Advanced Passive – English Grammar Exercises for B2
A Beauty Blogger writes a highly complimentary review on social media about a full day of beauty treatments (hair, nails, skin) at a premium spa/salon in preparation for a major event.
Read each question carefully. Put yourself in the shoes of the beauty blogger writing this review. Choose the best option (a, b, c, or d) to fill in the blanks.
1 As a beauty blogger, I always ________ at this fabulous salon before any major red-carpet event.
(a) get my hair styled
(b) have my hair styling
(c) get styled my hair
(d) make my hair styled
2 It ________ that this spa provides the most luxurious and relaxing facials in the entire city.
(a) is saying
(b) is told
(c) is said
(d) has said
3 Yesterday, to prepare for the gala, I ________ by their award-winning manicurist.
(a) did my nails
(b) got my nails done
(c) had my nails to do
(d) got my nails beautifully
4 The salon’s head stylist is considered ________ the best color expert in the country.
(a) as be
(b) being
(c) to be
(d) that she is
5 You absolutely must ________ here; the makeup artists are true magicians!
(a) have your makeup done
(b) do your makeup
(c) have done your makeup
(d) make your makeup apply
6 I didn’t want to risk a DIY disaster at home, so I ________ by a professional esthetician.
(a) had cleared my skin
(b) had my skin treating
(c) got my skin treated
(d) got my skin to treat
7 The signature anti-aging massage is reported ________ blood circulation and reduce stress instantly.
(a) improving
(b) to improve
(c) that it improves
(d) to improving
8 I was amazed by the results after I ________ with their exclusive organic gold serum.
(a) had massaged my face
(b) had my face massaged
(c) got my face massage
(d) let my face massaged
9 It is highly recommended that clients ________ well in advance, as the salon is always fully booked.
(a) have their appointments scheduled
(b) have their appointments scheduling
(c) get their appointments to schedule
(d) order their appointments scheduled
10 The owner of this magnificent spa is rumored ________ a second branch in Paris next month.
(a) to open
(b) to opening
(c) that she opens
(d) to be opened
11 Rather than cutting my own bangs and ruining my look, I preferred ________ by the creative director.
(a) having my hair trimmed
(b) having trimmed my hair
(c) to get my hair to trim
(d) making my hair trimmed
12 The new laser therapy ________ to be completely painless and highly effective for glowing skin.
(a) is believed
(b) has believed
(c) is believing
(d) is convinced
13 If you want your hands to look perfect for photos, you need to get your cuticles ________ properly.
(a) moisturizing
(b) to moisturize
(c) nourished
(d) moisturize
14 The beauty treatments here are widely acknowledged ________ wonders for prematurely aging skin over the past decade.
(a) to have done
(b) having done
(c) to do
(d) that they do
15 Not only did I enjoy the luxurious ambiance, but I also ________ to absolute perfection before the photoshoot.
(a) had shaped my eyebrows
(b) got my eyebrows shape
(c) had my eyebrows shaped
(d) requested my eyebrows shaped
16 Celebrity guests are said ________ this specific VIP room for their private pampering sessions.
(a) preferring
(b) to prefer
(c) to be preferred
(d) that they prefer
17 By the time I leave for the launch event tomorrow evening, I ________ by the city’s top artists.
(a) will have had my hair and makeup done
(b) will get done my hair and makeup
(c) will have my hair and makeup doing
(d) will have my hair and makeup accomplished
18 ________ that the rare essential oils used in their aromatherapy are imported directly from a secret farm in France.
(a) They are claimed
(b) There is claimed
(c) It is claimed
(d) It claims
19 My skin felt incredibly rejuvenated; I’ve never ________ so thoroughly before!
(a) had my pores cleansed
(b) had cleansed my pores
(c) got my pores to cleanse
(d) had my pores eradicated
20 There are known ________ several secret off-menu treatments available only for loyal VIP members.
(a) to be
(b) being
(c) that there are
(d) to have
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive structure: Get + Object + Past Participle (V3/ed). “Get my hair styled” means arranging for someone else to style your hair.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Common Mistake: Incorrect structure; uses V-ing instead of V3/ed.
