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 PRACTICE ON POINTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Passive Summary
• Focus on Object
• By Phrases
• Focus Ind Object
• Never Passive
• Get-Passives
• Part Adj 1 -ed / -ing
• Part Adj 2 -ed / -ing
• Particpl & Prep
• Particpl + Prep Prac
• Particpl Phrases1
• Particpl Phrases2
• Been / Being
• In Context

Never Passive - Intransitive Verbs

Verbs With No Passive Forms

 

 

If an object is not used with a verb, then the verb cannot be made passive.

 

Intransitive vs. Transitive Verbs 

INTRANSITIVE VERB	TRANSITIVE VERB
Something happens by itself.  The verb is not used with an object. (No passive form exists.)	Something does something to something or someone. The verb occurs with an object.  (Passive form does exist.)
The earthquake happened on April 6, 2009 in Italy.	The earthquake killed hundreds of people.
The earthquake was happened on April 6, 2009 in Italy.	Hundreds of people were killed by the earthquake.

 Other intrasitive verb contrasts:  lie-lay  sit-set  rise-raise

 

 

Some Intransitive Verbs

These verbs do not occur with objects and cannot be made passive.

appear	become	collide	consist of
disappear	emerge	happen	look
occur	resemble	seem	take place
vanish	weigh	collapse	last (endure)
have*	sleep	lie	rise

 *Except in slang - "I was had" which means someone took advantage of me.

 

 

A Stative Verb

E.G.	INTRANSITIVE VERB	TRANSITIVE VERB
	A stative verb cannot be made into a passive sentence.	An active verb with an object can be transformed into a passive sentence.
weigh (has two meanings)
Active	Arnold weighs 250 lbs. (stative)	The doctor weighed the baby. (active verb + has an object)
Passive	(no passive possible)	The baby was weighed by the doctor.

(Do not confuse the stative verbs with their "active" forms. See stative verbs.)

 

 

Some Stative Verbs

Most stative verbs do not take passive form.

MENTAL STATES	EMOTIONAL STATES	STATES OF POSSESSION	SENSE PERCEPTIONS	OTHER STATES
know / think /  believe	love (can be passive)	have	taste	seem  /  appear /  look
want / need / desire	like   (can be passive)	belong	smell	resemble / look like
feel / suppose / imagine	appreciate   (can be passive)	own	hear	cost  / owe /  weigh / equal
understand / recognize	prefer  (can be passive)	possess	see	be / exist / matter
forget / remember	fear  (can be passive)		smell	consist of / contain / include

Also see Stative Verbs (especially note the contrast of passive and active states for some verbs)

 

 

Common Mistakes

ERROR	FIX
*The accident was happened a week ago.     (A transitive verb has no object and, therefore, cannot be passive)	The accident happened a week ago.
*My mother bore me in 1981.    (The active form is hardly ever used.)	I was born in 1981.
*The College of San Mateo locates on a hilltop.    (The verb has a different meaning in active and passive forms.)	The College of San Mateo is located on a hilltop. (exists) The Board of Regents will locate the new college on a hilltop. (to situate / to build)

 

 

 

 

Practice

Earthquake

 

 

 

Select the word that best complete the sentence.

1. Select your responses from the pull-down menus.
2. Afterwards, compare your responses to the feedback by clicking the check buttons. 

 

#	YOUR RESPONSE	FEEDBACK
1.	I'll never forget the earthquake – was happening that happened in Italy. It – occurred was occurred on April 6, 2009
2.	The earthquake – was taken place took place in the middle of the night.   It caused my city – to vanish to be vanished over night.
3.	Every thing – was shaken shook and was moved around.   Our car – was collided collided with other cars on the street . (collide=crash)
4.	The earthquake – was lasted lasted only a couple minutes. In that short time, every thing – was destroyed destroyed .
5.	After it stopped, I looked around. The house I had been sleeping in – was damaged damaged . The house – was resembled resembled a deck of cards. It had fallen down. (resembled = look like)
6.	I – was looked looked outside for something familiar.   Everything – was disappeared disappeared .   There were just stones and rocks on the ground.
7.	I heard people walking around and shouting. I was afraid afraid .   Suddenly, my father – was appeared appeared in front of me.   I was so relieved.
8.	In the next few hours, people – were emerged emerged from the fallen buildings and were walking in the street looking for family. (emerge = come out of)
9.	My family, which – was consisted consisted of five people, became only two.

 

 

 

 

 

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