The passive voice is closely related to mass media vocabulary. It is used in the journalistic style. The passive voice sounds more formal than the active voice. Here you are going to learn some vocabulary related to printed media and the impersonal passive.
3. Buying a newspaper. (Impersonal passive, passive with 2 objects and press vocabulary)
Importante
Impersonal Passive
Some verbs of reporting (say,report, state, rumour) and belief (believe,think) make an impersonal construction using "It" as the subject- therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.
They say that Literature is more difficult than Maths.→ It is said that Literature is more difficult than Maths.
Note the structure:
It is said/reported/rumoured/believed/thought that.......
Actividad de lectura
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| Imagen de Holgi en pixabay. Licencia pixabay. |
Paco had enjoyed both New York and Washington a lot, but Miami is different. He is spending some magnificent days in this glamorous and gorgeous city. He is going to visit many cities in Florida and see lots of different places in Miami like the ones you can see in the photo on the right: Downtown and Midtown skyline, Freedom Tower, Villa Vizcaya, Bank of America Tower, Virginia Key Beach, Performing Arts Center, American Airlines Arena, Port of Miami and Downtown skyline at night.
Today Paco has decided to buy a local newspaper but he is not sure if he should buy it in English or in Spanish, the Miami Herald or El Nuevo Herald.
Finally he decides to buy it in English. With the paper he is given a guide book of Miami, which he reads:
Miami is a major city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which had a 2006 population of 5,463,857; ranking 7th largest in the U.S.. The Miami Urbanized Area was the fifth most populous urbanized area in the U.S. in the 2000 census with a population of 4,919,036. The United Nations estimated that in 2007, Miami had become the fourth largest urbanized area in the United States, behind New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Miami is well-known as a global city because of its importance in finance, commerce, culture, fashion, print media, entertainment, arts and international trade. An international centre for popular entertainment in television, music, fashion, film, and performing arts, Miami also has a powerful influence internationally. The city is also home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, as well as home to many international company headquarters, and television studios. The city's Port of Miami is the number one cruise/passenger port in the world and is known for accommodating the largest volume of cruise ships in the world, and is home to many major cruise line headquarters.
Adapted from Wikipedia.
Answer the following sentences according to the text above.
1) Where is Miami located?
2) Which is the most populous county in Florida?
3) Why is Miami well-known as a global city?
4) Find adjectives in the text with a similar meaning to:
a) important.
b) attractive, sophisticated.
Importante
Passive Sentences with two objects
Rewriting an active sentence with two objects (direct object and indirect object) into the passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to focus on:
They gave medals to the winners.
a) The winners were given medals
b) Medals were given to the winners
Important: we usually prefer the first example because people are more important
Remember that the second option (changing an indirect object into a passive subject) doesn't exist in Spanish, so the way to translate both is by using an Impersonal construction:
a/b) A los ganadores se les dio medallas
Caso práctico
Write these sentences in the passive.
1) The teacher sent her a letter.
2) My friend told me a lie.
3) The waiter brought us the coffee.
Newspapers are usually divided into two main categories: quality press and popular press.
The quality press are also known as broadsheet papers. Quality newspapers are large format newspapers that report news in depth,often with serious tone and higher level language. News is dominated by national and international events, politics, business, with less emphasis on celebrities and gossip.
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| Imagen de cafemama en Flickr Licencia CC . |
In contrast, a very simple definition of tabloids came from the British journalist John Ryan, who said that a tabloid is a journalistic product that primarily deals with three S’s: scandal, sex and sports.
Ejercicio Resuelto
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Noun |
Definition |
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The media |
a person who writes a regular (daily or weekly) article for a newspaper or magazine, such as a political columnist or a sports columnist |
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Editor |
a person who writes articles for a news organization |
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Columnist |
a person employed by a news organization to gather, report, or contribute news, articles, etc., regularly from a distant place |
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Reporter |
all the means of mass communication (newspapers, TV, radio, websites, magazines) |
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Journalist |
a person who gathers and reports news for a news organization |
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Correspondent |
the head of a news organization; person who chooses the articles that will be printed each day |
Match each noun on the left with the appropriate definition on the right.
Reflexiona
Newspapers in the United States
The daily tabloids in the United States which date back to the founding of the New York Daily News in 1919 are generally much less overheated and less oriented towards scandal and sensationalism than their British counterparts. With the exception of the supermarket tabloids (see below), which have little mainstream credibility, the word "tabloid" in the U.S. can refer more to format than to content. The tabloid format is used by a number of respected and indeed prize-winning American papers.
Taken from Wikipedia.
Comprueba lo aprendido
Now that Paco is improving his level of English a lot, he likes reading the local newspapers to find out all about Miami and its surroundings. Paco is becoming familiar with some words that he didn't know before. Read these sentences below and fill in the blanks with the words given.
column / editorial / headlines / front page / caption / story / feature / article
Curiosidad
Printing press in Miami
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| Imagen de Comayagua99 en Wikipedia. Licencia GNU |
Miami has one of the largest media market in the nation and the second highest in the state of Florida. Miami has several major newspapers, the main and largest newspaper being The Miami Herald. El Nuevo Herald is the major and largest Spanish-language newspaper. Both The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald are Miami's and South Florida's main, major and largest newspapers and are both headquartered in Downtown Miami in Herald Plaza.
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| Imagen de Averette en Wikipedia. Licencia GNU. |
Other major newspapers include Miami Today, headquartered in Brickell, Miami New Times, headquartered in Midtown, Miami Sun Post, South Florida Business Journal, Miami Times, and Biscayne Boulevard Times. An additional Spanish-language newspaper, Diario Las Americas also serves Miami. The Miami Herald is Miami's primary newspaper with over a million readers and is headquartered in Downtown in Herald Plaza. Several other student newspapers from the local universities, such as Florida International University's The Beacon, the University of Miami's The Miami Hurricane, Miami-Dade College's The Metropolis, Barry University's The Buccaneer, amongst others. Many neighborhoods and neighboring areas also have their own local newspapers such as the Coral Gables Tribune, Biscayne Bay Tribune, and the Palmetto Bay News.
A number of magazines circulate throughout the greater Miami area, including Miami Monthly, Southeast Florida's only city/regional; Ocean Drive, a hot-spot social scene glossy, and South Florida Business Leader.
Para saber más
Here you have a long list of vocabulary related to mass media.
This is a list of vocabulary items referring to mass media.
Here you can watch a video of The Miami Herald Value Campaign.