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You have received a copy of this in class [if you came to class on 24/10/2018]

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Using online sources to improve your writing

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Using online sources to improve your writing

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Links to some videos and activities here that you can use to improve your formal writing.

Posted 31/10/2018

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with examples

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Posted 31/10/2018

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Practice exercises

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Practice exercises

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Your guide to articles [a, an, the and "no article"]

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Your guide to articles [a, an, the and "no article"]

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Use this reference material while doing exercises to really nail your use of articles.

Posted 24/10/2018

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If you don't reference correctly, you won't be able to pass. Use this guide!! This guide is your friend (:

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If you came to class you would have received a printed copy of this.
Posted 22/8/2018

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Posted 22/8/2018

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Exercises on linking words with answers.

Posted 8/8/2018

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An excellent grammar explanation if you need to review the passive. There are also several practice exercises WITH ANSWERS that you can do at home for extra practice.

Posted 8/8/2018

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An active sentence like I drank two cups of coffee has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to).

So, in this example, the subject is 'I', the verb is 'drank' and the object is 'two cups of coffee'.

But, we don't always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first, or perhaps we don't want to say who did something. This can happen for lots of reasons (see the explanation further down the page). In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first:

Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add 'by me' if we want, but it isn't necessary).

How to make the Passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So play becomes played. Click here to learn about irregular verbs.

Practise with these exercises
Verbs with two objects

Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two different passive sentences too:

Give

Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.

You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.

Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).

Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.

Try an exercise about this here
The passive in subordinate clauses
You can make the passive in a subordinate clause that has a subject and a normal conjugated verb. This is really the same as a normal passive.

Active: I thought that Mary had kissed John.

Passive: I thought that John had been kissed by Mary.

Active: He knew that people had built the church in 1915.

Passive: He knew that the church had been built in 1915.

You can also make the passive using a passive gerund or a passive infinitive in the same place as a normal gerund or infinitive.

The child loves being cuddled.

She would like to be promoted.

Try an exercise about this here
When should we use the Passive?

1: When we want to change the focus of the sentence

The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence)
2: When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in general'

He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).

My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).

The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).

The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).

3: In factual or scientific writing
The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.
4: In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing)
The brochure will be finished next month.
5: In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style
Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy)
6: When the subject is very long
I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how well the students did in the test surprised me')

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Practise making and using the passive in English - lots of clear explanations and free exercises.

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A great TV show that you can watch for free online. People from different backgrounds answer questions. Some shows feature war veterans, others feature refugees. Informative and interesting! Subtitles available in English.

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You Can't Ask That confronts prejudice and discrimination by offering searing insights into the lives of diverse Aussies who live in judgement. The show that asks the hard questions and allows interviewees to answer with candour and humour.

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Do you like cooking? Watch a show in English with short, 10 minute episodes online for free! Subtitles available.

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You post it, he cooks it. #Shelfie with Dan Hong follows the celebrity chef as he heads inside the diverse households of modern Australia to whip up a feast using what he finds on their shelves.

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There are almost 3000 different talks on a huge range of topics. There are normally subtitles available in English and in other languages.

The talks are anywhere between 4 and 30 minutes. If you have a spare 10-15 minutes at home, listen to a talk to practice your listening skills and learn some new vocabulary!

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity, with subtitles in 100+ languages. Ideas free to stream and download.

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This is really important for you to successfully do the assessment. It explains different types of essays, referencing, how to structure your essay and how to structure individual parts of your essay.

Posted 8/8/2018

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A series of 10-12 minute videos made by one of my favourite YouTube channels. These videos explain some really important principles about how to approach different types of media; what we can trust, what is a good source etc. These videos can help you learn how to find more accurate and reliable information.

Posted 8/8/2018

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In 12 episodes, Jay Smooth teaches you Media Literacy! Based on an introductory college level curriculum, this series takes you through the history and psych…