Ben Franklin

Yesterday in my intermediate level class we read about and discussed the life of Benjamin Franklin. He was an early American diplomat, inventor, philosopher--you name it, he did it. He was also a good writer, and his proverbs are well known in the United States 200 years later. Here's one:

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

What do you think that means? �

Present Continuous Tense / Passive Voice

Today's lesson is on the present continuous tense in the passive voice. Here's the formula:

Subject + (be) + being + the past participle

They are being punished because they were talking in class while the teacher was talking.

This is happening right now. The teacher is punishing them (the students). The main verb is "punish." It's a regular verbs so the past participle adds "ed" to the simple form of the verb.

punish / punished / punished

In the United States, punishment of a student takes the form of a detention. Students might come in after school and clean the room or the blackboards for the teacher. (We can't hit the kids here--which I think is a good thing!)

Past tense modals in the passive voice

Something should have been done before the situation got worse.

The above sentence is an example of past tense modals used in the passive voice. We use this to describe situations that did or didn't happen in the past.

My car should have been fixed yesterday. (but it wasn't.)

He could have been hurt in the accident. (He wasn't hurt)

The project might not have gotten completed without her help. (Or, her help wasn't necessary)

She would have been hired if she hadn't come to the interview wearing a nose ring.(She went to the interview wearing a nose ring; the interviewer didn't like her appearance, so he didn't hire her.)

For more practice, go to the ninth lesson in the Green Level. �

The Passive Voice with "get"

One interesting thing about the passive voice is that you can replace the verb "be" with the verb "get." What difference does that make? In my opinion, "get" is a little stronger than "be" and in some cases, its use might be a little more popular. You also must know how "get" changes in various tenses.

get / got / gotten

She gets paid on Friday. (present tense)

Did you get laid off from your job? (past tense question)

Have they gotten the package they were expecting? (present perfect tense)

My wallet will get stolen if I leave it in my car. (future tense)

For more practice with "get" in the passive voice, you can go to the Green Level on my website.

I'm now on Facebook. I'm not sure why it's important to be on there, but I put together a page and you should be able to find me under "Learn American English Online."

The Passive Voice -- Past Tense

Today's lesson is on using the passive voice in the past tense. Remember that the verb "be" determines the tense, so you have just two choices: "was" and "were," depending on the subject.

A tornado was reported in the area just an hour ago.

We were given one hour to take the test.

She was saddened by the bad news.

I was taught to say "please" and "thank-you" by my mother.

Well, it's only February, but it's time to start planning for the planting season coming up in April. Many of you who know me know that I'm a gardener and I like to grow as much of my own food as possible, so it's time to start looking through seed catalogs and make plans to buy seeds and other things for the gardens. This year I'll grow potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, basil, cilantro, and carrots. There are some other things that can be added to the list later, but I haven't decided yet what they will be.

Growing your own food is good for the environment and good for your pocketbook! If you do it properly, it's also a rewarding experience in itself because it's so interesting to watch things come up out of the ground. Are you a gardener or a farmer? Tell me what you grow in an email or send me a picture of your garden. �

Sorry I haven't been posting much here. Entries appear every day on the regular blog.