Passive Voice — English Grammar Exercises
The bridge was built in 1990, your order has been sent, the form must be signed — when what happened matters more than who did it.
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Active or passive?
In an active sentence, the subject does the action. In a passive sentence, the subject receives it:
Two brothers founded the company in 1923. → The company was founded in 1923.
Use the passive when what happened matters more than who did it — or when you don't know, or it's obvious: My bike was stolen last night.
Quick test: did the subject do the action itself? No → passive: be + past participle.
The form: be + past participle
| tense | passive |
|---|---|
| present simple | The office is cleaned every day. |
| past simple | The bridge was built in 1990. |
| present perfect | Your order has been sent. |
| will | The package will be delivered tomorrow. |
| modal | The form must be signed. |
The participle never changes — be shows the tense and agrees with the subject: The letter was sent. The letters were sent.
Irregular verbs need the participle, not the past simple: written (not wrote), taken (not took), stolen (not stole).
Negatives and questions
Move be (or has / will / can) in front of the subject — never use do / does / did: Is breakfast included? When was penicillin discovered? The fridge hasn't been thrown away.
Right after a modal, use be, not been: ❌ The form must been signed. → ✅ The form must be signed.
by, with — or nothing
- by + the doer: written by my favourite singer
- with + a tool: cut with a knife
- made of / from + a material: Paper is made from wood.
Most passives have no by at all — add it only when the doer is important or new: My phone was stolen, not …stolen by someone.
Verbs with no passive
Verbs with no object — happen, arrive, die, disappear — can't be passive: ❌ Something was happened. → ✅ Something happened.
Common mistakes
| ❌ | ✅ |
|---|---|
| The castle built in 1450. | The castle was built in 1450. |
| The letter was wrote by hand. | The letter was written by hand. |
| The emails was sent yesterday. | The emails were sent yesterday. |
| The rooms have cleaned. | The rooms have been cleaned. |
| English is speaking here. | English is spoken here. |
| Your parcel was arrived. | Your parcel arrived. |
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English ___ in many countries around the world.
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is spoken
English doesn't speak — people speak it. Passive: 'is' + past participle → 'is spoken'. 'Is speaking' would mean English itself is talking.
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The Eiffel Tower ___ in 1889.
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was built
'In 1889' is finished past time, so 'be' goes into the past: 'was built'. Without 'was' the tower would be doing the building.
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Our office ___ every evening after everyone goes home.
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is cleaned
A regular action ('every evening') done to the office → present simple passive: 'is cleaned'. The office can't clean anything itself.
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My bike ___ outside the station last night.
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was stolen
Passive = 'was' + past participle. The participle of 'steal' is 'stolen', not 'stole' (that's the past simple). 'Stolen' alone has no 'be', so it isn't a full verb.
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Good news — your order ___ and it should arrive tomorrow.
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has been sent
A recent action with a result now → present perfect passive: 'has been' + past participle. 'Has sent' would mean the order sent something.
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Mobile phones ___ during the exam.
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can't be used
Modal + 'be' + past participle: 'can't be used'. Right after a modal, use 'be', not 'been'. Phones don't use anything, so active 'can't use' is wrong.
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This song was written ___ my favourite singer.
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by
In a passive sentence, 'by' introduces the person who did the action. The singer wrote the song → 'written by my favourite singer'.
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Don't worry — the package ___ to your door before 6 pm.
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will be delivered
Future passive: 'will be' + past participle. The package doesn't deliver anything — someone delivers it. 'Will delivered' is missing 'be'.
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Most of the vegetables in this shop ___ by local farmers.
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are grown
The subject is 'vegetables' (plural), so 'are'. The participle of 'grow' is 'grown' — 'grew' is the past simple.
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Two people ___ to hospital after the accident on the motorway.
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were taken
'Two people' is plural → 'were'. The participle of 'take' is 'taken'; 'took' is the past simple and can't follow 'were'.
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The meeting ___, so we don't need to come in tomorrow.
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has been cancelled
Someone cancelled the meeting, and the result matters now → 'has been cancelled'. 'Has cancelled' would mean the meeting cancelled something.
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___ breakfast included in the price of the room?
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Is
Questions in the passive move 'be' to the front: 'Breakfast is included' → 'Is breakfast included?' 'Does' is for active verbs.
