For my English Language C/W I had to analyse 2 newspaper articles and compare different features of how they covered a story on Asylum Seekers.
One of my sub topics was the use of the passive voice. The majority of the tabloid is obviously in the active voice, but I'm sure there are some instances of it in passive. The article is enclosed below. If anyone can identify any sentences/extracts which are in the passive voice..could you please reply and let me know.
I'm not doing a Richie Morris, I've just written 3,500 words on this and the last stretch is proving a bit too tedious
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Britains immigration crisis is six times worse than official figures suggest, a Home Office expert claimed yesterday.
In an alarming insight into the near total failure of Government Policy, Robert Owen said that at one stage 1,000 people a day were arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 to claim asylum.
Mr Owen, who said most of his information was “highly classified”, was speaking as a witness during the trial of two Chinese nationals accused of people-trafficking.
He said the official census put the number of people from China living in Manchester as 8,000, but the immigrants’ local association told the Home Office the true number was between 40,000 and 50,000.
In what will be a severe embarrassment to ministers ahead of today’s European and local elections, Mr Owen said current methods could no longer cope. “It was accepted(by the government) that the true figure of Immigration was considerably higher than the official figure,” he told Swansea Crown Court.
Immigrants needed only to speak the magic words ‘asylum seeker’ to bring the country’s system to its knees, he added.
Last night Tory MPs accused the Government of “losing control of Britain’s borders”.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “The Government is fully aware there is a crisis with illegal immigration arising out of the shambles of its policy that it dare not admit.”
Mr Owen said he could not even “guesstimate” the true number of foreign nationals living illegally in Britain.
Asked if he could offer a figure in tens or hundreds of thousands, he said he could not.
Because the system could not cope with the number of immigrants, most were granted a temporary residence permit.
Delays between an application for asylum status and any appeal hearing meant that most migrants simply disappeared without trace into their local community.
Mr Owen, a Home Office expert with 30 years’ experience in immigration, told the court that the number of routes into Britain was “unbelievable”.
Lorry drivers were being paid between £2,000 and £3,000 to bring groups over the Channel.
“Immigration officers take out a few shipments but we are obviously missing an awful lot of people,” he said.
Boat owners in France, Holland “and all the way up the North Sea” were being approached by Chinese Snakehead gangs and asked drop immigrants “close to the shores of the UK”.
He added that Turkish and Kurdish criminals found the business so lucrative they had abandoned drug dealing and now worked with people smugglers.
Mr Owen said the gangs were so sophisticated they hired solicitors’ clerks to greet illegal immigrants at airports.
“Any person can arrive without documents and say, ‘I want asylum’. As soon as the magic words are said, immigration have to consider it,” he told the court.
Referring to the Snakehead gangs, he said: “We have no serious removal arrangements whereby we can remove a person back to China without documentation.
“They have to be interviewed by the Chinese consul to establish they are Chinese and nine times out of 10 the embassy does not have the staff.”
He described the trafficking of people into Britain as “very structured, very sophisticated”.
In 1998 immigrants paid about £16,000 per head, which increased to £20,000 in 1999 to be smuggled in.
But the fee had dropped because Snakehead gangs now employed a less expensive method of using fake education documents so illegal migrants could pose as students.
Mr Owen, seconded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service to advise on Snakeheads in Britain, said the vast majority of Chinese immigrants stayed here.
Restaurant owner Guo Chen, 34, from Aberystwyth, and his nephew Xing Cheng, 21, a waiter, are alleged to have received £5.2 million from immigrants arriving in Britain.
They and another restaurateur, Nual Miah, 32, all deny money laundering on behalf of the Snakeheads and assisting into illegal entry into the country.
The trial continues.
One of my sub topics was the use of the passive voice. The majority of the tabloid is obviously in the active voice, but I'm sure there are some instances of it in passive. The article is enclosed below. If anyone can identify any sentences/extracts which are in the passive voice..could you please reply and let me know.
I'm not doing a Richie Morris, I've just written 3,500 words on this and the last stretch is proving a bit too tedious
----------
Britains immigration crisis is six times worse than official figures suggest, a Home Office expert claimed yesterday.
In an alarming insight into the near total failure of Government Policy, Robert Owen said that at one stage 1,000 people a day were arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 to claim asylum.
Mr Owen, who said most of his information was “highly classified”, was speaking as a witness during the trial of two Chinese nationals accused of people-trafficking.
He said the official census put the number of people from China living in Manchester as 8,000, but the immigrants’ local association told the Home Office the true number was between 40,000 and 50,000.
In what will be a severe embarrassment to ministers ahead of today’s European and local elections, Mr Owen said current methods could no longer cope. “It was accepted(by the government) that the true figure of Immigration was considerably higher than the official figure,” he told Swansea Crown Court.
Immigrants needed only to speak the magic words ‘asylum seeker’ to bring the country’s system to its knees, he added.
Last night Tory MPs accused the Government of “losing control of Britain’s borders”.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “The Government is fully aware there is a crisis with illegal immigration arising out of the shambles of its policy that it dare not admit.”
Mr Owen said he could not even “guesstimate” the true number of foreign nationals living illegally in Britain.
Asked if he could offer a figure in tens or hundreds of thousands, he said he could not.
Because the system could not cope with the number of immigrants, most were granted a temporary residence permit.
Delays between an application for asylum status and any appeal hearing meant that most migrants simply disappeared without trace into their local community.
Mr Owen, a Home Office expert with 30 years’ experience in immigration, told the court that the number of routes into Britain was “unbelievable”.
Lorry drivers were being paid between £2,000 and £3,000 to bring groups over the Channel.
“Immigration officers take out a few shipments but we are obviously missing an awful lot of people,” he said.
Boat owners in France, Holland “and all the way up the North Sea” were being approached by Chinese Snakehead gangs and asked drop immigrants “close to the shores of the UK”.
He added that Turkish and Kurdish criminals found the business so lucrative they had abandoned drug dealing and now worked with people smugglers.
Mr Owen said the gangs were so sophisticated they hired solicitors’ clerks to greet illegal immigrants at airports.
“Any person can arrive without documents and say, ‘I want asylum’. As soon as the magic words are said, immigration have to consider it,” he told the court.
Referring to the Snakehead gangs, he said: “We have no serious removal arrangements whereby we can remove a person back to China without documentation.
“They have to be interviewed by the Chinese consul to establish they are Chinese and nine times out of 10 the embassy does not have the staff.”
He described the trafficking of people into Britain as “very structured, very sophisticated”.
In 1998 immigrants paid about £16,000 per head, which increased to £20,000 in 1999 to be smuggled in.
But the fee had dropped because Snakehead gangs now employed a less expensive method of using fake education documents so illegal migrants could pose as students.
Mr Owen, seconded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service to advise on Snakeheads in Britain, said the vast majority of Chinese immigrants stayed here.
Restaurant owner Guo Chen, 34, from Aberystwyth, and his nephew Xing Cheng, 21, a waiter, are alleged to have received £5.2 million from immigrants arriving in Britain.
They and another restaurateur, Nual Miah, 32, all deny money laundering on behalf of the Snakeheads and assisting into illegal entry into the country.
The trial continues.
