Unit 2bc Book

1. Introduction

The ability to explain how something is done is vital in technical fields. Imagine you want to describe a manufacturing process. The way you will choose to do that depends on who your listener will be. A senior worker instructing his junior colleague will probably use the imperative mood. A representative of a company showing a potential business partner round their factory will probably use the present simple active, describing what the line operators normally do in each step of the manufacturing process.  Processes and procedures, however, can also be described more formally in writing. This is what Units 2b and 2c focus on first within the context of shaping plastics and later while talking about the production of solar panels and central processing units. These two production processes share the first few stages, in which silicon is extracted from sand and purified, making it ready for the production of a big mono-crystal called an ingot. This seems to be one of the most important processes in both electrical engineering and computer science, because without it, neither photovoltaic panels not computer processors would exist.

Contents:

Describing a process using a passive voice

• After silicon is extracted from sand, it must be purified.

Sequencers: First, then, next, after that, consequently, finally.

Referring to a visual while describing a process:

• As Figure 2 illustrates, the two halves of the mould close.

Changing the word class – noun-to-verb conversions: movement – move

2. Making Plastics

Can you imagine your life without plastics? If you look around, you will see how many objects that we use on everyday basis are made of plastics. On the one hand, plastics make our lives easier for their unique properties, making them ideal for universal applications. On the other hand, most plastics are not green, contaminating water and ground with tons of microparticles. In any case, the process of manufacturing plastic solid objects does not seem to be difficult to understand. The process is called injection moulding and is depicted in the pictures on p. 12 in your coursebook (Bonamy, D. (2011). Technical English Level 3 Coursebook. Pearson Longman). Look at all the pictures on this page and answer all the questions in this task. Then, in this follow-up task, put the individual steps of the injection moulding process in the correct order according to the picture in Task 1 in your book.

3. Grammar: The Passive Voice

While doing the previous task, you might have noticed that some of the verbs were in the active voice, while some others where in the passive voice:

When looking at the two columns carefully, you can see that active and passive sentences are different. The passive voice consists of two parts:

“to be” + the past participle (-ed or irregular)

This verb form is usually clear to Czech students of English because the passive verb form is the same in Czech:

Small pieces of plastic are fed from the hopper into a cylinder.

= Kousky plastu jsou vsypány z násypky do válce.

But what sometimes makes problems is the understanding of when the passive voice should be used. Why are the sentences on the left active, while the ones on the right are passive? Well, the answer to this question can be given in terms of grammar or in terms of stylistics.

Grammatically, this depends on who carries out the action of the verb. If it is the subject of the sentence, then you need the active voice (see the left-hand side column above). If it is not the subject of the sentence, then you should use the passive voice. When trying to decide which voice to use, it is not a good idea to rely on the translation of a sentence into Czech. This is because Czech sometimes uses two ways to say the same thing, one in the active voice, while the other in the passive voice:

Small pieces of plastic are fed from the hopper into a cylinder.

= Kousky plastu jsou vsypány z násypky do válce.

= Kousky plastu se vsypou z násyply do válce.

Stylistically, the choice of the active or the passive voice depends on the level of formality you want to achieve. The right-hand side column definitely sounds more formal because it uses the passive voice. You will hardly ever hear it in normal everyday conversations, but you can come across it in books. In addition, the passive voice emphasises the activity itself rather than the agent (i.e. the one that does the action). The agent is not important or known. Sometimes it is not even desirable to mention the agent. Instead, the focus is on the activity itself or its result. However, even the passive sentences can express the agent if necessary. It can be introduced after “by”:

The soft, warm plastic is pushed towards a nozzle by the ram.

As you can see, you can choose if you give the same information in the active or passive voice:

The ram pushes the soft, warm plastic towards a nozzle.

vs.

The soft, warm plastic is pushed towards a nozzle by the ram.

