Listening Part A : Skill 4 - Passives

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It is sometimes difficult to understand who or what is doing the action in a passive sentence. This problem is often tested in Listening Part A.

(Indonesian version)

Example

On the recording, you hear:

(man)       :  Is that a new chair?
(woman)  :  Yes, we just bought it last week.
(narrator) :  What does the woman mean?

In your test book, you read:

(A) She brought the chair with her.
(B) The chair was lost for a week.
(C) The chair was purchased recently.
(D) She bought the last chair from the store.

In this conversation, the woman uses an active idea, we. . . bought it [ the chair]. The correct answer uses the passive idea the chair was purchased. Therefore, the best answer to the question above is answer (C).

You should note the following about passive sentences in Listening Part A.

PASSIVE STATEMENTS

1. If the conversation contains a passive statement, the answer to the question is often an active statement.
2. If the conversation contains an active statement, the answer to the question is often a passive statement.

EXERCISE 4: In this exercise, each of the correct answers is either a passive restatement of an active sentence or an active restatement of a passive sentence. Read the short conversation, and underline the key active or passive statement. Then read the question, and choose the best answer to the question. Make sure you understand who or what is doing the action in these passive sentences.

1. (man)       : What happened to your notebook?
    (woman)  :  I left it in the cafeteria.
    (narrator) :  What does the woman imply?

    (A) The cafeteria is to the left.
    (B) She left a note on the cafeteria door.
    (C) She took some notes in the cafeteria.
    (D) The notebook was left in the cafeteria.


2. (man)       : When are we going to talk about the problem with the copy machine?
    (woman)  : It will be discussed at the meeting tomorrow.
    (narrator) : What does the woman mean?

    (A) She needs to make copies before the meeting.
    (B) They will talk about the problem tomorrow.
    (C) It is a problem to have a meeting.
    (D) They must discuss whether or not to have a meeting.

3. (woman)   :  Did you correct the paper?
    (man)        :  I checked every single line again and again.
    (narrator)  :  What does the man mean?

   (A) The paper has been thoroughly corrected.
   (B) He wrote many of the lines over and over.
   (C) The checkmarks were on every line of the paper.
   (D) He wrote a check for the paper.


Continue with:

• TOEFL Exercise 4 and TOEFL Review Exercise (Skill 1-4)

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