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Passive Voice / Modals

The passive tense is formed using the passive auxiliary 'to be' plus the past participle of the verb.

Positive

Passive Subject + to be (passive auxiliary) + Past Participle

Examples:

The logo was designed by Logovations.com.
Our licensing agreements have been agreed up on by all parties.

Negative

Examples:

That survey button wasn't clicked often enough by site visitors.
The contract won't be negotiated until next week.

Passive Subject + to be (passive auxiliary) + Not + Past Participle

Question

to be (passive auxiliary) + Passive Subject + Past Participle

Examples:

Where have the notes been highlighted?
When will the terms be renegotiated?

Notice that the verb 'to be' is conjugated.

Examples:

Passive Modals

Present Passive Modals

The modal form of the passive is slightly different for modal verbs. With present modal passives place the modal before the base form of the verb 'to be' followed by the past participle.

Passive Subject + modal verb + to be (passive auxiliary) + Past Participle

Examples:

The product should be promoted in Europe.
The children must be taken to school on time.
Peter can be included on the list.

Past Passive Modals

With past modal passives place the modal before 'have been' followed by the past participle.

Passive Subject + modal verb + to be (passive auxiliary) + Past Participle

Examples:

The package should have been sent to Peter.
Our company had to have been included on the list.
My boss ought to have been featured on the program.

Exercises

Marketing Strategies

The major economies of the world and their trading systems are becoming increasingly integrated. This 'borderless world' is centred on the interlinked economies of Asia, Western Europe and North America. Accelerating growth in both trade and direct foreign investment reflects the increasingly international nature of both industry structures and the ownership of value-adding facilities.

The types of changes taking place in the international trading environment are constantly shaping opportunities and creating threats. Adapting to the global market place is increasingly becoming a requirement, not an option, for organisations and their management. As a consequence of the internationalisation of markets, having an awareness of the forces at work, and means of responding to them is essential for the continued success of business across all sectors.

Businesses constantly need to develop such awareness and facilitate skills in the development of international marketing strategies and the means by which domestic markets might be defended against an 'attack' from non-domestic competitors.

Scaling and Competition

The problem of scaling was a cause of distress at Book-by-Us.com. In other words, the site had been visited so often in the first few months after opening that it wasn't able to keep up with the demand. This was a very serious problem indeed. One rule that all successful Internet start-ups must learn is that users are NOT faithful to any site. If they find that they are not being taken care of, or that service is being denied because of slow servers or other traffic related problems, they leave and often don't return. In fact, this was one problem that the entire industry was being taught by users: Physical location often motivates customers to remain and accept certain disadvantages. On the other hand, ecommerce sites have no physical location and leaving takes just a click. In other words, if a site is being blocked for one reason or another, customers quickly find a new location. Book-by-Us.com was being visited so often that it was driving some its business away by not being able to keep up with the demand! The site's service had to be improved rapidly in order to not loose further customers. The other, more obvious problem, was the problem of competition. As soon as Book-by-Us.com was advertised as having an enormous success, competitors sprang up overnight. The company had to be aware of other new sites and innovations that constantly threatened to take their business away.

Key Vocabulary

brand - type of product, make
copyright - the legal right to intellectual property
deadline - a time by which something must be completed
interlinked - connected together
licensing agreements - legal contracts for the use of a trademark or other intellectual product
make - type of product, brand
media coverage - advertising in the various media
merchandise -goods and products
provider - Internet - company providing an internet connection
scaling - Internet - the ability to grow quickly, adding technological services to accommodate quickly increasing demand
server - Internet - company providing computer space for an Internet site
to broadcast (pass. broadcast / p.p. broadcast) - to present through television and radio
to click (pass. clicked / p.p. clicked) - to choose a computer option by mouse
to deny service (pass. denied / p.p. denied) - Internet - to not be able to provide service when a customer visits a site
to facilitate (pass. facilitated / p.p. facilitated) - to make easier
to highlight (pass. highlighted / p.p. highlighted) - to pay special attention to something
to negotiate (pass. negotiated / p.p. negotiated) - to make contractual agreements
to push something (pass. pushed / p.p. pushed) - to advertise heavily, to recommend highly
to renegotiate (pass. renegotiated / p.p. renegotiated) - to renew contractual agreements with different requirements
to scale (pass. scaled / p.p. scaled) - Internet - to adjust in size, usually grow
value-adding - any element that a makes a product more valuable

Listening

Listen to this discussion of steps that must be followed when launching an advertising or marketing campaign.

Quiz

Lingofeeds Practice Pages

Gerund or Infinitive Forms - Marketing and Business
Giving Instructions - Banking and Shipping
Future Forms - Telecommunications
Daily Routines - Commerce
Expressing Agreement - Information Technology
Clauses - Production and Manufacturing
Passive Voice - Marketing
Reported Speech - Presentations

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