How Is It Made?

← Grammar catalogue

B1Grammar in Context

How Is It Made?

I can describe a simple fictional process by focusing on the product rather than the workers.

Created by , British English teacher.

I’m studying:

Try the activities, then check your answers.

Choose a short recording.

Your situation

At a small fictional notebook workshop, paper is cut into sheets. The sheets are folded. A cover is added, and the notebooks are packed in boxes. A visitor asks, “Are they made by hand?” “Some steps are, but a machine cuts the paper.”

Read the situation transcript

At a small fictional notebook workshop, paper is cut into sheets. The sheets are folded. A cover is added, and the notebooks are packed in boxes. A visitor asks, “Are they made by hand?” “Some steps are, but a machine cuts the paper.”

Why do several sentences begin with the material or product?

Compare your idea

The process description focuses on what happens to the materials rather than naming workers each time.

How it works

Adult man folding blank paper beside a notebook and a tidy packing box.
The paper is folded first.Picture context: this is the first step in their packing process. The man demonstrates folding the paper.

A process often uses the present passive because it describes what normally happens: The paper is cut. The covers are added. Match is or are to the receiver.

Use by for the doer when useful. By hand describes a method, not a named person. Keep only the steps supplied by the fictional process; do not infer a real manufacturing method.

Material/product + is/are + past participle. Sequence: first, then, finally.

Notice this

The paper is cut into sheets.

This focuses on the material.

Compare this

The sheets are folded.

The plural receiver takes are.

Hear the examples

The paper is cut into sheets.

This focuses on the material.

The sheets are folded.

The plural receiver takes are.

A cover is added.

This adds the next process step.

The notebooks are packed in boxes.

This describes the final stated step.

One mistake worth avoiding

Instead of: The sheets are fold.

Say: The sheets are folded.

Use a past participle after are in the passive.

You say

Hear the prompt, answer aloud, then deliberately reveal or hear one possible model. Check it and retry with a changed detail.

Your turn 1

Describe two steps in an invented process.

Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text

The paper is cut. Then it is folded.

Check yourself: Keep the material as the subject.

Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.

Your turn 2

Describe a plural product.

Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text

The notebooks are packed in boxes.

Check yourself: Use are with notebooks.

Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.

Your turn 3

Ask a passive process question.

Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text

Are the covers added by hand?

Check yourself: Put are before the plural subject.

Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.

Adult man folding blank paper beside a notebook and a tidy packing box.
Then the paper is put in the box.Picture context: this is the next step in the same process. The photograph shows the box, not this later action already completed.

Two guided self-checks

Say or write your answer before opening a model.

Self-check 1

Make passive: A machine cuts the paper.

Compare a model and explanation

The paper is cut by a machine.

Cut is also the past participle.

Self-check 2

Add a final step with pack.

Compare a model and explanation

Finally, the notebooks are packed.

Keep the present process viewpoint.

Check your understanding

Choose one answer to each question, then check your answers. One of the ten questions is listening.

1. The paper ___ cut into sheets.

2. The sheets are ___. Use fold.

3. The notebooks ___ packed in boxes.

4. What does the process description foreground?

5. Choose the correct question.

6. Correct “A cover are added.”

7. In “cut by a machine”, what does by introduce?

8. What happens after the sheets are folded?

Read the listening transcript

The sheets are folded. Then a cover is added, and the notebook is packed.

Opening this transcript makes this a reading-supported attempt.

9. Which sentence changes the process to one finished past event?

10. Why may a process omit the workers?

Automatic scoring needs JavaScript. Use the answer key after attempting all ten questions.

Answer key with explanations

  1. The paper ___ cut into sheets.

    is: Paper is uncountable and takes is here.

  2. The sheets are ___. Use fold.

    folded: The passive needs the participle folded.

  3. The notebooks ___ packed in boxes.

    are: Notebooks is plural and takes are.

  4. What does the process description foreground?

    What happens to the materials: Passive subjects keep attention on the product and its changes.

  5. Choose the correct question.

    Are the covers added by hand?: Use are before the plural subject and a participle.

  6. Correct “A cover are added.”

    A cover is added.: A cover is singular and needs is added.

  7. In “cut by a machine”, what does by introduce?

    The doer of the action: The machine performs the cutting action.

  8. What happens after the sheets are folded?

    A cover is added.: The recording states the next process step.

  9. Which sentence changes the process to one finished past event?

    This notebook was made yesterday.: Was made yesterday places the event in the finished past.

  10. Why may a process omit the workers?

    The steps matter more than repeatedly naming the doers.: Agent omission is a choice of focus, not a claim that doers are unimportant.

Take it with you

I can describe a simple fictional process by focusing on the product rather than the workers.

Try the companion lesson

Grammar Focus: It Is Made… / It Was Built…Explore the Grammar catalogue