Unit 1 BUSINESS WORLD

Objective: In this unit students will be able to describe events in the past, present and future about a
company using the passive voice and vocabulary related to business situations.

Table of content
Contenido
GRAMMAR ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 PASSIVE VOICE.................................................................................................................................................................... 1
PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT TENSE .................................................................................................................................. 2
PASSIVE VOICE IN PAST TENSE ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT PERFECT ............................................................................................................................................ 5
PASSIVE VOICE IN FUTURE SIMPLE ................................................................................................................................................. 6
USEFUL PHRASES AND VOCABULARY ............................................................................................................................................. 7
FINANCIAL VOCABULARY. .................................................................................................................................................................. 7
VERBS AND NOUNS RELATED TO BUSINESS ................................................................................................................................. 9
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................................................................10

GRAMMAR

1.1 PASSIVE VOICE

The passive voice is used when the emphasis is put on the action rather than the doer or subject. The reason
why the subject is not emphasized is because it´s not relevant, or it is unknown. For example,

The car was crashed. In this sentence, it is not important to know the name of the person who crashed the car.

The bank was robbed. In this sentence, it is not important to know the name of the person who robbed the bank.

However, if the doer of the action is mentioned, the preposition “by” will be placed before it.

Example; Active voice: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote “The little Prince”.

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 Passive voice: The little Price was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Note: In order to write sentences using the passive voice, it is necessary to consider that the verbs must be
transitive. If the verbs are intransitive, it will be impossible to change a sentence from a active to passive
voice.

On the one hand, transitive verbs are characterized by taking objects. On the other hand, intransitive
verbs do not take objects.

Transitive verbs These verbs can take objects. Intransitive verbs These verbs can´t take objects.

To eat—Active voice. Marcos eats an apple every To be (is, are and am) Active voice: I am a student.
day.
Passive voice: “It is not possible.”
Passive voice. Ann apple is eaten every day.
To go Active voice: I went to school.
To catch- Active voice: John caught the ball.
Passive voice: “It is not possible.”
Passive voice: The ball was caught.
To act Active voice: She acted in the play.
To throw .- Active voice: I threw the ball.
Passive voice: “It is not possible.”
Passive voice: The ball was thrown
To escape—Active voice: They escaped from jail.
To bake- Active voice: I baked a cake.
Passive voice: “It is not possible.”
Passive voice: The cake was baked.

PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT TENSE

The results are published at the end of the year.

The rule is followed by all the students.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that the results are published. I do not know, however, who is
doing it.
In an active sentence, the subject acts upon the object.

My parents drive our car every day.

In the passive voice, the object of the verb becomes the subject.

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Our car is driven every day. (by my parents)

To form the passive in the simple present, use the present tense of BE (is or are) plus the past participle
of a verb. Use the preposition BY with a noun if it is important to show who or what the doer of the
action is.

Active:

Subject +verb +object

My parents drive our car every day.

Passive

Subject is / are + verb (in the past participle form)

Our car is driven every day (by my parents.)

Reminder: only verbs that take an object can be used in the passive tense.

Take a look at the following verbs and focus on the ones that are in blue since using the passive
voices requires the verbs to be in past participle.

Verbs.

Present Past Past participle

Eat Ate eaten

Destroy Destroyed Destroyed

Drink Drank Drunk

Threaten Threatened Threatened

Find Found Found

Examples:

Active voice (simple present) Passive voice (simple present)

Bats eat insects Insects are eaten by bats.

People destroy forests to create farmland. Forests are destroyed to create farmland.

People in India drink a lot of tea. A lot of tea is drunk in India.

Hunger threatens people in Southern Africa. People in Southern Africa are threatened by hunger.

Researches find new information every day. New information is found every day.
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 Italian Chefs make the best pizzas. The best pizzas are made in Italy.

Exercises:
Read the following active voice sentence; then, select the correct form of the passive voice.

1. They eat pupusas every day.

a) Pupusas were ate every day.

b) Pupusas are eaten every day.

c) Pupusas I eat every day.

2. John writes poems.

a) John poems writes. .

b) . Poems are wrote

c) Poems are written

3. Anita drives old cars.

a) Old cars are driven

b) Old cars are drove

c) Old cars Anita drives.

4. They buy new magazines every week.

a) New magazines is buy every week.

b) New magazines are buy every week.

c) New magazines are bought.

PASSIVE VOICE IN PAST TENSE

To form the passive in the simple past, use the simple past tense of BE (was / were) plus the past
participle of a verb.

Subject was / were + verb

The thieves were caught running out of the bank.

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 The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Note: sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. you have made a
mistake.)
Examples:
Active voice in past tense Passive voice in past tense
Some business men closed 2 factories this year. Two factories were closed this year.
The technician did not install the system properly. The system wasn´t properly installed.
Last year, a multinational took over the company The company was taken over by a
multinational last year.
International leaders held the first Earth Summit The first Earth Summit meeting was held in Rio
meeting in Rio de Janeiro de Janeiro.
KPMG audited the accounts The accounts were audited by KPMG.

Some body ate the cake The cake was eaten.

The children turned off the light. The light was turned off.

John wrote a book. A book was written by John.

Researchers presented new finding. New findings were presented.

The song writer corrected the lyric. The lyric was corrected.

Exercises: Read the following sentences in the active voice, the write the passive voice correctly.

