ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE
WRITING
Hadrian's Wall
Fill the gaps with the correct tenses (active or passive voice).
1. In the year 122 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (visit) _________________________ his
provinces in Britain.
2. On his visit, the Roman soldiers (tell) _________________________ him that Pictish tribes from
Britain's north (attack) _________________________ them.
3. So Hadrian (give) _________________________ the order to build a protective wall across one
of the narrowest parts of the country.
4. After 6 years of hard work, the Wall (finish) _________________________ in 128.
5. It (be) _________________________ 117 kilometres long and about 4 metres high.
6. The Wall (guard) _________________________ by 15,000 Roman soldiers.
7. Every 8 kilometres there (be) _________________________ a large fort in which up to 1,000
soldiers (find) _________________________ shelter.
8. The soldiers (watch) _________________________ over the frontier to the north and (check)
_________________________ the people who (want) _________________________ to enter or
leave Roman Britain.
9. In order to pass through the Wall, people (must go) _________________________ to one of the
small forts that (serve) _________________________ as gateways.
10. Those forts (call) _________________________ mile castles because the distance from one
fort to another (be) _________________________ one Roman mile (about 1,500 metres).
11. Between the mile castles there (be) _________________________ two turrets from which the
soldiers (guard) _________________________ the Wall.
12. If the Wall (attack) _________________________ by enemies, the soldiers at the turrets (run)
____________________ to the nearest mile castle for help or (light) ______________________ a
fire that (can / see) _________________________ by the soldiers in the mile castle.
13. In 383 Hadrian's Wall (abandon) _________________________.
14. Today Hadrian's Wall (be) _________________________ the most popular tourist attraction in
northern England.
15. In 1987, it (become) _________________________ a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
READING
THE CUTTY SARK
Read the article and do comprehension exercises 1 and 2. Then put the verbs in
brackets in the correct passive form.
Fire devastates Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark ship, one of London's most popular
tourist attractions,
may
(devastate) by a fire, which police think
(start) on purpose.
More than 40 fire fighters
(call) to the 138-year-old tea clipper ship in
Greenwich early on Monday morning.
The ship
million could
recently
(close) to visitors so improvements costing £25
(carry) out.
A spokesman for the London fire service said the whole ship
(affect) by the
massive fire but nobody
(hurt).
Police don't know what caused the fire yet, but said they were treating it as suspicious.
That means the fire may
(start) on purpose rather than by accident.
Chris Livett, from the group which looks after the ship, said the fire was a significant
setback but they were determined to put the ship back together again.
He said the decks could not
(save) but the damage didn't appear as bad as
first feared.
Half the planking, as well as all the old artefacts on board, escaped damage as
they
(remove) while the refurbishment work was under way.
He added: "She's been through storms and hurricanes. She's been battling all her life.
She's not dead yet, far from it."
The Cutty Sark
(use) to carry tea around the world in the 19th century. It
now sits at a dry dock at Greenwich as a living museum.
Exercise1. Find words or phrases in the text which have a similar
meaning to the following.
1
a place where a ship can be taken out of the water for repairs
2
a problem that delays or prevents progress
3
a storm with very strong fast winds
4
in a way that is not planned or intended
5
intentionally
6
making you feel that something is wrong or illegal
7
objects that were made a long time ago and are historically important
8
renovation
9
struggling; fighting
10
very big
11
wood that has been cut into flat pieces
Exercise 2. Are the following statements true or false? Write T for True
or F for False.
1
The police believe the fire started by chance.
2
People couldn’t visit the ship because it had recently been sold for £25
million.
3
The fire only caused damage to the decks.
4
The police are not sure whether someone set fire to the ship deliberately.
5
According to one of the people who look after the ship, the fire caused a
major delay in their work.
6
Chris Livett is afraid the damage to the ship is worse than they had thought
at first.
7
The old artefacts were not destroyed because they had been taken away
before the fire started.
8
The Cutty Sark has survived many difficult circumstances.