Language Form and Meaning: relative clauses, the passive and conditionals
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| passive/ˈpæsɪv/ | passive |
| past participle/pæst pɑːˈtɪsɪpl/ | past participle |
Longer sentences, same rules
- Harder Language Form and Meaning texts join ideas into longer sentences: The robot that we built won a prize. The prize was given by the mayor. If we win again, we'll get a trophy.
- Three patterns cover many of those boxes: relative clauses, the passive and conditionals.
Relative clauses: who, which, that, whose, where
- who for people, which for things, that for both (in clauses without commas), whose for "belonging to", where for places.
- The girl who sits next to me… · The book which I borrowed… · The boy whose bike was stolen… · The town where I was born…
- Mr Lee is the teacher ___ class won the quiz. who / which / whose / where
- The class belongs to the teacher: whose.
Mr Lee is the teacher ___ class won the quiz.
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The class belongs to the teacher, so "whose".
This is the park ___ we had our class picnic.
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"Where" refers to a place and introduces what happened there.
The girl ___ won the race is in my class.
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"Who" for a person who does the action.
Match each word to what it points to.
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Choose the relative word by what it refers to.
The passive: be + past participle
- Use the passive 被动语态 when the action matters more than who did it: The school was built in 1998. Lunch is served at noon.
- Form = be in the right tense + past participle 过去分词: is cleaned, was opened, will be sent, has been finished.
- The letters were send yesterday ✗ → were sent ✓. The passive always needs the past participle.
The invitations were ___ to every family last week.
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Passive = be (were) + past participle (sent).
The new gym ___ by the mayor next year.
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"By the mayor" shows the gym receives the action, and "next year" is future: will be + past participle.
The windows are ___ every Friday. (clean)
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Passive present = are + past participle "cleaned".
Active or passive?
- Ask: does the subject do the action, or receive it? The students painted the wall (they did it). The wall was painted (it received the action).
- A by phrase is a strong clue for the passive: …was written by a student.
Active or passive?
Form and recognise the passive (be + past participle)
Which sentence is passive?
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The subject "the wall" receives the action; "by the students" says who did it.
A "by" phrase after the verb is a strong clue that the sentence is passive.
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"…was written by a student" shows who did the action in a passive sentence.
The poem ___ by a twelve-year-old student.
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The poem receives the action and "by" names the writer.
Conditionals: if + result
- Zero: facts. If you heat ice, it melts. (present + present)
- First: real future. If it rains tomorrow, we will stay inside. (present + will). Never will after if here.
- If it ~~will rain~~ rains, we will stay inside. The if part uses the present.
If you mix blue and yellow paint, you ___ green.
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A fact uses the zero conditional: present + present.
If it ___ tomorrow, the match will be cancelled.
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First conditional: if + present, result with will.
"If it will rain, we will stay inside" is correct.
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The if part uses the present: "If it rains…".
Second conditional: imagined situations
- If I had a dog, I would walk it every day. (past + would): not true now, imagined.
- With be, test texts often use were: If I were taller, I would play basketball.
If I ___ a dog, I would walk it every morning.
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Second conditional (imagined): if + past, result with would.
If I ___ taller, I would play basketball. (be)
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Test texts use "were" in the second conditional, for every person.
Match each sentence to its conditional type.
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The verb forms show which type.
Common mistakes
- Using which for a person: the man which… ✗ → the man who.
- Forgetting be in the passive: The bridge built in 1900 ✗ (as a full sentence) → The bridge was built.
- Mixing conditionals: If I have time, I would help ✗ → If I had time, I would help or If I have time, I will help.
Which sentence is correct?
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"Which" cannot refer to a person; the bridge sentence needs "was"; "have … would" mixes two conditionals.
Read to the end of the sentence
- The clue is often after the box: The cake ___ by my brother → by shows passive. If I ___ a million dollars + would → had.
- Read the full sentence before you choose. It costs five seconds and saves the question.
In "The cake ___ by my brother", what tells you the box needs a passive verb?
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The clue is after the box; reading to the end shows it.
Make a correct sentence.
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"Which was opened in 1990" describes the museum; the main verb is "is".
Recap
- who / which / that / whose / where by what they point to.
- Passive = be + past participle; check who does the action.
- if + present → will; if + past → would; zero conditional for facts.
Write three sentences about your school: one with "who" or "where", one passive sentence, and one first conditional.
Writing the patterns yourself makes the test boxes faster to spot.
Official sources
- Language Form and Meaning format checked on 15 November 2026 in the TOEFL Junior Test Taker Handbook (ETS, PDF).
- Language Form and Meaning sample questions (ETS). All examples here are original.