□　I've been waiting for her for an hour.　

□ It's an honor to meet you.

Even if the spelling starts with a vowel, "a" will be inserted if the pronunciation starts with a consonant.

□ Sue graduated from a university in Texas.　　

□ I suppose they are from a European country.

the

the for a specific person, thing or place. See example sentences in comparison with a.

□ Ken sat down on a park bench.

□ Ken sat down on the bench next to the oak tree. (= specific bench)

□ My brother is looking for a job. (= not a specific job)

□ My brother got the job he applied for. (= specific job)

□ I need to go to the bank and then going to the post office. (= specific that I always go)

□ Is there a bank or a post office near here? (= any bank or post office)

□ Marc is not feeling well. He went to the doctor. (= family doctor)

□ I saw a man and a woman walking side by side down the street. The man was using a stick, and the woman was helping him.

□ The hotel we stayed at was a very nice hotel.

Just mean the one

□ I'm moving out at the end of this month.

□ You are the only one I can trust.

the + single form of countable noun (animal, vehicle, instrument type etc)

□ The giraffe is the tallest of all animals.

□ The bicycle is a useful means of transportation.

Highest the grade

□ China is the most populous country in the world.

□ Bikal is the oldest and the deepest lake in the world.

the + entertainment

□ Keiko used to go to the opera theater when she was living in Italy.

□ I heard the news on the radio.

Note: We do not attach "the" to TV (programs).

→ We wached the news on TV.

Add "the" to mean TV as an equipment.

→ Turn on the TV, please.

the + organization

□ Natalie joined the army when she graduated from high school.

□ I'd like to work for the World Health Organization in the future.

Note: If the organization name is abbreviated, do not attach "the".

→ I'd like to work for WHO in the future.

the + 自然（海、川、山脈など）

□ The Chang Jiang is the longest river in China.

（長江は中国一長い川です。）

＊川／河にはtheがつきますが、個別の湖、島にはつきません。 → The best thing I remember last summer was camping at Lake Erie.

（去年の夏一番の思い出はエリー湖でキャンプをしたことだ。）

→ I'm going to move near the lake next summer.

（来年の夏にはその湖の近くに引っ越す。）

□ The project must be in harmony with the environment.

（そのプロジェクトは環境との調和が保たれるべきだ。）

□ There's a village below the Himalayas.

（ヒマラヤ山脈のふもとに村がある。）

＊山脈にはtheがつきますが、個別の山にはつきません。 → Mr. Miura, a Japanese adventurer, climbed Mt.Everest when he was 80 years old.

（日本の冒険家である三浦氏は80歳でエベレストに登頂した。）

□ There's no single cloud in the sky.

（空には雲ひとつない。）

the + 太陽系

□ The sun is a star.

（太陽は星のひとつです。）

□ The earth goes around the sun. and the moon goes around the earth.

（地球は太陽の周りを回り、月は地球の周りを回る。）

＊惑星=planetsにはtheがつきません。（earthには付けてもOK） → Jupiter is the fifth planet of the solar system.

（木星は太陽系の5番目の惑星です。）

the + 国、民族など

通常殆んどの国名、州名、市町村名にはtheがつきません。

□ Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki live in England.

（鈴木さん夫妻はイギリスに住んでいる。）

□ New York is one of the most densely populated city in the world.

（ニューヨークは世界で最も人口密度の高い都市のひとつです。）

Republic, Kingdom, Statesなどを含む国名、または複数形の国名にはtheがつきます。

□ We visited Canada, the United States and the Bahamas.

（私たちはカナダとアメリカ合衆国、バハマを訪ねた。）

□ The Dominican Republic became independent from the United Kingdom in 1978.

（ドミニカは1978年にイギリスから独立した。）

民族（～人）にはtheをつけます。

□ The” Japanese are famous for their excellent public manners.

（日本人はその素晴らしい公衆道徳で名を馳せている。）

言語（～語）にはtheをつけません。

□ Spanish is not very difficult language to learn.

（スペイン語は学ぶのにそれほど難しい言語ではありません。）

sameの前の the” （the same）

□ His jacket is the same style as mine.

