Focusing on the action

If you were chosen to be a contestant on "Come Dine with Me", I imagine you would go through your cookery books to plan a perfect menu. Then you would go to your trusted wine dealer to find the perfect selection of wine to complement the food. Would you be confident enough to choose an English wine? Would the wine dealer recommend one? Maybe not. But as you can find out in "Bacchus in Britain" in the Food section of Spotlight this month, you might well be missing out on something quite delicious.

In this fascinating article, Inez Sharp delves into the history of winemaking in Britain, which dates as far back as AD 43, and explains why England is now making award-winning sparkling wine.

Did you know that the award-winning sparkling white wine 2006 Grosvenor Blanc de Blanc was produced in England? When talking about winemaking and other processes, we often use the passive voice.

The passive voice places the focus on the action. In the description of a process or event, the action is more important than the person carrying it out.

The passive form of verbs is made with the different tenses of to be followed by a past participle: is produced (present simple), was produced (past simple), has been produced (present perfect).

On the next page, you can get active and practise your passives. And why not pour yourself a glass of wine to get into the mood? If you don't have any English wine in your cellar, German or even French wine will do!

Dagmar Taylor