Passive Voice

What the page covers

The resources here work through the passive from the ground up. Flashcard decks such as Passive Voice Forms pair active sentences with their passive versions, for example a book read twice becoming a book that was read twice. Other decks ask you to tell transitive from intransitive verbs, which matters because only some verbs can be made passive.

Further in, you will find the passive with modal verbs, passive reporting structures, the passive causative with have, and the contrast between be and get passives. There are also items on the present perfect passive and on preposition shift.

Where to start

1. Open the flashcard deck Passive Voice Exercises (Active to Passive - Passive to active) and turn sentences about inventions and places into passives.
2. Try the quiz Passive voice, which asks you to fill gaps such as were asked and are employed.
3. Move to Passive Voice with modal verbs Part II, where you complete sentences like had to be carried.
4. Finish with Personal - Impersonal Passive and the notes on passive reporting verbs.

Using quizzes and maps together

Take a quiz first and note the questions you miss. Then open a mind map on the same point. The maps called PASSIVE VERB FORMS and The Passive And Its Uses lay out forms and uses on a single screen, so you can see why an answer was wrong. Go back to the quiz afterwards and see what has changed.

Flowcharts such as The passive voice: yes/no questions help with question forms, which often cause slips.

Where it sits

This unit belongs to the strand Grammar: Verbs and Tenses in English language. It links naturally with tense work, since many items here practise the passive across several tenses.

Teachers can pick a quiz or deck for a lesson or for homework. Students can browse by format and choose what suits their revision style. When you are ready, try making a short deck of your own passive sentences.