Passive voice – Exercise 304

Drag each element from the list below to the right gap.

The lake

by the woods.

Antony

to the gala dinner.

The wine

from grapes.

The alarm clock

for eight o'clock.

English

all over the world.

is spoken

is set

is surrounded

is made

is invited

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Passive voice — reference

The base of the passive is to be + past participle, where the past participle never changes and "be" indicates a tense. To make passive in a certain English tense, we put the verb "be" into this tense.

Tense / modals	be	past participle	Example
Infinitive	be	done made built heard employed ...	The cat doesn't like to be petted.
Present simple	am/is/are		You are employed.
Present continuous	am/is/are being		The script is being written.
Present perfect	have/has been		The changes have been made.
Past simple	was/were		I was born on the third of March, 1987.
Past continuous	was/were being		The room was being cleaned when we entered.
Past perfect	had been		The house had been renovated before it was sold.
Future simple	will be		The task will be completed tomorrow.
Modal verbs (must, can, should, might и др.)	be have been		He must be stopped. The note might have been left by the neighbour.

We make question sentences in the passive voice in the same way as with multiple verbs. But no matter how many verbs there are in the sentence, the first word goes before the subject and all others go after the subject.

Examples of questions

Are you paid well? (Present Simple)

Have the changes been made? (Present Perfect)

Why was the room being cleaned? (Past Continuous)

When will the task be completed? (Future Simple)

How long has the script been being written? (Present Perfect Continuous)

Passive with modal verbs

We can use passive voice with other verbs including modals:

modal + be + past participle

modal + have been + past participle

Examples of active and passive voice with modals

You must finish the work within two hours. → The work must be finished within two hours.

No one must see me. → I mustn't be seen.

We should cancel the meeting. → The meeting should be cancelled.

I can hear the sound. → The sound can be heard.

I might have left the umbrella at work yesterday. → The umbrella might have been left at work yesterday.

I could have sold my car for five thousand pounds. → My car could have been sold for five thousand pounds.