“Give the Green Light”
Have you ever worked in a team? Usually, when people work together, someone needs to be the leader. That person gives permission for things to happen. For example, your boss might give you and your co-workers permission to start a new sales campaign. Your professor might allow the class to do a creative project. Or, if you are a boss, you might decide to do something nice for your employees. You might say, “I’m giving you the green light to have an office party!”
We use the expression give the green light to talk about giving permission for something to happen. The person in charge usually gives the green light. For example, sometimes, parents give their children the green light to buy a car. Sometimes, bosses give the green light to hire new employees. If you are in charge of a team, you probably give the green light, too.
Dominique is about to give the green light on an important change for the office. Watch today’s video and find out what happens.
Jordin: Hi! Is Dominique here?
Sheila: She’s away, for the moment. She’ll be back.
Jordin: OK. Well, I’m the new intern here. Dominique asked me to come by. I wanted to know if she was going to give me the green light to get cubicles.
Sheila: Excellent.
Kelsey: I don’t think so. She likes the openness of the office. I do, too…
Sheila: Hold on! Dominique asked you to get cubicles?
Jordin: Well, yes… I mean, she mentioned it.
Kelsey: Cubicles are so restrictive.
Sheila: I like the privacy.
Andy_H: Hi!
Jordin: Hi, Jordin.
Sheila: She’s our intern, and she’s going to get us cubicles.
Kelsey: That’s not decided, yet.
Sheila: Fine. Raise your hand if you like cubicles. Andy?
Andy_H: On the one hand, it’s really nice to all be working together like this.
Sheila: Yeah, but think of all the organizing you could do behind your little cubicle.
Andy_H: Yeah, that would be nice. Well, I guess my vote is for…
Dominique: Hello everyone! It’s decided. Jordin, I’m giving you the green light to get the cubicles. Has everyone met Jordin?
Kelsey: I guess it’ll be cool. It’ll give me something to decorate.
Sheila: Cubicles, Jordin. Cubicles.
Jordin comes to the office to introduce herself. She is the new intern, and Dominique has given her permission to get cubicles. Sheila is excited. She really wants her own cubicle. However, Kelsey does not want cubicles. She likes the openness of the office, and she thinks that Dominique does, too. Sheila proposes a vote: Everyone who wants cubicles should raise their hand. Andy is not sure what to vote. On the one hand, he enjoys working in an open office with everyone. On the other hand, he could do a lot of organizing in his cubicle!
Dominique arrives and tells the team that it is settled. She is going to give the green light for the office to get cubicles. Sheila is happy, and Kelsey decides that it will not be so bad. At least she can decorate her cubicle.
Do you work in an office? Do you ever give the green light for things?
Kelsey is not very excited about the possibility of getting cubicles in the office. She tells Sheila, “That’s not decided yet.” She uses the passive voice.
Sometimes you say things like, “My bike was stolen,” or, “The boy was given a gift.” But who stole my bike? Who gave the boy a gift? You aren’t sure. That’s why you use the passive voice, which emphasizes the person or thing an action was done to, not the one who did the action.
Passive voice is normally formed with to be + a past participle, as in, “Chris was hired yesterday.” You can use the passive voice in any tense by changing the form of ‘to be.’ For instance, you can say, “My cookie was eaten” (past tense) or, “My cookie is being eaten” (present progressive tense).
When you want to include the one who performed the action in a passive voice sentence, you use the word ‘by’ after the verb. For instance, “Danny will be picked up by his mother today.”
If Kelsey wanted to use the passive voice in a different tense, she could say, “That hasn’t been decided yet.”
Which sentence uses the passive voice correctly, “I lost my book,” or, “My book was lost”?