In 1666, most of London was destroyed. Over 13,000 houses were burned, thousands of people were made homeless, and the entire city had to be rebuilt. The event I’m talking about is one of the most famous disasters in English history: the Great Fire of London.
Today, I want to tell you this story, but with a special focus. You’re going to learn about history, while also learning some English grammar.
The Great Fire is a perfect example of when we use the passive voice in real English. Disasters are often described with the passive because the actions are more important than the people who did them. We don’t always know who was responsible, and sometimes it doesn’t matter. What matters is what happened.
So in this episode, I’ll share the story of the Great Fire of London, and we’ll look together at how the passive voice is used. At the beginning I’ll guide you through a short grammar lesson to help you use the passive voice, and then you’ll hear plenty of natural examples while talking about the Great Fire of London!
Here is today’s grammar lesson!
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Passive Voice: Grammar Lesson
In English, a sentence usually has:
- Subject → does the action
- Verb → action
- Object → receives the action
If we make a sentence using this order, we call it the active voice.
- The teacher explains the lesson.
(Teacher = subject, explains = verb, lesson = object)
The passive voice changes the focus:
- The lesson is explained by the teacher.
Now the object (“the lesson”) becomes the subject of the sentence. We use the passive when:
- The action is more important than the person doing it.
- My wallet was stolen yesterday. (We don’t know who stole it, but the action is important.)
- We don’t know who does the action.
- English is spoken in many countries. (By who? Millions of people, so it’s not important to say.)
- The person doing the action is obvious.
- The criminal was arrested. (Obviously by the police.)
- To sound more formal or polite.
- Your request has been approved.
The formula to make a sentence passive is:
- Subject + be (in the correct tense) + past participle (V3)
- Optional: + by + doer (if you want to say who did it)
We make negatives by adding not after the verb be.
Present Simple
- Active: People make cars in Japan.
- Passive: Cars are made in Japan.
- Active (negative): People don’t use this computer every day.
- Passive (negative): This computer is not used every day.
Past Simple
- Active: They built this house in 1990.
- Passive: This house was built in 1990.
- Active (negative): They didn’t repair the road last year.
- Passive (negative): The road was not repaired last year.
Future Simple
- Active: The company will release a new phone.
- Passive: A new phone will be released by the company.
- Active (negative): The company will not produce the model again.
- Passive (negative): The model will not be produced again.
Background to the Great Fire
Let’s go back to the UK in the 17th century. London was the largest city in England with a population of around half a million people.
It was noisy, busy, and growing quickly. It was also dirty, filthy, and crowded.
I recorded an episode about the History of London a few months ago. If you have listened to that, you will know London is an ancient city. Because London is so old, the streets were very narrow and unorganized. It was also very unsafe.
Most of the city was made of [00:05:00] wood. The houses were built close together and the streets were narrow and dark. The roofs were covered with thatch, which is made from dry straw or reeds. Thatch is, unfortunately for London, the perfect fuel for a fire.
Even though fires were common, proper safety rules were not followed.
In fact, the famous writer Daniel Defoe, once wrote that “London’s buildings looked as if they had been formed to make one general bonfire.”
Life in 17th century London was a challenge for almost everyone. Just one year before the Great Fire, in 1665, the Great Plague had swept through London. Tens of thousands of people died, and the city was still trying to recover. Many families had been destroyed and many businesses had been ruined.
And when it [00:06:00] came to fire safety, the city was dangerously unprepared. Today, if a fire starts, fire engines and firefighters arrive quickly. Water can be sprayed at high pressure. And the fire service has a variety of different tools to prevent fires from spreading.
But in 1666, no fire service was organized. Instead, buckets of water were usually used by the people living on the streets. If a fire spread too quickly, entire streets were pulled down to create fire breaks, but this was often done too late.
In other words, no effective system was available to protect London from fire.
This was the London where the Great fire began; a crowded, wooden city that was almost completely unprotected against disaster.
How the Great Fire Started?
The Great Fire of London [00:07:00] began in the early hours of Sunday, September 2nd 1666.
The fire started in a small bakery on Pudding Lane, owned by a man called Thomas Farriner. Late at night, a spark from the bakery oven caught onto fuel nearby, and within minutes, flames began to spread.
