Passive voice in English
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises in 1 form
When what happened matters more than who did it. Be plus the past participle, in whichever tense you need.
Pick a form to practice
The same topic in other tenses
What the passive does
It turns the sentence round. The thing that received the action becomes the subject, and the one who did it either moves to the end or disappears:
The police arrested two men. → Two men were arrested.
Nothing about the facts changes. What changes is what the sentence is about.
How it is built
Two pieces, always: the verb be in whatever tense you need, then the past participle of the main verb.
- is cleaned — present
- was cleaned — past
- will be cleaned — future
- has been cleaned — present perfect
- is being cleaned — present continuous
- must be cleaned — after a modal
Only be changes. The past participle never does.
When to use it
The passive is not a stylistic flourish — it solves four concrete problems:
- You do not know who did it. My bike has been stolen.
- It does not matter who did it. The results will be published on Friday.
- It is obvious who did it. He was arrested last night. — by the police, plainly.
- You want the topic first. This bridge was designed by a Norwegian engineer. — the bridge is the subject of the paragraph.
That last one is why the passive is standard in scientific and official writing: the process matters, not the person.
The by phrase
Add by only when the doer is worth naming:
The report was written by an outside consultant.
In about four passive sentences out of five, there is no by phrase at all. If you find yourself writing by someone or by people, delete it — that is exactly the case the passive exists to handle.
Which verbs can go passive
Only verbs that take an object. Happen, arrive, go, come, sleep, die have no object, so they have no passive:
The accident happened. — there is no was happened.
Two objects, two passives
Verbs like give, send, offer, tell have two objects, so either can become the subject:
They gave Anna the prize. → Anna was given the prize. — the usual choice → The prize was given to Anna. — also correct
Where to practise each tense
The present and the past each have their own set of drills, split by sentence type:
- Present passive — is and are plus the past participle
- Past passive — was and were plus the past participle
The future passive is drilled below.
All forms
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | They clean the office. | The office is cleaned. |
| Past Simple | They cleaned the office. | The office was cleaned. |
| Future | They will clean the office. | The office will be cleaned. |
| Present Perfect | They have cleaned it. | It has been cleaned. |
| Present Continuous | They are cleaning it. | It is being cleaned. |
| with a modal | They must clean it. | It must be cleaned. |
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: The letter was wrote yesterday. correct: The letter was written yesterday.
The passive always takes the past participle. Wrote is the past.
Wrong: The window broke by the storm. correct: The window was broken by the storm.
Without be, the sentence is active and says the window broke by itself.
Wrong: The books are readed by everyone. correct: The books are read by everyone.
Read is irregular: its past participle is spelled the same and pronounced /red/.