Passive Voice 1º BACHILLERATO

Passive Voice 4º ESO

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the present or past simple passive.

1 English ……................. (speak) in the USA.
2 Their last hit ……................. (not compose) by the band.
3 Friends ……................. (show) on Mondays.
4 Computer studies ……................. (not teach) when I was a child.
5 Millions of videos ……................. (buy) every year.
6 My favourite actor ……................. (not interview) on last night’s show.
7 The Olympic Games ……................. (watch) by millions of people every four years.
8 My friends ……................. (not invite) to the party last weekend.

Write these sentences in the passive.

1 TV stations made millions of pounds.
………........................................................... .
2 People all over the world watch TV.
………........................................................... .
3 The presenter didn’t accept the answer.
………........................................................... .
4 Teenagers spend a lot of money on videos.
………........................................................... .
5 The best team didn’t win the match.
………........................................................... .
6 Young children don’t watch chat shows.
………........................................................... .

Complete the questions. Use the verbs below in the present or past simple passive.

build take permit show speak invent

1 ‘Where ……................. these photos ……................. ?’ ‘On holiday in Spain’.
2 ‘……................. cartoons ……................. on British TV?’ ‘Yes, they are.’
3 ‘When ……................. this cathedral ……................. ?’ ‘About 200 years ago.’
4 ‘……................ English ……................. here?’ ‘Yes, except in the villages.’
5 ‘……................. TV ……................. by an American?’ ‘No, Baird was Scottish.’
6 ‘……............... people ……............... to smoke in here?’ ‘No, you mustn’t smoke.’

Present Simple Passive and past Simple Passive 3º ESO

Rewrite the sentences with the present simple passive.

1 They sell Spanish cheese in that shop.
...........…………………………………………
2 They consume billions of hamburgers in America every year.
...........…………………………………………
3 They build aeroplanes in this factory.
...........…………………………………………
4 They grow a lot of fruit in this region.
...........…………………………………………
5 They make this newspaper from recycled paper.
...........…………………………………………

Read the sentences and correct the mistakes.

1 Spanish are spoken by more than 200 million people in the world.
........…………………………………………
2 Oranges are grow in Valencia.
........…………………………………………
3 Our exams are wrote by our teachers.
........…………………………………………
4 Peru divided into three main regions.
........…………………………………………
5 England and France is joined by the Channel Tunnel.
........…………………………………………

Complete the sentences with the past simple passive of the verbs below.

wear paint act sell direct discover write invent win build

1 The game of table tennis ….................... by James Gibb in London.
2 Romeo and Juliet and Othello ….................... by Shakespeare.
3 The Alhambra palace ….................... in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
4 The films E.T. and A.I. ….................... by Steven Spielberg.
5 The part of Harry Potter …................... by Daniel Radcliffe in the film.
6 The US Masters golf cup ….................... by Tiger Woods in 1997.
7 Guernica and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon ….................... by Picasso.
8 Alaska ….................... by the Russians to the Americans in 1867 for $7.2 million.
9 Those shoes ….................... by Madonna in her latest film.
10 Most people believe that America ….................... by Christopher Columbus.

Rewrite the sentences with the present simple passive or the past simple passive.

1 They designed the new school last year.
........…………………………………………
2 They grow olives in Andalucía.
........…………………………………………
3 They hold this competition every year.
........…………………………………………
4 Ms Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books.
........…………………………………………
5 They make this product in Germany.
........…………………………………………

Impersonal Passive

The phrase It is said ... is an impersonal passive construction. We often use it in news.

Passive sentence - version 1:It is said that children are afraid of ghosts.
Passive sentence - version 2:Children are said to be afraid of ghosts.

The correct active sentence would be:

Active sentence: People say that children are afraid of ghosts.

Passive Voice - Two Objects

When there are two objects in an active sentence, there are two possible active sentences and two possible passive sentences.
possibility 1: The professor explained the students the exercise.
possibility 2: The professor explained the exercise to the students.
There are two objects in each of the following sentences:
object 1 = indirect object: the students
object 2 = direct object: the exercise
An indirect object is very often a person, a direct object a thing. When a direct object is followed by an indirect one, we put to in front of the indirect object.


active sentence - possibility 1
subject __________ verb ______ indirect object ______direct object
The professor ____ explained _____ the students ______ the exercise.


active sentence - possibility 2
subject __________verb________direct object_______indirect object
The professor ___ explained ______ the exercise ______ to the students.

Each of the objects (direct and indirect) can be the subject in the passive sentence.

passive sentence - possibility 1
subject _________ verb ________ object __________ (by-agent)
The students ____ were explained _ the exercise ______ (by the professor).

passive sentence - possibility 2

subject _________ verb ________ object __________ (by-agent)
The exercise ____ was explained __ to the students ____ (by the professor).

Passive Voice

I have listed active and passive forms in the following table. I use the phrase I drive and have put this phrase into most common tenses.


Active (Simple Forms)

Simple Present: I drive

Simple Past: I drove

Present Perfect: I have driven

Past Perfect: I had driven

will-future: I will drive

Future Perfect: I will have driven

Conditional: I would drive

Perfect Conditional: I would have driven


Active (Progressive/Continuous Forms)

Simple Present: I am driving

Simple Past: I was driving

Present Perfect: I have been driving

Past Perfect: I had been driving

will-future: I will be driving

Future Perfect: I will have been driving

Conditional: I would be driving

Perfect Conditional: I would have been driving





Passive (Simple Forms)

Simple Present: I am driven

Simple Past: I was driven

Present Perfect: I have been driven

Past Perfect: I had been driven

will-future: I will be driven

Future Perfect: I will have been driven

Conditional: I would be driven

Perfect Conditional: I would have been driven


Passive (Progressive/Continuous Forms)

Present: I am being driven

Past: I was being driven

Present Perfect ¹: I have been being driven

Past Perfect ¹: I had been being driven

Future ¹: I will be being driven

Future Perfect ¹: I will have been being driven

Conditional ¹: I would be being driven

Perfect Conditional ¹: I would have been being driven


¹ Tenses which are rarely used in everyday conversation.