Active/Passive Examples

Causative

Passive. Intermediate Level

 Click on Exercises to practise how to use the passive voice. (AgendaWeb)

Passive Voice Cartoons

Passive voice: chart and link to website

 This chart will help you understand better how to turn active sentences into passive. If you click on the image, you will be redirected to a very interesting website with all the grammar explanations so that you can revise for your exam.

News Using the Passive. Reading-Comprehension (Pre-Intermediate Level)

Read the text and do the activities. You'll find the answers after clicking on 'Read more'           
                     
Huge Diamond Found in Bangkok Sewer System
The largest recorded diamond ever discovered was unearthed beneath the streets of lower Sukhumvit, Bangkok last week. The 37500 karat stone was stumbled upon by a team of maintenance workers cleaning out the sewer lines between soi's 89 and 90 last Friday night. According to witnesses, the stone was found by Mr. Supakorn, of Nakhon Phanom province.
“I was walking through the sludge when suddenly I tripped over an obstacle and fell flat on my face. When I reached down to remove the object, I noticed it had a very fine surface, almost like glass, but it was so heavy I thought that maybe it was a piece of concrete.
“When I looked at it close to the light, I couldn't believe my eyes”, he is reported to have told his boss. Mr. Supakorn was immediately taken back to headquarters where the account of his story was confirmed.
The head office of Supakorns company was inundated with friends and family wanting to know more about the precious stone. After hearing media reports of his finding, Mr. Supakorn then fled Bangkok not wanting to draw too much attention to himself. Attempts to find Mr. Supakorn by police and local authorities have been unsuccessful. The stone was reported to have been purchased by an unknown buyer from Dubai, going by the name of  "Mr. T". After collecting the precious stone from Mr. Supakorn, a private jet was chartered to fly Mr. T. back to Dubai. The sale of the precious stone is said to have caused devastation to the team of maintenance workers. The sewers of Bangkok have since been overrun with prospectors looking to follow the fotunes of Mr.Supakorn

                                                                                                                                         Written by Paul Adams for Teach-This.com ©2012

Exercise 1 - 
Passive Voice Sentences. Identify four examples of passive voice sentences from the news story.
Example: The 375 karat stone was stumbled upon by a team of maintenance workers cleaning out the sewer lines between soi's 89 and 90 last Friday night.  

Exercise 2 - Passive Voice Dialogue. Complete the sentences using the passive voice
 
Dialogue 1
Noi: The diamond that__ (find) last week___ (sell) a businessman   from Dubai.
Por: Yeah, a huge sum of money_____ (pay) to the Nakhon Phanom Province authorities
Noi: I heard the guy who found it____ (make) crazy by his fame.
Por: That's a shame, a discovery like that should be celebrated.
 
Dialogue 2
Buakaw:Did you watch the Man United vs Barcelona match last night? Four goals __(score) by both  teams.
Yodsenklai: Really? I heard that Rooney____ (send) off for foul play.
Buakaw: Yes, but a new system of play ____(use).
Yodsenklai: At the end of the day, a better game ____(play) by Man United.
 
Dialogue 3
Sid: Japan ___(hit)by a 9.1 earthquake yesterday and a large tsunami___ (generate).
Kim: Ten cities ______(affect) and communications_____ (disrupt).
Sid: 50,000 residents__________ (evacuate) within four hours of being alerted.
Kim: But five evacuation centres____ (destroy). The road____ (ruin)making evacuation difficult.

ANSWERS

Passive voice exercise

Complete the following sentences using an appropriate passive verb. Choose your answer from the given options.
1. This house ……………………. by my grandfather in 1970.
a) built
b) has built
c) was built
d) was building
2. French …………………… in many parts of Europe.
a) is speaking
b) is spoken
c) has spoken
d) is speaking
3. The roof ……………………….. by the contractor.
a) is being repaired
b) is repairing
c) repaired
d) has repaired
4. I felt as if I …………………………
a) was watching
b) was being watched
c) has watched
5. He needs ……………………….
a) be taken care of
b) to be taken care of
c) to taken care of
6. You …………………… when the time comes.
a) will told
b) will be told
c) will tell
7. I ………………….. a whole lot of information.
a) have just been send
b) have just been sent
c) have send
d) have just being sent
8. We ………………. a collection of old manuscripts.
a) shown
b) showed
c) were shown
d) were showed
9. Dinner ………………………….
a) is cooking
b) is being cooked
c) has cooked
d) has being cooked
10. Too many books ……………………….. about Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
a) have been written
b) have written
c) are writing
d) have been writing

Answers

Causative: have/get something done

Have + sth + done from inglesbalmaseda

Causative structures (have and get)

Short explanation (in Spanish) concerning causative structures in English. There are some exercises too.

Passive: more exercises

Exercise 1         Exercise 2         Exercise 3         Exercise 4         Exercise 5          Exercise 6         Exercise 7         Exercise 8          Exercise 9         Exercise 10

Passive voice: exercises

 

Exercises on passive voice

Passive voice

Passive voice: some exercises