- SUGGESTIONS -
“THE GREAT GATSBY” AND THE PASSIVE VOICE
Aims: to give students further practice on The Passive Voice
Level: Intermediate/Upper-intermediate/Advanced
Organisation: Individual work
Preparation: Handouts containing 10 sentences to re-tell the story of The Great Gatsby. Make sure the sentences use appropriate tenses to be transferred into passive.
Time: 10 minutes
Procedure: Students are given a 10-sentence summary of the novel and are asked to re-write them using only constructions in the Passive voice. They are expected to use mainly the tenses of the Passive Voice, but brighter students may come up with Passive-like constructions or Causative ‘have’. If correct, these variants are surely to be accepted.
e.g.
Nick Carraway tells the story of his friend, Jay Gatsby.
The story of Jay Gatsby is told by his friend, Nick Carraway.
Jay Gatsby’s story is told by Nick Carraway, his friend.
Jay Gatsby changed his name when he was seventeen.
Jay Gatsby’s name was changed when he was seventeen.
Jay Gatsby had his name changed when he was seventeen.
He made his fortune rather mysteriously.
His fortune was made rather mysteriously.