At first, it seemed like a small accident. But very quickly, the situation grew out of control. The fire started in the bakery, but soon flames were carried by the wind to surrounding houses. The buildings in London were made of wood and had thatched roofs, so they were set on fire almost immediately.
Unfortunately, the authorities in London (the people in charge) didn’t act quickly. The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, was woken and asked to give permission [00:08:00] to pull down houses to stop the fire.
But the problem was underestimated. The fire was ignored at first, and orders to destroy houses were not given in time.
Strong winds from the east made everything worse. Sparks were blown across the city, and flames spread from rooftop to rooftop.
What had started in a single bakery became a firestorm that threatened to destroy the entire city.
By the morning, panic had already begun. Families were forced to leave their homes carrying what little they could. Carts were filled with furniture and clothes and food, but in many cases people had to abandon everything.
This was only the beginning. The fire would burn for four days and change London forever.
How it Spread and How it Ended
Once the fire had started on Pudding lane, it [00:09:00] spread faster than almost anyone could imagine.
By Monday, September 3rd, entire streets were destroyed. Houses were set alight, one after another. And because the buildings were so close together, flames were carried easily from roof to roof.
Some of London’s most famous landmarks were also lost. The famous St. Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed, even though many people thought it could survive because it was built of stone. But the wooden scaffolding around the church caught fire, and soon the entire building collapsed.
Libraries, shops, and warehouses full of paper, books, cloth and wood, were also consumed by fire.
As the fire grew, panic spread. Crowds were forced to flee, and thousands of people were made homeless. Possessions were thrown into the River Thames to be [00:10:00] saved or loaded onto boats to escape.
Those who stayed, tried desperately to fight the flames, but water was not available in enough quantity, and the fire engines were not organized well enough to help.
The government eventually stepped in. King Charles II gave direct orders. Houses were pulled down to create fire breaks, and in some cases, gunpowder was used to blow up buildings before the fire could finally reach them.
These extreme measures slowly began to work.
Finally after four long days, the weather helped. On Wednesday, September 5th, and Thursday the 6th, the winds dropped. Without strong gusts of wind carrying sparks through the city, the fire was brought under control.
After almost destroying the entire city, the flames were finally [00:11:00] stopped. It was reported that the ashes, the leftover burnt buildings, stayed warm for days, and some parts of the city were still smoking weeks later.
Consequences of the Great Fire
When the fire finally ended, the scale of destruction was almost impossible to believe. Around four-fifths of the medieval city of London had disappeared.
More than 13,000 houses were destroyed. 87 churches were burned down. And thousands of shops and businesses were lost.
Yet surprisingly, very few deaths were recorded. Only a handful of deaths were reported officially, although historians think many more people may have died, especially the poor whose lives were not carefully counted.
The survivors faced enormous challenges. Tens of thousands of people were made homeless. Camps were built outside the [00:12:00] city, where families were forced to live in tents and temporary shelters. Food supplies were interrupted, and the rebuilding of London would take years.
But the fire also changed the city in positive ways. New building regulations were introduced by the government. Houses were rebuilt with brick and stone instead of wood making them much safer.
Plans to completely redesign the city were submitted immediately by famous architects at the time.
Christopher Wren, for example, drew up detailed plans to completely rebuild London in just a few minutes, really. While the full plans were never realized, because they were too expensive, London was changed.
Streets were widened, buildings were made from better materials, and the Monument to the Great Fire of London was built. The city that was destroyed in [00:13:00] 1666 became stronger and became a more modern capital.
The disaster also shaped London’s identity. The Great Fire was remembered as a national tragedy, but also a turning point.
Out of the ashes a new city was created.
Final Thought
The Great Fire of London was one of the most dramatic events in English history. In just a few days, most of the city was destroyed, thousands of people were made homeless, and an entirely new London had to be rebuilt.
Throughout this story, you’ve heard many examples of the passive voice. Remember: we use the passive when the action is more important than the person doing it, when the doer is unknown, or when it doesn’t matter who exactly was responsible.
Listen again to these sentences:
- St Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed.
- Thousands of houses were burned to the ground.
- New building regulations were introduced.
- The city was rebuilt with brick and stone.
In each case, the focus is on what happened, not on who did it.
Try making your own passive sentences about history, your culture, or even events in your own life. Using the grammar you’ve learned from this episode, is a powerful way to practice grammar while also telling meaningful stories!
What do you think?
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