1. The man scored a goal. A goal was scored.

2. They put the table yesterday. ___________________________________________
3. She discovered a new planet. ___________________________________________
4. He killed a dog last week. ____________________________________________
5. I did my homework _____________________________________________

PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT PERFECT

To form the passive in the present perfect tense, use the auxiliary verb has been/have been plus the past
participle of a verb.
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 Subject + has been / have been + verb (in the past participle form.)

Many parks have been lost.

It has been cleaned.

Her work has been finished by her.

Examples
1. Many parks have been lost.
2. The homeless have been displaced from city shelters.
3. Too many trees have been cut down recently.
4. Too much noise has been created.
5. Over 20 car models have been produced in the past two years.

Exercises: Rewrite the following sentences; then, rewrite them by using the future passive voice whenever is
possible.
1. She has done the activity:__The activity has been done.
2. Scientists have found new evidence. ________________________.
3. Martha has broken the window. _____________________________
4. Peter and Laura have been a couple for years. ________________________________________
5. Jonah has danced all night long. _______________________________________
6. Peter has found new information_______________________________________

PASSIVE VOICE IN FUTURE SIMPLE

To form the passive in the future simple, use the auxiliary verb WILL BE plus the past participle of a
verb.
,
will be + verb (in the past participle form.)

A car will be bought by her.

The contract will be signed by our boss.

The horses will be taken to the stable.

Note: for the simple future tense, the same auxiliary is used for the singular y plural form.

Examples:
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1. The car will be painted by the mechanic.

2. The report will be written by her.

3. The lesson will be learnt.

4. Applications will be accepted until 5 pm on Friday.

5. A new factory will be built in this area next year.

Practice.

Complete the sentences using the correct passive forms of the verbs in parentheses.(future tense).

1. This room next week. (Redecorate)

2. By next year, three apartment blocks in this neighborhood. (Knock down)

3. This window by the workmen if they don´t protect it. (Break)

4. A new air conditioning system next week. (Install)

5. The carpet (stain) if they don´t protect it.

6. Nobody the central heating soon. (Fix)

7. The work surface (scratch)

8. My lost keys to me tomorrow.. (Return)

9. My car Next month.. (Repair)

10. The computer next Monday. (Deliver)

USEFUL PHRASES AND VOCABULARY

FINANCIAL VOCABULARY.
Sometimes you can understand a new word by looking at the context. Look at the sentences in the text
below. Complete them using one of the words in the box.
Stock stockholders worth invested
Stake spend earn owe
Borrowed save dividend lent
Tax pay

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Me and my money
In the lastest in our series on tips for investors, John
Graham describes how he manages his investments
When I was eighteen, I inherited $1,000 from my grandmother. I
invested half of the money on the stock market and the rest I put
in the bank. I bought in three different companies,
and each one pays me a every year.

I also have a 20% in a small company started by a

friend of mine. There are four other in the
company. I have a small house in Boston. It probably
$959,000 now. I $5000,000
from the bank when I bought it. I
as an accountant and a reasonable salary, but I
have to pay a lot of . My father me a lot
of money for my studies and I still him about $10,000.
I him back about $250 a month. I a lot
of money on my favorite sports, skiing, but I also like to try and
for my old age.

Reading taken from Business

Basics International Edition

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 Collocations Definition
Bank account A place to deposit money
Bank statement A document sent regularly to
confirm your financial position
Cash box A place for keeping money during
office hours
Cash flow The money going in and out of a
company
Credit card A way of paying without using
cash or check
Credit control A way of checking that your
customers have paid.
Exchange rate A means of calculating when
changing money from one
currency to another
Insurance policy A document that proves you have
protection against fire, theft, or
illness
Interest rate The extra amount due when you
borrow money from a bank
Life insurance Money paid out if you die
Stock option The opportunity to buy stock,
usually at a reduced Price, given
by a company to its employees
Stock price The value of an investment in a
company

VERBS AND NOUNS RELATED TO BUSINESS

Choose the correct words to complete these conversations.

1. A: That´s a beautiful car. Where did you sell / buy it?
B: At a used car lot in San Diego. It´s worth / worse $15,000, but I paid/ bought $12,000.
2. C: Hi! How´s the new job?
D: It´s OK, but I don´t win / earn enough.
C: Where are you living?
D: In a new apartment. I lent / borrowed some money from the bank, but I think I will have to sell /
sale my car.

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3. E: How are you?
F: Fine. I´m going to the Bahamas next week.
E: Really? That´s expensive. How can you offer / afford it?
F: I bought some parts / stock in a high – Tech Company, and I sold it last week a t a big benefit /
profit.

Complete this table

Verb Noun ( s ) Example
Founder/ Sony was by Akio Morita
foundation
When AOL Time Warner,
acquisition it was the world´s largest merger
ever.
increase Inflation by 2% last
year.
launch The official of the
product took place in Rome.
create The company was in 1955.
Introduction The iPod was onto the
market and was an instant success.
Open There are new in the Asian
market a – that´s why we have a
sales team there.
Expansion The company has no plans for
at the present time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Richards, J. (2003), New Interchange. 3rd Edition Mexico. Cambridge University Press.
 Grant, D. & McLarty, R. (2006), Business Basics, 1st. edition. China. Oxford University Press.
 Miles, C. (2008). Breakthrough Plus 3 and 4. 1st. Edition .Thailand. Macmillan Education.
 Abbs, B., Barker, C., Freebairn, I. (2002), Postcards 4, 2nd Edition. Longman Pearson

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