The Passive Voice

1/ Verbs are either in the active form or the passive form. In the active form, the subject performs the
action of the verb, however, in the passive form, the subject is not the doer of the action of the verb. It
is acted upon by some agent that is not necessarily known.

Active form:

E.g. Congress passed the new law.

Passive form:

E.g. The new law was passed by Congress.

Tenses E.g .

1. present simple: am/are/is + participle laws are passed

2. present continuous: am/are/is + being + participle laws are being passed
3. present perfect: has/have + been + participle laws have been passed
4. past simple: was/were + participle laws were passed
5. past progressive: was/were + being + participle laws were being passed
6. past perfect: had + been + participle laws had been passed
7. conditional I (would, could, ...): conditional I + be + participle laws would be passed
8. Conditional II (would have, ...): conditional II + been + participle laws would have been passed
9. will-future: will + be + participle laws will be passed
10.modals (may, must, ...): modal + be + participle laws must be passed

1
 Practice
Quiz 1:

Rewrite the sentence into the active form:

1. The new teaching program had been approved by the Ministry of Education
2. The employees were informed of a salary increase by their boss.
3. These two brothers were raised by their grandmother.
4. The math lesson could be learned by the students easily.
5. She was surprised by his lack of good manners.
6. This play is being written by a well known playwright.
7. Students were asked to leave the building because of a fire alarm.
8. Everybody had been shocked by this terrible news.
9. This major financial problem has been solved by the manager.
10. This book was published by an important editor.

Quiz 2:

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the passive according to the tense specified:

1. The meeting (cancel, simple past) due to bad weather.

2. The amendment (pass, simple future) by the majority in Congress.
3. The killer of the movie star (catch, present perfect) in a gas station.
4. The construction of the bridge (finish, simple future) in two years.
5. The president (elect, simple present) by the electoral house.
6. This car (design, simple present) for seniors.
7. The expensive diamond ring (steal, past perfect) by the lady.
8. The love letter (write, simple past) by an unknown lover.
9. The soldier (kill, past perfect) by the enemy.
10. A cease-fire (announce, simple past) by the rebels yesterday.

Quiz 3:

Choose the correct form of the verb:

1. These computers made/ are made/ make in China.

2. The European Union uses/is used/use 5 official languages.
3. English speaks/is spoken/speaking all over the world.
4. The student asks/asking/is asked to fill in this form.
5. The company’s headquarter designs/ was designed/ designing by a famous architect.
6. The secret email was read/reads/has read by all the colleagues.
7. The article is writing/ is written/ wrote in Old English.
8. The book publishes/ is published/will publish by Blackwell.
9. The meeting agenda has revised/was revised/is revising to include new issues.
10. The village destroyed/ has destroyed/ has been destroyed by the earthquake.