Myanmar
My house was being redecorated since last year. While my house was being decorated, we went to Myanmar and stayed there until the whole decoration was done.

Nuala says:
Hi,
I hope your house looks great now. I've just painted our sitting room and I'm very happy with our new green walls!

This is a lovely use of the continuous passive here – 'While my house was being decorated'.

You say at the end of your piece that you 'stayed there until the whole decoration was done' so I'd just change the first sentence a little bit and take out the word since, to show that the decorating was completed last year.

Enjoy your redecorated house!

Nuala

Poliana, Brazil
Last year I visited my hometown Zoo. When I arrived the animals were being fed and they looked really beautiful. After a long walk I could see an elephant being taken for a vaccine. I asked to the veterinary why the elephant was being taken away to get that medication, and he told me the animal was very ill and needed special treatments. After that I could notice that one particular lion was being movedfor another cage because he had fought with his "cagemate". It as a funny day

Nuala says:
Hi Poliana,
That sounds like a really interesting visit to the zoo.

You use the continuous passive very well here to draw our attention to what was happening to the animals rather than focusing in on who was doing the actions. And all your subjects and verbs agreed - 'the animals were', 'the elephant was' and 'one particular lion was'. Well done!

I'm not sure I would have described your visit to the zoo as a 'funny day'. I think it seems more like an interesting or fascinating day.

Thanks for your contribution!

Nuala

Sonia, Argentina
I visited my Secondary School, there a lot of students and their parents were working to repair the school. The windows and doors were being painted, the walls were being repaired , all the build was being decorated to celebrate its birthday 25.

Nuala says:
Hi Sonia, Did you enjoy going back to your old high school or did you find it a bit strange seeing all those old faces from the past?

Your piece was short and sweet and gave a very clear picture of the how busy everyone was in the run-up to your school's 25th birthday.

There were some good continuous passive examples in your piece: The windows and doors were being painted and the walls were being repaired

Like Amy, you just need to make sure that the subject and the part of the verb 'to be' you use both agree with each other. So, all the build was being decorated should be 'all the buildings were being decorated'

Thanks for writing to us!

Nuala

India
I have just been to a new school. There was a lot of activity in the school. Teachers were busy teaching the students. There were a group of students in arts class. There was a section of students working on the computer. I felt happy seeing students as young as age five being taught about computers and that too in not so very cosmopolitian place.

Nuala says:
Hi, you didn't mention your name – unless of course it IS India!

This is a lovely piece that describes very well how busy and well used the new school is.

You only used one continuous passive but I think your choice of using more active sentences than passive ones was absolutely right. You wanted to emphasise what the teachers were doing so an active, rather than a passive, sentence is perfect here: 'Teachers were busy teaching the students' sounds much better than 'Students were busily being taught'.

Similarly the active sentence 'students working on the computer' highlights how hardworking the students were, rather than saying 'the computer was being worked on by the students', which only draws our attention to the inactive computer. The real action is about what the students are doing and your active sentence draws our attention to that.

The one example of the continuous passive is just right because this time you want to draw our attention to how young the students are. As an active sentence it would be: 'Teachers teaching students as young as age five about computers' which puts the emphasise on the teachers but actually the key information here is about the students. So 'students as young as age five being taught about computers' sounds much better.

Finally, you might like to change the ending a little bit – from "and that to in not so very cosmopolitian place' to 'even though the school wasn't in a very cosmopolitan area'.

Thanks for writing!

Nuala

Amy, China
i went to Qingdao last month,i found a lot of nice new buildings was being built in Qingdao, lots of flowers were being showed in a park,when i got to to the walking street in Qingdao,i saw a super market was being renovated, i felt a bit hungry,so i planned to go to a restaurant to get some food to eat,when i came into a restaurant,i saw a lot of delicious food were being served to those customer.a baby was being feeded by his mother,i sat down and ordered some food to eat.it was a nice trip.

Nuala says:
Hi Amy, Qingdao sounds really interesting. I visited China in March but only managed to see Beijing and Nanjing. You've made me wish I'd gone to Qingdao too now!

You used lots of correct continuous passives here and lots of other structures too, which is good. Sometimes it's tempting to overuse a new form when you've just learned it.

Just be careful that your subject agrees with the part of the verb 'to be' you use, so 'new buildings was being built' should be 'new buildings were being built' and 'a lot of delicious food were being served' should be ' a lot of delicious food was being served'.

Well done on getting most of your past participles right. There were just a few slips there - 'built', 'renovated' and 'served' were all correct but 'showed' should have been 'shown' and 'feeded' should have been 'fed'

Thanks for writing in!

Nuala