The Passive Voice Solution

EXERCISES 1. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the Present Simple. a. English is spoken (speak) in many countries. b. The post was delivered (deliver) at about 7 o’clock every morning. c. Is the building used(the building/use) any more? d. How often are the Olympic Games held(the Olympic Games(hold)? e. How is your name spelled (your name/spell)? f. My salary is paid (pay) every month. g. These cars aren’t made (not make) in Japan. h. The name of the people who committed the crime isn’t known(not know). i. His travel expenses aren’t paid (not pay) by his company. 2. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the Past Simple. a. My car ______________________ (repair) last week. b. This song ________________________ (not write) by John Lennon. c. ________________________________ (the phone/answer) by a young girl? d. The film ________________________ (make) ten years ago. e. When ______________________________ (tennis/invent)? f. The car ________________________ (not damaged) in the accident. g. The original building _________________________ (pull) down in 1965. h. Where ______________________________ (this pot/make)? i. When _______________________________ (this bridge/build)? 4 3. Choose the correct form of the verbs in brackets. FIAT 0 Fiat was started (started/was started) by a group of Italian businessmen in 1899. In 1903, Fiat, 1 2 _________________ (produced/was produced) 132 cars. Some of these cars _____________________ (exported/were exported) by the company to the United States and Britain. In 1920, Fiat 3 _________________ (started/was started) making cars at a new factory at Lingotto, near Turin. There was a 4 track on the roof where the cars ____________________ (tested/were tested) by technicians. In 1936, Fiat 5 launched the Fiat 500. This car ____________________ (called/was called) the Topolino – the Italian name 6 for Mickey Mouse. The company grew, and in 1963 Fiat _____________________ (exported/was exported) more than 300,000 vehicles. Today, Fiat is based in 7 Turin, and its cars _________________ (sold/are sold) all over the world. 4. Change the following sentences into passive sentences using the words in brackets. a. We sell tickets for all shows at the Box Office. (Tickets for all shows/sell/at the Box Office) _________________________________________________________________________________ b. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. (The electric light bulb/invent/by Thomas Edison) _________________________________________________________________________________ c. Someone painted the office last week. (The office/paint/last week) _________________________________________________________________________________ d. Several people saw the accident. (The accident/see/by several people) _________________________________________________________________________________ e. Where do they make these video recorders? (Where/these video recorders/make) _________________________________________________________________________________

ENGLISH GRAMMAR The Passive Voice 5. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. a. Someone built this house 200 years ago. _________________________________________________________________________________ b. A thief stole my purse. _________________________________________________________________________________ c. The police will arrest the robbers. _________________________________________________________________________________ d. They produce cars in this factory. _________________________________________________________________________________ e. They serve breakfast at eight o’clock every day. _________________________________________________________________________________ f. People throw away tones of rubbish every day. _________________________________________________________________________________ g. They make coffee in Brazil. _________________________________________________________________________________ h. Someone stole Jim’s bike lat night. _________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. a. They will build a new bridge next year. _________________________________________________________________________________ b. Brian Brody directed The Ultimate Space Adventure. _________________________________________________________________________________ c. Pierre Matie will design her costume. _________________________________________________________________________________ d. Someone found my wallet. 5 _________________________________________________________________________________ 6 One of the students broke the window. _________________________________________________________________________________ e. They will deliver my computer on Monday. _________________________________________________________________________________ f. Mary invited Paul to her birthday party. _________________________________________________________________________________ g. British astronomers discovered a new planet. _________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Form the question. a. Paper is made from wood. b.

The telephone was invented by Mr Bell.

c.

This picture was painted by Peter.

d.

The thieves will be arrested by the police.

e.

Champagne is made in France.

f. g.

The letters will be sent next week. The animals are fed three times a day.

Is paper made from wood ? __________________________________________ _? __________________________________________ _? __________________________________________ _? __________________________________________ _? __________________________________________ _? __________________________________________

h. i. j.

This article was written by Stanley. CDs are made of plastic. The party was organised by Paul.

_? __________________________________________ _? ___________________________________________? ___________________________________________?

