Adjectives and Passive Voice
Using Adjectives and Passive Voice
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Using Adjectives and Passive Voice
Open by framing the lesson around accuracy and focus: adjectives help students describe precisely, while passive voice helps them choose what or who to emphasise in a sentence.
Today’s learning goal
I can use adjectives accurately and form active and passive sentences correctly, including choosing the passive voice when it changes the focus of a sentence.
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Words you link with adjectives or passive voice
Use this as prior knowledge activation. Expect a mix of grammar words, examples, and feelings such as descriptive, compare, by, be, difficult, useful.
Adjectives: what they do
Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun.
They can give information about:
size: small
opinion: interesting
colour: blue
age: old
feeling: happy
Example: a happy child
Keep the focus on function, not memorisation. Students at B1 mainly need to recognise that adjectives add information to nouns and pronouns.
Where adjectives appear
Adjectives usually come:
before a noun: a noisy street
after be / seem / become: The street is noisy.
They do not usually describe verbs.
You can briefly mention 'predicative' and 'attributive' positions if useful, but the terms are not necessary for students.
Comparative adjectives
We use comparatives to compare two people, things, or ideas.
short adjective + -er: small → smaller
longer adjective: more + adjective: careful → more careful
with than: Tom is taller than Sam.
Some common irregular forms:
good → better
bad → worse
Remind students that spelling may change: big → bigger, happy → happier. These details can be added orally without overloading the slide.
Superlative adjectives
We use superlatives to show the highest or lowest in a group.
short adjective + -est: small → the smallest
longer adjective: the most + adjective: careful → the most careful
Examples:
Mia is the tallest student in the class.
It was the most exciting match.
Point out that superlatives usually take 'the'. You can also mention 'the least' as a useful pattern, though it is not essential here.
Adjective order in noun phrases
When we use more than one adjective, the order is usually fixed.
A common pattern is:
opinion → size → age → colour → noun
Examples:
a lovely small old house
a big black bag
This helps sentences sound natural.
Do not try to teach every possible category. The goal is for students to notice a natural basic order and avoid random adjective placement.
Adjectives or adverbs?
Use adjectives to describe nouns.
Use adverbs to describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
a quick car → adjective
She drives quickly. → adverb
very quick → adverb + adjective
A common mistake is using an adjective after an action verb: 'She sings beautiful'. Contrast it orally with 'She sings beautifully'.
Which sentence uses an adjective correctly?
She sings beautiful.
It is a noisy street.
He runs quick.
They worked careful.
Checks the first adjectives block: adjectives describe nouns or follow be, while adverbs describe verbs.
Adjectives check
Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. They usually come before a noun or after be. We use a comparative to compare two things, but a superlative shows the highest or lowest in a group. In noun phrases, adjective order helps the sentence sound natural.
Echoes the core terms from slides 2 to 7 without adding new content.
How do adjectives and adverbs do different jobs?
Expected elements: adjectives describe nouns/pronouns; adverbs describe verbs; students may give pairs such as quick car/drive quickly or beautiful song/sing beautifully.
The passive voice: the basic idea
We use the passive voice when the action is more important than the person who does it.
Compare:
Active: The chef cooks the meal.
Passive: The meal is cooked.
The focus changes from the doer to the receiver of the action.
Anchor the central idea of focus. Students often think passive is just another form to memorise; stress that it is a choice about what the sentence highlights.
How to form the passive
The main structure is:
subject + be + past participle
Examples:
The letters are sent every day.
The window was broken yesterday.
The tense is shown by be:
is/are for present
was/were for past
Students may confuse passive with present perfect because both use a past participle. Emphasise that passive always needs a form of 'be' here, not 'have'.
Present simple passive
Use the present simple passive for routines, facts, and general processes.
Form:
am / is / are + past participle
Examples:
English is spoken in many countries.
The bins are emptied every Monday.
Rice is grown in this region.