- (c) Structural Error: Incorrect word order; the object (my hair) must come before the past participle.
- (d) Meaning Trap: While “make someone do something” is grammatically possible in the active voice, using “make” in a passive causative context like this sounds unnatural and lacks proper collocation.
2 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal Passive structure: It is + V3 (said/believed/thought) + that… is used to express a general belief or opinion.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Common Mistake: Uses the active continuous form (is saying) instead of passive.
- (b) Meaning Trap: “Tell” requires a personal object (is told to someone); we don’t use “It is told that” in this context.
- (d) Structural Error: Incorrect tense/structure (present perfect active).
3 (b)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive with “get”: Get + Object + V3/ed.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Meaning Trap: “Did my nails” implies doing it oneself, which contradicts the context of praising the salon’s manicurist.
- (c) Structural Error: Incorrect structure; “to do” is not used after the object in a passive causative.
- (d) Common Mistake: Uses an adverb (beautifully) instead of a past participle verb (done).
4 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal passive followed by an infinitive: S + is considered + to-V.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Structural Error: Incorrect basic structure and preposition.
- (b) Common Mistake: Learners often mistakenly use V-ing after “considered” in the passive voice (active is “consider doing sth,” but passive requires “to-V”).
- (d) Meaning Trap: Understandable in meaning but completely grammatically incorrect.
5 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive: Have + Object + V3/ed (hiring a makeup artist to do your makeup).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Meaning Trap: “Do your makeup” means doing it yourself, missing the point of praising the salon’s artists.
- (c) Structural Error: Incorrect word order (V3 placed before the object).
- (d) Common Mistake: Uses the wrong causative verb and the wrong verb form (bare infinitive “apply”).
6 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Got + Object + V3/ed. Meaning: Having the skin treated by a professional.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Structural Error: Past perfect active (clearing one’s own skin), which does not fit the context.
- (b) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing instead of V3/ed.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Got sth to V” is semantically incorrect for the passive form; “get sb to V” means persuading someone to do something.
7 (b)
- Why it’s correct: S + is reported + to-V. The massage is reported to improve blood circulation.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing instead of to-V.
- (c) Structural Error: A “that” clause cannot directly follow a non-dummy subject (The massage is reported…) in this way.
- (d) Meaning Trap: Confuses “to” as a preposition requiring V-ing; here it’s an infinitive marker.
8 (b)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive: Had + Object + V3/ed.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Structural Error: Past perfect active (massaging one’s own face).
- (c) Common Mistake: Forgets to conjugate the verb to its past participle form (massage -> massaged).
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Let” means “allow,” but “let my face massaged” is grammatically incorrect (it should be “let my face be massaged,” which sounds less natural than have/get here).
9 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive: Have + Object (their appointments) + V3/ed (scheduled).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing.
- (c) Structural Error: “Get sth to V” is an incorrect passive causative structure.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Order” means to book, but it doesn’t naturally fit the causative passive structure “order sth V3” in this context.
10 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal passive: S + is rumored + to-V.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Common Mistake: Adds -ing after “to”.
- (c) Structural Error: A “that” clause doesn’t directly follow “is rumored” unless the subject is the dummy “It”.
- (d) Meaning Trap: Passive “to be opened” is wrong because opening a new branch is an active action performed by the owner.
11 (a)
- Why it’s correct: “Prefer” followed by V-ing: prefer having + Object + V3/ed.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Structural Error: Incorrect word order; “having trimmed my hair” means “after I had trimmed my own hair” (Perfect Participle active).
- (c) Common Mistake: Uses to-V instead of V3/ed for an object.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Make” is not used in common passive causative structures like have/get.
12 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal passive: S + is believed + to-V.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Structural Error: Active voice (has believed) is logically incorrect (a therapy cannot believe).