8. Read and complete. Use Past Simple. th a. The toothbrush / invent / in the 15 century. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ b. The first public basketball game / play / in 1892. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ c. The first eyeglasses / wear / in the 1200s. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ d. The first bicycle / ride in 1791. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ e. The first hot dog / eat / in the 1860s. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ f. The first CDs / sell / in the 1980s. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ g. The first electric guitar / play / in 1923. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ h. The first computer mouse / use / 1964. ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ 6

9. Complete with the passive. Use Present Simple. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h.

This programme _______________________ (watch) by millions of people. Paper __________________________ (make) from wood. Hundreds of people _______________________ (kill) in accidents every year. London __________________________ (visit) by thousands of tourists every year. The biology class _________________________ (teach) by Mr Green. English _____________________ (speak) all over the world. Lunch _____________________ (serve) at twelve o’clock. Books _____________________ (write) by authors.

10. Put the verbs in brackets into Past Simple Passive. Two men _________________________ (see) breaking into a house in my street last night. The police _____________________ (call) and they arrived very quickly. One man _____________________ (catch) immediately. The other escaped, but he ______________________ (find) very soon. Both men _____________________ (take) to the police station where they _________________________

(question) separately by a police officer. The two men ________________________ (charge) with burglary. 11. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive. Somebody has stolen a bus from outside the school. Some children saw the thief. The police are searching for the bus now. They will use the children’s descriptions to catch the thief. _________________________________________________________________________________ ___ _________________________________________________________________________________ ___ _________________________________________________________________________________ ___

ENGLISH GRAMMAR The Passive Voice 12. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive. Some people saw a UFO in the sky above London last night. They reported it to the police. The army sent a helicopter to look at it more closer. The UFO shot the helicopter down and killed both men in it. People have given photographs of the UFO to the police. Experts are looking at them now. ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 13. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive. Someone broke into a local jewellery shop yesterday. The owner had just locked up the shop when a robber with a gun threatened him. The robber told him to unlock the shop and give him all the diamonds in the safe. Then the robber tied him up. The police have organized a search for the robber. They hope they will find him in a few days. Doctors are treating the owner of the shop for shock. ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 14. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive. My uncle painted this picture. Someone has offered him a lot of money for it. He will deliver the painting tomorrow. When they give him the money, he will tell them the truth. He painted it one night while he was sleepwalking! ____________________________________________________________________________________ 7 ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 15. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive. Our school is organizing a contest. The teachers will choose the best project about the environment. The students must include pictures and drawings in their projects. The students will also have to do all the writing themselves. The school will give the winner a set of encyclopaedias. ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 16. Turn from Active to Passive in two ways. a. He gave me a present. A present was given to me. I was given a present. b. The waiter will bring us the bill. The bill will be brought to us. We will be brought the bill. c. Her mother bought Mary some sweets. Some sweets were bought to Mary by her mother.

Mary was bought some sweets by her mother. d. Bob has sold Ted a second-hand car. A second-hand car has been sold to Ted by Bob. Ted has been sold a second hand car by Bob. Larry is going to send a letter to Tom. A letter is going to be sent to Tom by Larry. Tom is going to be sent a letter by Larry. 17. Turn from Active to Passive. a. Someone is helping her with the

housework. She is being helped with the housework. b. The mail-order company sent Mrs Green a parcel. Mrs Green was sent a parcel by the mailorder company. A parcel was sent by the mail-order company to Mrs. Green. c. My friend sent me an invitation. An invitation was sent to me by my friend. I was sent an invitation by my friend. d. The secretary has given Mrs Jones some letters. Some letters have been given to Mrs Jones. Mrs Jones has been given some letters. e. The traffic warden had already given him a ticket for illegal parking. A ticket had been given to him for illegal parking. He had been given a ticket for illegal parking. f. John gave Elizabeth that beautiful ring. That beautiful ring was given to Elizabeth by John. Elizabeth was given that beautiful ring by John. g. Her students have sent her flowers. Her flowers have been sent by her students. She has been sent her flowers by her students. h. He must give the message to the right person. The message must be given to the right person. i. We teach our students English and French. Our student are taught English and French. j. Someone bought flowers for the bride. Flowers were bought for the bride. k. They showed the tourists the sights of Athens. The sights of Athens were showed to the tourists. The tourists were showed the sights of Athens. l. They pay her an excellent salary. She is paid an excellent salary. An excellent salary is paid to her. m. They paid the artist £1,000 for his painting. The artist was paid £1,000 for his painting. 18. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. 1. They sell oysters in the shop next door.

