Passive Voice Practice & Review
Bring together everything covered across the passive voice section, with a condensed recap and a mixed set of practice activities.
Bringing it all together
This lesson reviews, rather than introduces, the passive voice.
This page does not introduce new grammar rules. Instead, it draws together the recognition, formation and style choices covered throughout the passive voice section, and offers a mixed set of practice activities to work through them together.
In The novel was written by a famous author in the 1920s, and it is still read by millions today., several choices from across this section come together at once: forming the passive correctly, naming the agent where it adds value, and shifting tense from past to present within a single sentence.
If any part of the recap below feels unfamiliar, the linked lesson for that topic is worth revisiting before moving on.
Before you begin
This is the last of ten topics on the passive voice.
This lesson reviews the passive voice as a whole. If any part of the recap below is unclear, the other nine topics each cover one part of the passive voice in more depth.
If you would like an overview of the passive voice in general, begin with the Passive Voice page.
A quick recap
Nine ideas, one at a time.
The subject receives the action
This is what makes a sentence passive, rather than active.
Move the object, add be, use the past participle
These are the three steps that build a passive sentence from an active one.
Only be changes across tenses
The past participle stays fixed; being and been mark continuous and perfect forms.
A modal verb is followed by be, never is or was
Modal verbs add meaning such as necessity or possibility to the same passive structure.
Name the agent only when it adds something useful
By goes at the end of the sentence, and is optional.
To be and being carry the passive into infinitives and gerunds
Neither word can be dropped from these structures.
It is said that… and subject is said to… report the same belief
These two patterns work the same way, without naming a source, and should not be mixed together.
Formal writing favours the passive voice, in moderation
Objectivity and a focus on process explain its frequent use, but overusing it can make writing vague.
Check the participle, the agreement, and whether passive belongs here at all
Most mistakes are formation errors, choice errors, or a handful of tricky patterns like the get passive.
A full decision guide
Walk through these questions to build any passive sentence.
01
Does the receiver of the action deserve the focus?
If so, the passive voice may suit the sentence better than the active voice.
02
What tense, or modal verb, does the sentence need?
Build the correct form of be, or modal plus be, around that choice.
03
Is the main verb’s past participle correct?
Check whether it is regular or irregular before finishing the sentence.
04
Should the agent be named?
Include it with by only if it adds real information.
05
Does the context call for a formal or an informal tone?
This affects whether be or get, and how much passive voice, fits the writing.
Mixed review: recognition
Identify the pattern in each sentence.
These questions draw from across the whole section.
The bridge was designed by a well-known engineer.
✅ Exactly! The bridge receives the action of being designed.
❎ Not quite. Ask whether the bridge is performing the action or receiving it.
Can a bridge design itself?
The proposal must be reviewed before Friday.
✅ Exactly! “Must” adds necessity to the passive structure.
❎ Not quite. Is there a modal verb here, such as “must” or “should”?
Look for a word expressing necessity.
It is believed that the ship sank in a storm.
✅ Exactly! “It is believed that…” reports a general belief without naming its source.
❎ Not quite. Look at the opening words of the sentence.
Does the sentence begin with “It is…”?
Mixed review: completion
Complete each sentence with the correct passive form.
Type the missing words.
✅ Exactly! “Build” is irregular, and its past participle is “built”.
❎ Not quite. Check the irregular past participle of “build”.
✅ Exactly! “Should have been” places this expectation about the past.
❎ Not quite. This sentence refers to an expectation that was not met, in the past.
✅ Exactly! The perfect infinitive places the carving in the distant past.
❎ Not quite. “Over five hundred years ago” points to an event well before now.
Mixed review: rewriting
Rewrite each active sentence in the passive voice.
Decide whether the agent is worth keeping.
The mayor presented the award.
✅ Exactly! Naming the mayor adds useful information here, so the agent is worth keeping.
❎ Not quite. Move the object to the subject position, and consider whether “by the mayor” is worth keeping.
Someone broke the window.
✅ Exactly! “Someone” is vague, so the agent is best left out here.
❎ Not quite. Since “someone” is vague, is it worth including as the agent?
Quick review
The passive voice is one structure, applied across many situations.
Every passive sentence rests on the same core pattern: be plus a past participle, with the subject receiving the action.
That core pattern extends across tenses, modal verbs, infinitives and gerunds, always in the same recognisable shape.
The agent, the register, and the choice to use the passive voice at all are style decisions, not just grammar rules.
Most mistakes come down to a small number of causes: an incorrect past participle, a mismatched form of be, or reaching for the passive voice when it doesn’t fit the sentence.
Remember
One structure, used with intention, carries you through every lesson in this section.
Be plus a past participle is the thread running through every topic in this section. With that pattern secure, every variation covered here becomes a small adjustment rather than something new to learn from scratch.