Hello, I'm Jo from Specialist Language Courses and we are OET
Premium Preparation Providers, here to help you with your OET exam. So in this
video we're going to look at the passive and how we can use it in OET writing.
Now, the material in this video is taken from our online course OET Preparation for Nurses: Writing,
it's a MOOC recent and released by SLC on the Udemy platform and it's been specifically designed
for nurses who want help with the OET Writing test, so check it out after this video.
Let's take a look at the passive. First off, what is the passive? Check out these two sentences,
we have the nurse on duty checked his vital signs and then administered his medication,
or number two, his vital signs were checked and then his medication was administered. So in which
sentence are we more interested in the nurse and in which sentence is the focus on the action?
Well, sentence number one is more focused on the nurse and
what they're doing checking the vital signs administering the medication,
is grammatically correct but I think if we look at sentence number two it's much more effective. Here
we're definitely focusing on what is happening to the patient, we're summarising the action
in a concise way and this is what you need to do in the OET writing test.
So we use passive to describe an event or an action when the person doing something is not
the focus of the sentence, so we're looking more at the action. This is very useful for conciseness
and clarity because we really want to focus the reader's attention, on what is happening or what
has happened in hospital for example, rather than who did it. So how do you form the passive?
The passive is simply formed using the verb to be and the past participle and it's always the same,
so we always use the verb to be, but if we want to, perhaps put it in the past
or the future, we change the verb to be. So here you've got a few examples of different tenses.
Ms Jones has hypertension, for which ramipril is prescribed. Here you can see the verb to be is in
present simple, is, and the action verb is still in past participle form. This always stays the
same, it never changes, so we simply put the verb to be into present simple because it's something
that's always true. This person has got this medication and they're taking it all the time.
Let's take a look at the second example, Mr Smith was admitted to the Emergency Department with
severe lacerations to the left leg. So here we need to put it in past simple because it's a past
action. So here we've changed the verb to be and we've put it in past simple, was,
and again the action verb is still in the past participle form. Let's look at the next one, she
has been referred to the dietitian for advice on her diet. Here it's in present perfect, has been,
because the patient has got the advice on her diet now and she's hopefully implementing it
so we use present perfect when we can see results in the current situation,
and finally he will be reviewed by the surgeon in six weeks time is future, so we put the verb to be
in the future form, will be, okay? so do practice using the passive in lots of different tenses,
so that you're confident and prepared to use it when you come to the exam day.
Time for a bit of practice, so what I'd like you to do now is pause the video
and have a go at completing these sentences using the verbs and brackets in the passive form,
so really think about what tense you need to put it in, okay? Remember using the verb to
be and the past participle of the verb, so pause the video now. Let's take a look at the answers,
so the first one, he was admitted to hospital on 15th December 2018. This clearly needs to be
in past simple, was admitted, because it's a finished time. Let's take a look at number two,
she has been reviewed by the physiotherapist and have some exercises to do at home,
again this should be in present perfect because it's a very recent action
and the patient has the exercises on a piece of paper that she needs to
practice now. Number three, he is ready to be discharged but will require further care at home,
here we need to use to infinitive because we say he is ready and after ready we use the to
infinitive form, so it's to be in infinitive and then the past participle of the verb, discharge.
And then finally, her staples will be removed,
future, or need to be removed, using the modal need to, in two weeks time.
So when can you use passive in the OET exam? Well in the OET exam in writing,
it's very important to use a clinical and factual style of language and the passive
can help you do this, so making sure that you are confident in using the structures really
going to help you with genre and style and as I said before, with conciseness and clarity,
so let's take a little look at some examples of how we can use this in writing.
So here we have a couple of extracts from a set of OET case notes. We've got dressings to burns,
IV fluids, then oral fluids, so what I'd like you to do is pause the video and write one or
two sentences using passive to describe and expand these case notes, don't forget you'll
need to think of a verb to use for the dressings and a verb to use for the fluids, okay? so have a
think about which verb you'd use for that and then express it using the passive, pause the video now.
Right, let's take a look at the possible options for these case notes in expansion,
so the most logical verb to use with dressings would be applied and I think with the IV fluids
administer, would be a good verb to use so one example of how you could transform these would be
dressings were applied to the burns and IV fluids were administered followed by oral fluids. So as
we can see here, we've expanded the case notes we've added verbs, we've put it in the passive
form and the reader's attention is focused on the hospital treatment that the patient received.
Top tips for passive, some things you can do in your study time would be,
look at OET sample letters, these are really a great resource for examples of passive sentences,
review common verbs used in the passive for medical procedures, so we've got to be
administered, be admitted to, be referred to and make sure that you're confident in using
them in a variety of contexts and also tenses, this is very important. Thanks for watching
and if you want help with your OET writing, including the passive and much, much more just
click the link in the description box below and enrol on our course. Don't forget to subscribe to
our YouTube channel for more tips and strategies for OET success, see you next time, bye!