The Science of Sounding Smart
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 Science of Sounding Smart
Here is a sentence a politician said recently: "An evidence-based approach was adopted following the identification of key directional trends in the data." Now here is what they meant: "We looked at the numbers and made a decision." Eleven words became twenty-two. The meaning shrank. The credibility, apparently, doubled. This is the strange alchemy of pseudo-scientific language — and it is spreading faster than anyone has formally acknowledged.
Vocabulary
- deploy language
- lend authority
- obfuscation
- pseudo-scientific
Grammar: Passive Voice
- Nominalisation +
- A stabilisation of output was observed after the change. — verb + noun compressed into formal report register
- Double condensation
- The deterioration of assumptions was accelerated by new findings. — agent removed; noun phrase carries the idea
Discussion questions
- Imagine a doctor explained your diagnosis only in technical jargon — what would you do?
- If you could ban one type of language from politics, what would it be?
- What would change if all company reports had to be written in plain language?
The Science of Sounding Smart
Grammar: Passive Voice
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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