English Advanced Grammar Exercises – The passive 1: basic passive forms

A. Make sentences by putting the words in the correct order.

1   named / A 24-year-old woman / been / Young Writer of the Year. / has / from London

      ………………………………………………..

2   is / English / the international language of business. / generally considered

      ………………………………………………..

3   being / English / taught / In some countries, / are / from the age of two. / children

      ………………………………………………..

4   founded / was / The company / in 1922.

      ………………………………………………..

5   a job / has / in New York. / My husband / offered / been

      ………………………………………………..

6   was / my grandmother. / taught / I / the piano / by / to play

      ………………………………………………..

7   decorated / For the wedding, / was / with beautiful yellow and white flowers. / the room

      ………………………………………………..

8   being / My office / last week. / repainted / was

      ………………………………………………..

9   you ever / Have / been / by a snake? / bitten

      ………………………………………………..

10   of the accident / not / At the moment / known. / the cause / is

        ………………………………………………..

B. Write ONE missing word in the correct place in each sentence.

1   All our bread made with natural ingredients using a traditional recipe.

2   The first programmable computer was invented Charles Babbage.

3   The theft of three valuable paintings from a museum in Paris is investigated by police.

4   Philip Majors, 56, been elected Mayor of Wallbridge.

5   We have been made feel extremely welcome throughout our holiday.

6   A baby tiger which escaped from a zoo yesterday found in a local park this morning.

7   I really hate asked to work at the weekend.

8   Free tickets will given away to the first 200 callers after the lines open at 7 pm.

9   It’s better to leave early to avoid caught in the rush-hour traffic.

10   Her new book has read by nearly a million people.

C. Complete the news report with appropriate passive forms of the verbs in brackets.

The large number of new words which 1………………… (add) to dictionaries this year shows how the English language 2………………… (change) by the effects of the Internet and globalisation. A list 3………………… (publish) last week by one company, and includes many new words as well as some which 4………………… (know) for many years but which 5………………… (adopt) by more people and 6………………… (use) more and more on Internet blogs and in chat rooms. In fact, blog and chat room are two expressions which 7………………… (see) increasingly frequently in the media in recent years, whilst new inventions include vlog [a video blog], staycalion [a vacation at home] and frenemy [a person who acts like your friend but is really your enemy]. Meanwhile, the ethnic diversity of English 8………………… (demonstrate) by the fact that many words and phrases from other languages, like tapas, karaoke and feng shui, 9…………………  (accept) into many English-language dictionaries and 10………………… (use) in everyday speech.

D. Rewrite each sentence, using a passive form of the underlined verb. Leave out the agent where possible.

1   The police have arrested a woman on suspicion of murder.

      ………………………………………………….

2   People write more than two billion emails every day.

      ………………………………………………….

3   Someone’s sent Sarah a telephone bill for more than £200.

      ………………………………………………….

4   Culverton High School has appointed Graeme Turner, 42, from Banford, headteacher.

      ………………………………………………….

5   The manager spoke to me in a very rude way, which made me quite angry.

      ………………………………………………….

6   We won’t allow the children to come inside with their shoes on because they’ll get the carpet dirty.

      ………………………………………………….

7   The minister was criticised after people heard him swear during a live TV debate.

      ………………………………………………….

8   Someone caught a thief trying to steal a car.

      ………………………………………………….

9   They haven’t decided the best way to deal with the situation yet.

      ………………………………………………….

10   You can easily walk up the mountain in less than two hours.

        ………………………………………………….

E. Complete the sentences, using the words in brackets and an appropriate form of the verb.

1   I can’t accept this assignment because it ………………………………… . (copy / the Internet)

2   Nearly 1,000 people have entered the competition and the winner ………………………………… . (choose / Friday)

3   We really enjoyed working on this project because we ………………………………… . (interest / the subject matter)

4   I’ll have my phone with me, so I ………………………………… . (contact / anytime)

5   You should have received the tickets by now because they ………………………………… . (send / two weeks ago)

6   The directors decided not to offer her the job because it ………………………………… . (feel / too inexperienced)

7   It’s a very safe area because it ………………………………… . (patrol / security guards)

8   The company records all phone calls because they ………………………………… . (use / training purposes)

9   Three people are in hospital after they ………………………………… . (injure / car accident)

10   The city centre is more attractive now because a large amount of money ………………………………… . (invest / shops and facilities)

F. Think about any changes in your town / city at different times in your life. W rite at least two passive sentences describing the changes.

1   Changes when you were a child

      The old paint factory was knocked down. The shopping centre was built.

2   Recent changes

      …………………………………………………

3   Changes taking place at the moment

      …………………………………………………

4   Likely or possible future changes

      …………………………………………………

G. Circle the correct option.

1   The picture was drawn ………… a pencil.

      a   through

      b   by

      c   with

2   This house is really old – it must ………… hundreds of years ago.

      a   have been built

      b   be built

      c   have built

3   English is ………… by almost two billion people around the world.

      a   learning

      b   being learning

      c   being learned

4   ………… taught English at primary school.

      a   I did

      b   To me was

      c   I was

5   They were seen ………… the building.

      a   to enter

      b   enter

      c   to be entered