COVID - 19 - Is it fake news or genuine news? Why are people compelled to believe it and share it???? (PASSIVE VOICE)

 At a higher level of English we can start putting certain grammar into a certain context.

For example, we can use the passive voice in the news.... Even in fake news.

To practise this we are going to use a current affair as is the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm going to give you an example of an active sentence related to this topic and we're going to put it into the passive voice:-

A: In Brazil, people were opening coffins full of stones to prove people weren't killed by COVID-19

P: In Brazil, coffins full of stones were being opened by people to prove people weren't killed (OR weren't being killed) by COVID-19

How did we transform this sentence?

Step 1. Change the Sb and the Obj

Step 2. Put the verb to be in the same tense as the Main Verb.

Step 3. Put the M.V. in past participle (with ed or from the 3rd column of the irregular verb list)

Step 4. Add by and the previous SB (*** this can be omitted when we don't know who the SB is or when it is obvious that those people do that action, e.g. the police arrest people... Three people were arrested (by the police).

There is a very interesting video on the BBC language website that gives examples of fake news related to COVID - 19:-

VIDEO 1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/fakenews/unit-1/session-4

In this video we saw some very interesting vocabulary like:-

Key vocabulary 

raise a red flag
make you think that something may not be true

fact-check
research if something is true or not

debunk
show that something is false, not true

verify
check that something is true

buy (into) something
believe something is true

groundless
without evidence

Now we're going to take the next step, using the passive voice to give news facts or fake news and speculate about their veracity. I'm going to give you three "news" statements about COVID-19 and I would like you to try to guess if they are true or false:-

1. A couple in Salisbury, USA, aged 65 & 67 were killed by COVID - 19, in hospital, within four minutes of difference.

2. On 17/09/20 almost 300 million cases in 188 countries have been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

3. On 17/09/20 a death toll fast approaching one million victims has been observed across the world.

You can look into these statements using the links below in the comments.

So.... Why were you compelled to believe any of them? Or compelled not to believe them?

Here's a video that explains why some people are compelled to believe fake news:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/fakenews/unit-1/session-5

Here's a quick summary of the key vocabulary that appears in this second video with a twist, I would like you to match the words with their definitions:-

Key vocabulary 

identity signalling     /    agenda   /   motive   /   algorithm  /  actor  

1. a plan of things to be done that may be secret or hidden
2. a person, state or organisation that uses power and influence to  promote an agenda
3. a reason for doing something 
4. showing that you belong to a group by sharing content whether you think it is true or not
5. a set of software instructions that, for example, shows you personalised content on social media

Whether we like it or not fake news is part of our lives and it doesn't help to overcome this pandemic at all.