English Grammar Exercises for A1 A2 – Passive: present and past simple

A. Match the sentence beginnings to the correct endings. If you don’t know the answers, look on the Internet.

a   by Henry Cavendish.

b   on Mars.

c   in the nineteenth century.

d   by over 3 0 0 million people.

e   in a theatre.

f   every four years.

g   in New York.

h   in China.

i   by Giovanni Agnelli.

j   in Africa.

B. Complete the sentences with passive forms (present and past simple) of the verbs in brackets.

1   The Olympics ……are watered…… by billions of people today. (watch)

2   Nowadays the work …………………………… by computer. (do)

3   Now, prizes …………………………… every week. (give)

4   The course …………………………… two years ago. (start)

5   In Europe, most food …………………………… in supermarkets. (buy)

6   …………………… Latin still …………………… in schools? (learn)

7   Gold …………………………… in California in the 19th century. (discover)

8   Cars …………………………… all over the world nowadays. (produce)

9   ……………… you ……………… any information about it? (send)

10   Radio …………………………… by Marconi. (invent)

C. Complete each sentence b so that it means the same as sentence a. Use no more than three words.

1   a John took Cindy to the cinema.

      b Cindy ……was taken…… to the cinema.

2   a The cat ate the cheese.

      b The cheese ……………………………. the cat.

3   a The shop was opened by the Queen.

      b ……………………………. the shop.

4   a Somebody called the police.

      b The police ……………………………. .

5   a Was it written by him?

      b ……………………………. it?

6   a This computer does not accept my password,

      b My password ……………………………. .

D. Gerald is talking about his job as a dustman. Complete the text with passive forms of the verbs in the box.

I 1……was asked…… to tell you about my job, so I’ll begin. I 2……………. up by my wife at 5 o’clock and I am at work at 5.45. We go round and take rubbish from people’s bins. In my area, 6,000 rubbish bins a day 3……………. . Often I 4……………. by what people don’t need! Yesterday a new TV 5……………. next to a bin! That 6……………. very quickly, I can tell you! It 7……………. for 700 euros the same day. The job can be dangerous. Once a big bin 8……………. on the van. It fell off and my friend’s leg 9……………. . She didn’t work for a month but she 10……………. some money to help her.

E. What is done in these places? In your notebook, write at least two sentences for each place using the passive and the words in brackets.

1   Your neighbourhood. (people, rubbish, streets)

      Rubbish is collected. Streets are cleaned.

2   A supermarket. (customers, food, money)

3   A school. (children, friends, lessons).

4   A cinema. (films, popcorn, tickets)

5   An office. (computers, emails, work)

6   A hotel. (beds, food, rooms)

7   A train station. (coffee, tickets, trains)

8   The Internet. (information, websites, emails)

F. Circle the correct option.

1   The rubbish …………… to the bin.

      a is take     b is took     c is taken

2   The workers are paid …………… hotels to pick up the rubbish.

      a by     b through     c from

3   A lot of this rubbish …………… fish or birds.

      a eat     b is eaten by     c is ate by

4   These birds …………… when they ate these plastic bags.

      a was kill     b were killed     c was killed

5   How often ……………?

      a is the beach cleaned

      b is cleaned the beach

      c the beach is cleaned