Many of my students have problems with using the passive, and grammar books often make this feel more complicated whenever they use long grammatical terms to describe these phrases.
I have put together the most common situations when you can use passive sentences in meetings, and I promise there will be no complicated grammar terms!
Imagine you are in a meeting discussing a project. You may find yourself discussing the following situations…
Things which have happened in the project and are still relevant for discussion now:
have been ____ed
‘The 1st phase has been completed‘
‘The initial problems have been solved‘
‘The strategy has been changed‘
‘Good news. Our proposal has been approved‘
‘This matter has already been discussed‘
‘The final plan has been formulated‘
‘The product testing has been carried out’
‘John has been informed of the changes’
If you say when something has happened we should use:
was / were ______ed
‘This issue was discussed in yesterday’s meeting’
‘The plan was finished last night’
‘John was told about the problem last week’
‘Good news, the proposal was approved yesterday afternoon’
Something which will be done in the future:
will be ___ed
‘The report will be finished by the end of the week’
‘He will be informed of the changes’
‘The plan will be reviewed next week’
These sentences are not so common, but may still be used in meetings:
Something which is happening now and is still in progress:
is being ___ed
‘The budget is being reviewed’
‘The product is currently being tested’
Something which always happens as standard:
is/are ____ed
‘All amendments are usually approved by a third-party before they are implemented’
I hope this can give you some great sample phrases for using passives in meetings. If you would like any more examples of these phrases in use, feel free to comment below or email me at [email protected], or message me on Skype at live:fluencyspace! Check out more Business English grammar here!
David Cox
Fluency Space
Make the world your fluency space. Business English for career and life success
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