In my opinion, it’s right to send Beltracchi to prison because he is a forger, and he has fooled the art world for over thirty years.
SPEAKING Work in pairs. Use the passive form of the verbs below to ask and answer five questions about famous works of art.
compose direct paint perform sing write
Who was E.T. directed by?
ET. was directed by Steven Spielberg.
Read the LEARN THIS! box. Make the active sentences passive. Use by where necessary.
1 William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.
Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare.
2 They are performing a ballet at the concert hall this evening.
3 Does Lady Gaga design the costumes?
4 How many Hobbit films have they made?
5 The artist ought to sign the painting.
6 Thousands of people will visit the gallery this year.
Match the highlighted passive forms in the article with 1-9 below. Then find two examples of 9.
1 present simple passive
2 present continuous passive
3 past simple passive
4 past continuous passive
5 present perfect passive
6 past perfect passive
7 will + passive
8 modal verb + passive
9 by + agent
Complete the text with the verbs in brackets. Use active or passive verbs, as appropriate.
John Myatt is a British artist. He makes copies of famous works of art, but they
1_________ (not sell) as originals. They 2_________ (paint) with ordinary decorator's paint, and the word 'fake' 3_________
(write) on the back. But it wasn't always like that. In the 1990s, Myatt 4_________ (forge) about 200 paintings. In 1998, he 5_________ (catch) and 6_________ (send) to prison for a year. Since his release from jail, Myatt 7_________ (be) very successful, and his paintings 8_________ (buy) by wealthy people all over the world. He 9_________ (be) now a rich man!
SPEAKING Discuss this question.
Why is a perfect forgery worth less than an original work of art?
