Active and passive voice: elephant seal
Learning Objective
We are learning how to write sentences in both the active and the passive voice.
Context: elephant seal
Credit: BBC One - Blue Planet II
Clip Description
Found in the brutally cold Antarctic waters, southern elephant seals are the largest of all the seal species. However, it isn’t their massive size that gives them their name – it’s the male’s distinctive, inflatable, trunk-like snout. The snouts are used to create extraordinarily loud roaring noises during the mating season.
In this fascinating clip, a waddle of king penguins must pick their way through a rockery of enormous elephant seals without awakening them. Things get a little hairy for the flightless birds when a fight breaks out between two huge bull seals. Will the penguins get caught up in the crossfire? Watch the clip to find out.
Discuss the meaning of each word highlighted in bold.
Word Challenge
Other than the metaphor “sleeping giants,” how might you describe the elephant seals or the king penguins in a figurative way? e.g. (seals) blubbery beach masters (penguins) dinner-jacketed dawdlers