The Passive Voice in English: What It Is and Why It Exists
In an active sentence the subject does the action: Two brothers founded the company in 1923. In a passive sentence the subject receives it: The company was founded in 1923. Nothing about the event has changed — only the starting point of the sentence. English uses the passive to put the thing that matters at the front, and to leave out a doer who is unknown, obvious or simply irrelevant. That makes the passive far more common in some kinds of English than others. Large corpus studies of English grammar find that passives account for roughly a quarter of finite verbs in academic writing but only about two percent in conversation, and that around four out of five passives have no by phrase at all. Learners who meet the passive mainly in textbook transformation drills often get the opposite impression: that every passive needs an agent, and that it is a stylistic option rather than a tool for choosing what a sentence is about.
One Formula: Be + Past Participle
Every passive is built the same way: a form of be followed by the past participle of the main verb. The participle never changes; be carries the tense. The office is cleaned every day is present simple, The bridge was built in 1990 is past simple, Your order has been sent is present perfect, The package will be delivered is future, and The form must be signed uses a modal. A learner who can already form these tenses in the active needs only one new step: put be into that tense and add the participle. This is why the passive at B1 is less a new grammar point than a test of tenses learned earlier — and why errors in the passive so often turn out to be errors with be: the wrong tense (The bridge is built in 1990), the wrong agreement (The emails was sent) or no be at all (The castle built in 1450).
Past Participle, Not Past Simple
For regular verbs the past simple and the past participle look the same, so was cleaned causes no trouble. Irregular verbs are where the passive breaks: was wrote, were took, was stole. The passive always takes the participle — written, taken, stolen, spoken, grown, given — never the past simple. Because the most frequent English verbs are also the most irregular, learners cannot avoid the problem by choosing easier verbs. The related error is -ing in place of the participle: English is speaking here instead of English is spoken here. Speakers of languages that express a passive meaning with a reflexive form, such as Russian -ся or Spanish se, are particularly prone to it.
By, With and No Agent at All
By introduces the person or thing that did the action: The song was written by my favourite singer. With introduces a tool: The cake was cut with a knife. Made of and made from introduce a material: Paper is made from wood. The most useful rule, though, is about leaving by out. If the doer is unknown, obvious or unimportant, a by phrase adds nothing: My phone was stolen, not My phone was stolen by someone. Add by only when the doer is new or important information — and if the doer is the whole point of the sentence, the active is usually the better choice.
Verbs That Have No Passive
The passive turns the object of an active sentence into its subject, so only verbs that take an object can be passive. Happen, arrive, die, disappear and sleep have no object and therefore no passive form. Something strange was happened and Your parcel was arrived are always wrong, however natural they may feel to a learner who thinks of an event as something that “was done” to the world. The quick test is to ask whether you can say somebody happened it or somebody arrived it. You can't, so the verb stays active.
Common Mistakes with the Passive
- ✗ The castle built in 1450. → ✓ The castle was built in 1450.
- ✗ The letter was wrote by hand. → ✓ The letter was written by hand.
- ✗ The bridge is built in 1990. → ✓ The bridge was built in 1990.
- ✗ The rooms have cleaned. → ✓ The rooms have been cleaned.
- ✗ The form must been signed. → ✓ The form must be signed.
- ✗ Something strange was happened. → ✓ Something strange happened.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you form the passive voice in English?
Use a form of 'be' plus the past participle of the main verb. The past participle never changes; 'be' carries the tense: 'The office is cleaned every day' (present simple), 'The bridge was built in 1990' (past simple), 'Your order has been sent' (present perfect), 'The package will be delivered tomorrow' (future), 'The form must be signed' (modal). If you know the tense of 'be', you know the tense of the passive.
When should you use the passive instead of the active?
Use the passive when the action or its result matters more than the person who did it, when you don't know who did it, or when it is obvious. 'My bike was stolen' — we don't know who stole it. 'English is spoken in many countries' — 'people' is obvious. 'The meeting has been cancelled' — the news is the cancellation. When the doer is the point of the sentence, use the active: 'Our manager invited the whole team.'
Do you always need 'by' in a passive sentence?
No. Most passive sentences in real English have no 'by' phrase at all. Add 'by' only when the doer is important or new information: 'This song was written by my favourite singer.' Don't add it when the doer is unknown or obvious — 'My phone was stolen', not 'My phone was stolen by someone'. Use 'with' for a tool ('cut with a knife') and 'made of' or 'made from' for a material.
Why is 'it was happened' wrong?
Only verbs that can take an object can be passive, because the passive turns that object into the subject. 'Happen' never takes an object — nobody 'happens' something — so it has no passive form. The same is true of 'arrive', 'die', 'disappear' and 'sleep'. Say 'Something strange happened' and 'Your parcel arrived this morning', never 'was happened' or 'was arrived'.