（彼の上着のカタチは僕のと同じだ。）

□ The same thing could happen to anyone.

（誰にも同じことが起こり得る。）

ゼロ冠詞

a もthe もつかないことをゼロ冠詞といいます。不可算名詞または可算名詞の複数で一般名詞を表すときには冠詞をつけません。

□ My mother plant ’’flowers’’ every early spring.

（母は毎年早春に花を植える。）

□ I cooked ’’ham’’ and eggs this morning.

（今朝ハムエッグを作った。）

食事は無冠詞

□ We had lunch at a very nice seafood restaurant.

（私たちはとても素敵なシーフードレストランで昼食をとった。）

ただし、breakfast, lunchなどの前に形容詞を付けた場合はaがはいります。 → We had a nice lunch at a seafood restaurant.

（私たちはシーフードレストランで素敵なランチを食べた。）

名詞＋記号／番号

□ Please look at the top of ’’page 19’’, ’’Section A’’.

（19ページの上段、セクションAを見てください。）

□ Delta flight 178 leaves from ’’Gate 23’’.

（デルタ航空178便は23番ゲートから出発します。）

スポーツ、ゲーム

□ I like to watch soccor game on TV.

（私はテレビでサッカーを観るのが好きだ。）

動詞的な意味を含む(眠ったり学んだり祈ったり・・)場所を表す一般名詞(bed, school, church, home, etc.,)にも冠詞がつきません。

□ When I finish high school, I want to go to university.

（高校を卒業したら大学に行きたい。）

□ Kay stayed in bed until late this morning.

（ケイは今朝遅くまでベッドに居た。）

□ Her parents go to church evry Sunday.

（彼女の両親は毎日曜日に教会へ行きます。）

曜日、年月日など

□ I have an appointment with the dentist on Tuesday.

（木曜日に歯医者の予約をしている。）

□ Paul will be turning 20 years old next week.

（ポールは来週二十歳になる。）

病気

diabetes（糖尿病）、high blood pressure（高血圧）、hepatitis（肝炎）、cancer（がん）など、病気にはカタチがありませんので基本的には冠詞がつきません。

□ Patient education about diabetes is very important.

（糖尿病に関する患者教育はとても大切だ。）

病気／症状の捕らえ方により冠詞がつくものもあります。

“a”がつくもの

a cold（かぜ）, a fever（熱）, a headach（頭痛のように～achがつくもの）, a cough（咳のようなひとつの症状）

□ I have a fever.

（私は熱があります。）

theがつくもの

the flue（インフルエンザ）, the measles（はしか）などの現在流行っている病気

□ She has been sick in bed for three days with the flue.

（彼女はインフルエンザで3日間寝込んでいる。）

国名、市区町村名にも冠詞がつきませんが、前項4-２. theで述べていますので参照してください。

練習問題２（冠詞）

カッコ内にa/anまたはtheを入れなさい。なにも入らないときにはX印を入れなさい。

Many people are out of （＿＿） work because of （＿＿） recession..
You will find （＿＿） information you need at （＿＿） top of （＿＿） page 11.
Do you know （＿＿） high blood pressure can be （＿＿） life threatening condition?
（＿＿） ancient Greeks invented for the foundation for democratic government.
Akiko is （＿＿） student at （＿＿） Tokyo University.
Bob is （＿＿） IT engineer. He used to work in （＿＿） department of （＿＿） Parker Trading Co.,Ltd. Now he works for （＿＿） American company in （＿＿） United States.
”How often do you go to （＿＿） movies?” “Two or three times （＿＿） year.”
”We'd like to go out for （＿＿） dinner tonight. Can you recommend （＿＿） good restaurant?”
Tracy has （＿＿） part -time job at （＿＿） MacDonald's. She works four hours （＿＿） day, three days（＿＿） week.
My grand parents live in （＿＿） old house in （＿＿） small village. There is （＿＿） big cherry tree in front of （＿＿） house. I used to climb （＿＿） tree when I was （＿＿） child.

→ 解答はこちら