Unit 7 – lesson 2

Unit 7 – On the job

The note was written by Jim

Where are these people?

What are they talking about?

What can you see on the desk?

The note was put on the desk by his supervisor

What verb tense is this?

Today, you will use the passive voice to discuss things that happen at work.

Listen and read the conversation.

Raquel:	Did you see the note I put on your desk?
Bruno:	Was that note from you? I thought it was put there by Jim.
Raquel:	Actually, the note was written by Jim but I taped it to your desk. I wanted to make sure you got it before you left for lunch.
Bruno:	I did get it. The orders were sent to me yesterday and I’ll have them ready for your signature before I leave today.
Raquel:	Great! I’ll sign them in the morning, and then you can send them to the Finance Department. Make sure they are sent by Package Express.
Bruno:	I’ll take care of it right away.

Activity B

Answer the questions about the conversation with a partner.

1. Who are the two people in the conversation? Who is the supervisor?

2. What is the misunderstanding?

3. What was sent to Bruno?

Practice the conversation, but this time replace some of the words and phrases with the new words below.

desk		computer
note		memo
lunch		the day
Finance department		Human Resources
right away		as soon as possible
Raquel:	Did you see the note I put on your computer?
Bruno:	Was that memo from you? I thought it was put there by Jim.
Raquel:	Actually, the note was written by Jim but I taped it to your desk. I wanted to make sure you got it before you left for the day.
Bruno:	I did get it. The orders were sent to me yesterday and I’ll have them ready for your signature before I leave today.
Raquel:	Great! I’ll sign them in the morning, and then you can send them to the Human Resources. Make sure they are sent by Package Express.
Bruno:	I’ll take care of it as soon as possible.

Look at the sentences below.

Compare the sentences in the passive voice with those in the active voice.

What is the difference?

Passive Voice	Active Voice
The note was put there by Raquel.	Raquel put the note there.
The note was written by Jim.	Jim wrote the note.
The orders were sent yesterday. (We don’t know who sent them)	They sent the orders yesterday.

Change the following sentences from active to passive voice. Think of you own ideas for the final sentence.

EXAMPLE:

Our delivery person brought twelve bottles of water this morning.

Twelve bottles of water was brought by our delivery person this morning.

1. The receptionist bought all the supplies.

2. The repairperson fixed the copy machine.

3. Our supervisor wrote some new regulations.

4. Someone stole his money and driver’s license.

5. A nurse took my blood pressure.