Keep examples everyday and factual, as requested. This tense is common in signs, instructions, and general information.
Past simple passive
Use the past simple passive for finished actions in the past.
Form:
was / were + past participle
Examples:
The film was made in 2005.
The door was locked last night.
The winners were announced after the show.
Link this to known past simple time markers such as yesterday, last night, in 2005, after the show.
The agent phrase
If we need to say who did the action, we use:
by + noun
Examples:
The song was written by Adele.
The bridge was designed by an Italian engineer.
We omit the agent when it is unknown, obvious, or unimportant.
Useful contrast: 'My bike was stolen' sounds natural without the agent because the doer is unknown. 'The classroom is cleaned by the caretaker' includes the agent because it adds useful information.
Active and passive compared
Passive
Active
The company builds the houses.
My friend sent the email.
Focus on who does the action
The houses are built by the company.
The email was sent by my friend.
Focus on what receives the action
Use this slide to make students notice that the meaning stays similar, but the sentence focus changes. You can underline the subject in each sentence while explaining.
When passive voice is appropriate
Passive voice is useful when:
the doer is unknown: My phone was stolen.
the doer is not important: The road was closed.
the result or object is more important: The new library was opened yesterday.
It is common in factual and formal English.
Students may overuse passive once they learn it. Mention that active voice is often clearer when the doer matters.
Why might a writer choose the passive voice?
To show the receiver
To add more adjectives
To compare two nouns
To change present to past
Targets the key idea from slide 8: passive changes focus from the doer to the receiver of the action.
Passive voice check
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. The main structure is subject + be + past participle. In the present simple passive, we use is or are, and in the past simple passive, we use was or were. The agent phrase begins with by when the doer needs to be named.
The third blank accepts the taught pattern 'was' as part of 'was/were'. Remind students that tense is shown by be.
Common patterns to recognise
Watch for these structures:
adjective before noun: a difficult test
adjective after be: The test was difficult.
passive: be + past participle
Compare:
The door was open. → adjective
The door was opened. → passive
This contrast is important because students often confuse adjective complements with passive forms. 'Open' describes a state; 'opened' shows an action done to the door.
Producing accurate sentences
To write accurately, check:
Is the describing word an adjective or an adverb?
If you compare, do you need a comparative or superlative?
If you use passive voice, do you have be + past participle?
Does the sentence focus on the right thing?
This slide gathers the lesson into a practical editing checklist. It supports production without turning into an activity.
Which sentence is passive and in the past simple?
The door was opened.
The door was open.
The door is opened.
The door opens.
Uses the important contrast from slide 15: adjective state versus passive action, while also checking past simple passive form.
Accuracy check
To write accurately, choose an adjective to describe a noun and an adverb to describe a verb. If you use passive voice, you need be + past participle. The sentence should keep the right focus on the person or thing you want to highlight.
This anchors the final checklist on slide 16 and links both grammar topics together.
When is passive voice the better choice?
Expected elements: passive is useful when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or when the result/object matters more. Students may contrast with active voice when the doer matters.
What is one thing you learned well today?
Reflection only. Invite brief personal takeaways about adjectives, passive voice, or sentence focus.
Which part still feels hardest for you?
Reflection only. Encourage students to name one confusing point such as adjective order, adverb choice, or passive form.
Glossary
adjective - a word that describes a noun or pronoun
adverb - a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
comparative - the form used to compare two people or things
superlative - the form used to show the highest or lowest in a group
noun phrase - a noun together with words that describe or limit it
active voice - a sentence form where the subject does the action
passive voice - a sentence form where the subject receives the action
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Glossary
past participle - the verb form used in perfect tenses and passive forms
agent phrase - the part of a passive sentence that names the doer, usually with by
present simple passive - passive form with am / is / are + past participle
past simple passive - passive form with was / were + past participle
focus - the person, thing, or idea that a sentence gives most attention to
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