Tom and Jerry

Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse are two of the most popular cartoon characters in the world. In the short cartoons, Tom is always trying to catch Jerry, but he never has any success. Almost every cartoon ends with Tom in trouble and Jerry laughing at him. The stories are full of fun and have a long history.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera both worked for MGM in the late 1930s. Their boss told them to make funny cartoons. Together they thought of the idea of a cat and a mouse. They thought it would be funny if the mouse was clever and always got the cat into trouble.

The first Tom and Jerry cartoon was shown in cinemas in 1940. It was a great success. Over the next 17 years, they made many Tom and Jerry cartoons. Most of them are around seven minutes long.

In total, Hanna and Barbera made 114 Tom and Jerry cartoons. The cartoons were so good that they won a number of awards. The famous cat and mouse remain popular today, as the cartoons are still shown on television around the world.

Grammar

A The passive voice with modal verbs

B The passive voice in the present perfect tense