This Fabric Washes Well: Active Form, Affected Subject
By the end: I can describe how something performs without inventing an actor or a completed event.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Describe a property
An active-form verb can describe how an affected thing behaves in use. The subject is not an intentional person doing the action.
This fabric washes well.
The new handle turns easily.
Property or event?
A property statement need not report a particular completed event. Add the actor or use a passive when that event matters.
This shirt irons easily.
I ironed this shirt yesterday.
Choose a natural construction
Use established combinations such as washes well, reads easily or handles well. Keep the ordinary passive when a property construction sounds unnatural.
The instructions read easily.
The application was approved yesterday.
Guided practice
Say or write your answer first. Compare form and meaning with the model.
1. Who intentionally performs the washing in This fabric washes well?
Compare a model and explanation
No particular actor is identified.
The subject is the affected material.
2. Does This shirt irons easily establish that it was ironed today?
Compare a model and explanation
No.
It describes a characteristic, not today’s event.
3. Rewrite as an actor-led event: The shirt was washed by Lia.
Compare a model and explanation
Lia washed the shirt.
Lia is the actor; the shirt remains affected.
4. Complete the property description: This handle turns ___.
Compare a model and explanation
easily
Other suitable property adverbs may fit; the model is not exclusive.
5. Separate property from event: This guide reads easily. Kim read it last night.
Compare a model and explanation
The first describes readability; the second reports Kim’s reading.
Do not infer the second from the first alone.
6. Correct the role claim: In This fabric washes well, the fabric deliberately washes other objects.
Compare a model and explanation
The fabric is easy to wash; it is not the intentional washer.
The construction gives the subject a property.
7. Report a past approval without forcing a middle construction.
Compare a model and explanation
The proposal was approved yesterday.
Approval is a reported event.
8. Write a property statement and a contrasting difficulty in use.
Compare a model and explanation
The drawer usually opens easily, but it was stuck this morning.
A general characteristic allows a context-specific exception.
A short conversation
Listen first, then open the transcript when useful.
Open the conversation transcript
A: Why did you choose this shirt?
B: The fabric washes well and dries quickly.
A: Have you washed this one yet?
B: Not yet. I’m describing the material, not a wash I’ve done.
Listening checks
Listen to each extract or open its transcript. These three questions have a separate score.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer for each situation. The score is out of eight.
Use it in your own words
Speaking 1
Give two natural descriptions of how objects perform.
Reveal a possible response
This shirt irons easily. This handle turns smoothly.
Success check: Use conventional property descriptions.
Speaking 2
Describe the same object in a property statement, an active event and a passive event.
Reveal a possible response
This shirt washes well. I washed it yesterday. It was washed at home.
Success check: Keep the property separate from the dated event.
Put it all together
Recommend an everyday object using two properties, then state what you have and have not tested personally.
Reveal a possible response
The handle turns easily and the instructions read clearly. I tried the handle in the shop, but I haven’t assembled this particular unit.
Success check: Do not turn a general description into invented personal experience.
Take it with you
I can describe how something performs without inventing an actor or a completed event.