Oysters are sold in the shop next door. 2. They haven’t delivered the food yet. The food has been delivered. 3. Shakespeare wrote King Lear. King Lear was written by Shakespeare. 4. They have to answer the questions on this sheet. The questions have to be answered by them on this sheet. 5. Has anybody put the cases upstairs? Were the cases put upstairs by anybody? 6. Someone should take this rubbish away. This rubbish should be taken by someone. 7. They’ll ask you a lot of questions. You will be asked a lot of questions by them. 8. Someone’s going to send her some flowers. She is going to be sent some flowers. 9. They didn’t pay me much for that job. I wasn’t paid much for that job. 10. Have they offered him a better job? A better job was offered to him. 11. They told us a secret. A secret was told to us. We were told a secret. 12. Would they lend me their car? Would their car be lent to me? 13. People should send their complaints to the head office. Their complaints should be sent to the head office. 14. They had to postpone the meeting because of illness. The meeting had to be postponed because of illness. 15. They are going to hold next year’s congress in San Francisco. Next year’s congress is going to be held in San Francisco. 16. The bill includes service. Service is included by the bill. 17. People don’t use this road very often. This road isn’t used very often. 18. They cancelled all the flights because of fog. All the flights were cancelled because of the fog. 19. Somebody accused me of stealing the money. I was accused of stealing the money. 20. They are building a new ring-road round the city. A new ring-road is being built round the city. 21. I didn’t realize that someone was recording our conversation. That someone was recording our conversation wasn’t realized by me.

22. They have changed the date of the meeting. The date of the meeting has been changed. 23. Brian told me that somebody had attacked and robbed him in the street. That somebody had attacked and robbed Brian in the street was told to me by him. 24. You should open the wine about three hours before you use it. The wine should be opened about three hours before you use it. 25. Somebody had cleaned my shoes and brushed my suit. My shoes had been cleaned and my suit had been brushed. 26. We use this room only on special occasions. This room is used only on special occasions. 27. In some districts farmers use pigs to find truffles. In some districts pigs are used by farmers to find truffles. 28. John gave Elizabeth that beautiful ring. Elizabeth was given by John that beautiful ring. That beautiful ring was given to Elizabeth by John. 29. They have offered Sarah a very good job. Sarah has been offered a very good job. A very good job has been offered to Sarah. 30. The estate agent showed the house to the young people. The house was showed to the young people by the estate agent. 31. We will pay the gardener a lot of money. The gardener will be paid a lot of money. 32. Someone is going to repair the roof next week. The roof is going to be repaired next week. 33. They can’t find Joanna. Joanna can’t be found. 34. They should decorate the room with flowers. The room should be decorated with flowers. 35. Archaeologists have discovered an ancient temple. An ancient temple has been discovered by archaeologists. 36. We will put all these things into boxes. All these things will be put into boxes. 37. The firefighters rescued the teenagers from the burning building. The teenagers were rescued by the firefighters from the burning building. 38. The youngest student in the class has written the best composition. The best composition has been written by the youngest student in the class.

39. The children send me messages every day. Messages were sent to me by the children every day. I was sent messages by the children every day. 40. The villagers gave the travelers food and water. The travelers were given food and water. Food and water were given to the travelers. 41. A very talented young girl wrote the story. The story was written by a very talented young girl. 42. They are going to finish the new road in a few days. The new road is going to be finished in a few days. 43. They cancelled the match because of the rain. The match was cancelled because of the rain. 44. You must not cross this line. This line must not be crossed. 45. They had picked the oranges before the storm. The oranges had been picked before the storm. 46. Professor Smith should write the book. The book should be written by professor Smith. 47. Mr Elliot will pay the workers. The workers will be paid by Mr Elliot. 48. Two men were following Tom. Tom was followed by two men. 49. Millions of people use the Internet every day. The Internet is used by millions of people every day. 50. They gave Bob a CD player for his birthday. Bob was given a CD player for his birthday. A CD player was given to Bob for his birthday. 51. The prime minister will give a medal to the winners. A medal will be given to the winners. 52. She is telling the children a story. The children are being told a story. A story is being told to the children. 53. They’ve offered Sally a job. Sally has been offered a job. A job has been offered to Sally. 54. Poisonous chemicals have polluted the river. 55. The river has been polluted by poisonous chemicals. 56. Doctor Simms is examining her. She is being examined by doctor Simms. 57. You must stop him now. He must be stopped now.

58. Someone gave them free tickets for the concert.

Free tickets were given to them for the concert. They were given free tickets for the concert.