The Headline and the Finding
Grammar: Passive Voice
A Level 5 English lesson exploring science.
What's in this lesson
A Level 5 (advanced) ESL lesson on science, practising passive voice. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Headline and the Finding
On 10 April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released a single image: a blurred orange ring against a black centre, approximately 6.5 billion solar masses in size. Within hours, the image was described by scientists as a confirmation of predictions made by Einstein's general theory of relativity. By the following morning, dozens of headlines had declared that a black hole had been photographed for the first time — a claim that is technically accurate and, depending on your definition of photography, simultaneously misleading. The distinction matters more than it may first appear.
Vocabulary
- believed to be
- may have been discovered
- be credited with
- breakthrough
- consensus
- overstate
Grammar: Passive Voice
- Passive infinitive
- The object is believed to be a supermassive black hole. — subject + passive verb + to-infinitive
- Modal + passive
- A new planet may have been discovered last year. — modal + have been + past participle
Discussion questions
- When did you last read a science story that turned out to be exaggerated?
- Have you ever changed your behaviour based on a health claim that later proved false?
- Which science topic do you feel the media most consistently gets wrong?
The Headline and the Finding
Grammar: Passive Voice
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
Sign up to access full lesson plans
Start with a free trial — 5 lesson generations included
Get Started Free