6. Grammar: Describing a Function

In Section 4 above, you could see the following sentence:

Explosive devices that were used to jettison unwanted spacecraft launchers are now used for inflating airbags on boats to stabilise them.

 

Now that you know that the sentence is in the passive voice, let´s look at it from a different perspective. Focus on the phrase “(be) used to/for”. This phrase is very useful if you want to talk about an application and function of an invention or a device. As you can see, it can be followed by a variety of prepositions (for, to, in, during), which then affect the form of the following verb. In addition, the phrase has lots of synonyms, for example, “The function of explosive devices was to jettison unwanted spacecraft launchers.” Read about a variety of ways to describe a function here (the ones required in this course are highlighted in yellow). Then practise some of them here and here. Finally, complete this grammar overview to revise the grammar point fully.