FROM GRAMMAR TO WRITING

PART 1 Editing Advice

1. Never use do, does, or did to form the passive voice. wasn’t found

The criminal didn’t find. were

Where did the jurors taken? 2. Don’t use the passive voice with happen, die, become, sleep, work, live, fall, seem, or other intransitive verbs.

The accident was happened three weeks ago. 3. Don’t confuse the -ing form with the past participle. taken

The criminal was taking to jail. 4. Don’t forget the -ed ending for a regular past participle. ed

My cousin was select to be on a jury. ^ 5. Don’t forget to use be with a passive sentence. was

The evidence presented in court. ^ 6. Use the correct word order with adverbs. never selected

I was selected never to be on a jury.

PART 2 Editing Practice

Some of the shaded words and phrases have mistakes. Find the mistakes and correct them. If the shaded words are correct, write C. didn’t C

I wasn’t come to class last week. My classmates wanted to know if I was sick. I explained that I had

jury duty. Only citizens of the United States can serve on a jury, so my friends were surprised. But I

was become a citizen six months ago. Last month, I was received a letter in the mail telling me I had to

report for duty. I’m still an ESL student, and my English is far from perfect, but I was selected. I was ask

a lot of questions, and I answered them without a problem. Many people were rejected, and I don’t know

why, but I chosen.

The case was about a traffic accident. Here’s what was happened: A man hit a woman’s car and

was left the scene of the accident. Her car was badly damage. Luckily, the woman didn’t injured. The

woman saw the driver’s license plate and wrote down the number. She also was taken a picture of the car

with her cell phone as the driver was leaving. She called the police. The police caught him. He was driven

without a license. They also determined that the man was texting while driving. My friends asked me,

1. 2. 3.

4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

9. 10.

11.

12. 13.

14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19.

20. 21.

22.

“How was that determined? The police checked the phone records and was found that at the exact time

of the accident, he was texting. The case lasted for two days. All the jurors were agreed that the man was

guilty. The man was given a $500 fine. His driver’s license was suspended for one year.

I think a lot of accidents are cause by people talking on the phone or texting while driving. According

to the law, we’re not permit to text and drive. But in some places, you can talk on the phone and drive. I

hope that the law will be changed and talking on a cell phone will be against the law, too.

23. 24.

25. 26.

27. 28.

29.

30.

31. 32.

WRITING TIP

When writing, think carefully about whether the active or passive voice is more appropriate. For example, if you choose prompt 1 below, you might use constructions such as:

I was told/asked/instructed to . . . For prompt 2, you might use constructions such as:

The man was sentenced/convicted/released. After you complete a writing assignment, read it through and check for uses of the passive. Confirm that each passive construction is suitable. If you aren’t sure, try putting the sentence into active voice and see if this makes the sentence stronger. Sometimes you may need additional information in order to use the active voice.

The man was sentenced to five years in prison. (passive) → Judge Andrews sentenced the man to five years in prison. (active)

PART 3 Write

Read the prompts. Choose one and write a paragraph about it. 1. Write about an experience you have had with the court system in the United States or your native country. 2. Write about a famous court case that you know of. Do you agree with the decision of the jury? (If you research your topic, attach a copy of your sources.)

PART 4 Edit

Reread the Summary of Unit 13 and the editing advice. Edit your writing from Part 3.

UNIT 14

Articles Other/Another Indefinite Pronouns

MONEY

Workers compare blown-up sections of counterfeit, or fake, $100 bills with a real bill enlarged 400 times.

Making money isn’t hard in itself. What’s hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting your life to. CARLOS RUIZ ZAFÓN