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Year 11 - French

Une critique d'un film : extended writing

Media and technology: Un film francophone

Unit Summary

This unit focuses on consolidating the present tense and past participles of regular verbs and examines the use of the passive voice in the context of a Francophone film.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write about a film in detail, using present and perfect tenses, and decide when to use the active or passive voice.

Key Notes

  • The passive voice places the emphasis on the person or thing affected by the action.
  • The passive can be used to add style, clarity or emphasis in everyday and formal written French.
  • Using regular and irregular past participles in active and passive sentences adds variety and complexity to your work.
  • When developing a personal response, it is helpful to use reference materials to look up new vocabulary.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • past participle: verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb
  • passive voice: when the subject is affected by the action of the verb, but does not 'do' the action of the verb, e.g. the house is sold

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • There is no agreement needed with 'avoir' verb past participles in the passive voice.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

The passive voice places the emphasis on the person or thing affected by the action. The passive can be used to add style, clarity or emphasis in everyday and formal written French.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'past participle'

verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: There is no agreement needed with 'avoir' verb past participles in the passive voice. Correction: Because the passive voice uses 'être', all past participles used must agree in number and gender with the noun subject, including 'avoir' verbs. E.g. La fille est choisie par le réalisateur.

More Lessons In This Unit

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