So, how is an active sentence converted into a passive one? As shown in the model sentences, it is quite simple: the object in the active sentence becomes a subject of the passive sentence. This means that only active sentences that contain an object can be converted into the passive voice.

Finally, notice that by converting an active sentence into a passive one, you have also fiddled with the sentence stress, in other words, what words in a sentence will be emphasized and considered to be the new information. This is very important in order to achieve good cohesion of an English text. In a normal English affirmative sentence, this emphasis is put on the last word or phrase in a sentence.

In the active sentence, it is: a nozzle. This means that a follow-up sentence would probably start like this: The nozzle…

but:

In the passive sentence, it is: by the ram. This means that a follow-up sentence would probably discuss the ram rather than the nozzle: The ram…

Now, if you are puzzled with all the rules related to passives, read this short overview before you practise this grammar. In this task, decide whether you need the active or the passive voice and fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. To make the task easier for yourself, look back at the diagram in Task 1 in your book again (Bonamy, D. (2011). Technical English Level 3 Coursebook. Pearson Longman, p. 12). Then, convert the active sentences into passive ones in this task. Finally, look at the picture illustrating the metal-rolling process on p. 13 in your coursebook and read the description below the diagram. You can see that stylistically, the text sounds weird. This is because although the agents are not important in a text like this, they are put in the subject position in the sentences, i.e. all the sentences are active. Turn these active sentences into the passive voice in this task to make them sound more stylistically correct. Also, add some sequencers in the text to make the order of the steps clearer. Typical sequencers are as follows: first, then, next, after that, finally.

4. Extrusion Blow Moulding

So far, this unit has discussed injection moulding of plastic. Hollow-shaped objects, however, are produced using a process called extrusion blow moulding. This is how bottles, barrels, bags and various boxes are made. These two methods are contrasted in the diagram on p. 14 in your book. Study it carefully and put the steps of the production in the correct order in this task. After you finish, leave the task open. Now listen to recording 06 that can be found on the CD that comes with your coursebook and check whether the order of steps you suggested was correct. (Alternatively, you can read transcript 06 on pp. 118-119 in your coursebook). As you listen, fill in the gaps in this task with the correct expressions from the drop-down list. The phrases you are completing are very useful if you want to refer to a visual when describing/explaining something.

Now, in this task, turn the nouns from Task 1 above into verbs. You will need them in this task, in which you are asked to describe the extrusion blow moulding process in full sentences instead of just bullet points.

5. Specialist Reading and Listening: How Solar Cells and CPUs Are Made

Now, you will see how manufacturing processes are described in your field. First, watch the video to see how solar cells are manufactured. As you watch the video, put the steps in the correct order here. Leave the exercise open. Then read about the production of central processing units here. The subheadings in the text have been intentionally removed. Your task is to use the drop-down list to put the subheadings in their original places. Again, leave the exercise open after you finish. Now compare the two finished tasks. What parts of the manufacturing process is the same for the production of solar cells and CPUs? Imagine you are lecturing on this issue. Describe the steps that solar cells and CPUs share in your own words using the passive voice and sequencers. Refer to figures as necessary, as you explain the process. The list of pictures can be found here. Record yourself and submit the mp3 recording here. Your recording should not be longer than three minutes.

6. Word list

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 2bc can be found:

• in the Excel format here.
• in the interactive flash card format here. This format is particularly good for drilling the new vocabulary.
• in a zip file here. This file is downloadable, so that after unpacking it, you can drill the new vocabulary on your desktop, laptop or any other portable device where you have a browser installed. The recommended one is Mozilla Firefox. Important: after unzipping the zip file, make sure to keep all the related files in the same directory at all times. Do not change any file names and do not transfer or delete anything.

Recommendation: Remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to see each new word in a context; that is, seeing it in the contexts provided in the tasks you complete in the unit.

7. A printer-friendly version of Unit 2bc

A printer-friendly version of Unit 2bc exercises and the keys to these exercises can be found here.