- (c) Common Mistake: Uses the active continuous form.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Is convinced” is used for people (being persuaded), not for things or therapies.
13 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive: Get + Object (your cuticles) + V3/ed (nourished).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing.
- (b) Structural Error: Uses to-V.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Moisturize” is a great vocabulary word for the context, but it’s grammatically incorrect because it’s a bare infinitive instead of V3/ed (it should be moisturized).
14 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Perfect infinitive after impersonal passive: S + are acknowledged + to have + V3/ed. This is used to indicate an action that happened or lasted in the past (“over the past decade”).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing.
- (c) Meaning Trap: “To do” is grammatically correct for the general structure, but wrong in terms of tense due to the phrase “over the past decade”.
- (d) Structural Error: Incorrect clause structure.
15 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive: Had + Object (my eyebrows) + V3/ed (shaped).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Structural Error: Past perfect active (shaping one’s own eyebrows).
- (b) Common Mistake: Forgets to add “d” to “shape”.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Requested” makes sense contextually, but the structure “request sth V3” does not exist in English grammar.
16 (b)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal passive: S + are said + to-V (to prefer). VIP guests are said to prefer this room.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing.
- (c) Meaning Trap: “To be preferred” (passive) changes the meaning incorrectly: it would mean the guests “are preferred” rather than the guests “prefer” the room.
- (d) Structural Error: Cannot use a “that” clause directly after a personal subject in this structure.
17 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Future perfect tense (by the time… tomorrow) combined with causative: Will have had + O + V3/ed.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Structural Error: Incorrect word order.
- (c) Common Mistake: Uses V-ing.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Accomplished” sounds formal and advanced, but it does not naturally collocate with “hair and makeup”.
18 (c)
- Why it’s correct: Impersonal passive with a dummy subject: It is claimed that + Clause.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (a) Structural Error: “They” cannot be used as a dummy subject here.
- (b) Common Mistake: Learners often confuse “It is” with “There is”.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “It claims” is active – a thing (or “It”) cannot claim something in this context.
19 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Causative passive in present perfect tense: Had + Object (my pores) + V3/ed (cleansed).
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Structural Error: Inversion / Active voice meaning.
- (c) Common Mistake: Uses to-V.
- (d) Meaning Trap: “Eradicated” (wiped out completely) is generally used for diseases or crime; applying it to pores is a severe stylistic error and lacks proper collocation, even if grammatically acceptable.
20 (a)
- Why it’s correct: Combined existential structure: There are known to be + Noun.
- Distractor Analysis:
- (b) Common Mistake: Uses “being”.
- (c) Structural Error: Incorrect structure (if using “that”, it should be “It is known that there are…”).
- (d) Meaning Trap: “To have” does not work correctly in a “There is/are” existential construction.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Causative Passive (Have/Get something done)
- Structure: Subject + have / get + Object (Thing) + Past Participle (V3/ed)
- Usage: Use this structure when you do not perform an action yourself, but rather pay, hire, or ask someone else (usually a professional) to do it for you. It is extremely common when talking about services like haircuts, manicures, car repairs, house renovations, etc.
- Note: Do not confuse this with the active causative forms: Have someone DO something (bare infinitive) or Get someone TO DO something (to-infinitive).
2 Impersonal Passive (It is said that…)
- Structure 1: It + is/was + said/believed/rumored/reported… + that + Subject 2 + Verb 2
- Structure 2: Subject 2 + is/was + said/believed/rumored/reported… + to + Verb (Infinitive)
- Usage: Used to express general opinions, rumors, or beliefs held by people or the community without specifying exactly who said it. It creates a professional, objective, and formal tone.
- Advanced Tip: If the action in the second clause happened BEFORE the action in the passive reporting verb, we must use the Perfect Infinitive (to have + V3/ed). (Example: Question 14 – The treatments are acknowledged TO HAVE DONE wonders…).