Passive practise makes perfect

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3-6

The Passive

The cat bites the man.

The man is bitten (by the cat)

How to recognize a passive sentence...

- check if there is a form of 'to be' used (am, are, is, was, were, being, been)

- is it followed by a participle (voltooid deelwoord)?

- is it followed by 'by + noun or pronoun? If not, can it be followed by 'by zombies'?

Are all answers 'yes'? Congratulations, you have a passive sentence.

Passive exercises

Decide whether the sentence is active or passive.

The Government is planning a new road near my house.

1. passive
2. active

They often listen to music

1. passive
2. active

She is reading the newspaper now.

1. passive
2. active

These cars are produced in Japan.

1. passive
2. active

Boys like to play soccer.

1. passive
2. active

Cricket is played in Australia.

1. passive
2. active

The friends have been looking forward to meeting her.

1. passive
2. active

The search will be stopped because of the storm.

1. passive
2. active

This room has been painted blue.

1. passive
2. active

Passive in other tenses

subject	aux 1	aux 2	verb	(agent)
Panda	is	be ing	pushed	by Steve
Panda	was	be ing	pushed	by Steve
Panda	has	be en	pushed	by Steve
Panda	had	be en	pushed	by Steve
Panda	will	be	pushed	by Steve

Passive exercises

Fill in the correct form of the verb.

Mr Alan ________ Geography at school.

1. teaches
2. teacher
3. were taught
4. was teached

German __________ in Austria.

1. speaks
2. is spoken
3. is speaked
4. speaketh

A lot of houses ___________ by the earthquake in 1906.

1. were destroying
2. destroy
3. have destroyed
4. were destroyed

Henry Ford ________ the assembly line.

1. invented
2. was invented
3. is invented
4. were invented

The bus driver ________ yesterday.

1. hurts
2. were hurt
3. was hurt
4. is hurting

You should ________ your workbooks to study more.

1. is open
2. was open
3. open
4. opened

Houses ________________ .

1. have being built
2. have been built
3. have being build
4. have been build

Passive exercises

Make you own passive sentence.

Make a passive. Start with 'a goal'...

Make a passive. Start with 'the oranges'...

Name 2 things you've learned today.

Do you think that this lesson was enough for you to understand the passive

1. yes, I got it.
2. no, I still do not understand anything.
3. Well, maybe?
4. I did not pay any attention today.

More exercises

If you feel that you still need to practice more, go and do the online exercises after this slide.

www.englisch-hilfen.de

www.englisch-hilfen.de

learnenglish.britishcouncil.org

a4esl.org