Grammar › Past passive

Past passive: negative sentences

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten

Not goes after was or were, before the past participle.

The past participle is the third form in verb tables: written, gone, built. It never changes with the subject.

The pattern

Not goes straight after the auxiliary:

The gate was not locked. → The gate wasn’t locked.

There is one contraction for each form: wasn’t and weren’t.

Saying what failed to happen

The negative past passive is how reports record omissions:

• The alarm wasn’t tested for three years.
• The residents weren’t told about the closure.
• No charges were brought.

never, not until

Both sharpen the timing and are common here:

The letter was never answered. The road wasn’t reopened until Friday.

A quick check on meaning

Compare these two, which look similar and say different things:

• The window wasn’t broken. — nobody broke it.
• The window wasn’t broken when we arrived. — it was intact at that point.

Both are passive; the second simply adds a time. If you mean the window was in one piece as a state, broken is doing the work of an adjective, and either reading is available. Context decides.

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• The interesting article wasn't written by the journalist.
• The message wasn't delivered by the messenger.
• The computer wasn't fixed before the meeting.
• The new project wasn't completed by the junior team members.
• The message wasn't sent to the wrong person.
• The letter wasn't received by the post office.
• The damaged laptop wasn't repaired by the technician.
• The decision wasn't made by the committee.
• The piano wasn't played by Emily.
• The phone wasn't answered by John.
• The tea wasn't prepared by your friend.
• The valuable painting wasn't painted by an unknown artist.

Mistakes to avoid

Other forms of Past passive