Exploring English:

language and culture

Exploring English © British Council 2014

TRANSCRIPT

NICOLE: We watched Martin talking about English as a global language. Let’s take a look at some

of the language he used. Watch this.

MARTIN: OK, well many people talk about English as being a global language. And the

reasons for that are the widespread use of English. It’s used in education, it’s used in

science and technology and, importantly, English is also used in business.

NICOLE: Martin said ‘English is used in education, it’s used in science and it’s also used in

business. Martin used the passive voice – ‘is used’. Why? Well, he was talking about the English

language, not about the people who use it. ‘English is also used in science and technology’. Who

by? Lots of people! It’s not important who uses English – English is what we’re talking about here.

Let’s listen to another example, this time in the past tense.

MARTIN: In the past, new words were coined by people - it might have been in a speech

or a newspaper article or in a book - they were written down and then other people

adapted them and used them.

NICOLE: Martin said ‘New words were coined’ – when you coin a new word or expression you

invent it – and he said ‘they were written down’ We don’t know who coined the new words or who

wrote them down. That’s not important and that’s why Martin used the passive voice. But let’s

listen again to what Martin said at the end of that sentence.

MARTIN: In the past, new words were coined by people - it might have been in a speech

or a newspaper article or in a book - they were written down and then other people

adapted them and used them.

NICOLE: We heard Martin say ‘they were written down and then they were (/wə/.)..’ Then he

stopped and changed what he said – he said ‘other people adapted them and used them’. He

changed from the passive voice – ‘they were adapted and used’ – to the active – ‘other people

adapted them and used them’. Why? Well, why not? There’s no grammatical reason. If you don’t

want to use the passive too much you can use ‘people’ or ‘lots of people’ or ‘everyone’ – things

like that – as the subject of the sentence. This makes the verb form active. Using a mixture of

active and passive sentences helps to add variety when we speak and write in English.