Difference Between Active and Passive Voice Practice — Exercise 1 (Tenses, Modals, Infinitive, Participle, & Gerund Included) Improve English with Word Power
This practice set trains you to convert active sentences into correct passive forms across a wide range of tenses and modals (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect-continuous, modals + perfect, infinitive, participle, gerund, passive with causatives, and more). Each item gives an active sentence followed by four passive options — only one is correct. Every question includes the main verb (POS & short word meaning), key POS items, and a clear explanation for why the correct answer is right and why each distractor is wrong. No verbs or questions repeat within this set — designed for thorough practice and strong English coverage of “passive voice,” “active to passive,” and tense-conversion queries.
English Grammar Definition: Passive Voice (Be + verb 3rd form)
- Form: be + verb 3rd form.
- Definition: Passive voice = Object of the active + appropriate form of be + past participle (+ by + agent) (agent optional).
- When to use: when the action or object is more important than the actor, or actor unknown/irrelevant.
- Form basics:
- Simple present passive: is/are + V3
- Simple past passive: was/were + V3
- Present perfect passive: has/have been + V3
- Future passive: will be + V3 or will have been + V3 (future perfect passive)
- Modal passive: modal + be + V3 or modal + have been + V3 (modal perfect passive)
- Passive of continuous forms: is/are being + V3; was/were being + V3; will be being + V3 (rare)
- Conversion tip: Identify the object of the active sentence — that becomes the subject of the passive. Match tense and auxiliary forms; preserve modals (can/will/must/should) using be or have been as needed.
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Quiz Instructions
- Read each question and choose the best answer out of four given options.
- On top, header section of the quiz, you will see the “title of the quiz,’ ‘spending-time,’ ‘value of question in points,’ and ‘number of questions.”
- Below on footer, you will see Full Screen mode. As the name suggests, it covers the whole screen. It will save a lot of your time attempting the quiz.
- You can zoom the images given in the questions.
- After submitting the quiz, you can see your score and compare with other users.
- The Full Leaderboard link will take you to a page, where you can see all users attempts.
- Below the quiz box, there are explanation of each options. You can study and try again.
- Best of Luck!
Quiz Question, Answer and Explanation
Note: Do remember in the quiz box above, the questions and options will shuffle, so they won’t have the same sequence like 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C as below.
1. Active: The technicians will assemble the new prototypes by Friday.
A) The new prototypes will be assembled by the technicians by Friday.
B) The new prototypes will assemble by the technicians by Friday.
C) The new prototypes will have assembled by the technicians by Friday.
D) The new prototypes will be assembling by the technicians by Friday.
Verb (POS & meaning): assemble — verb. To put parts together.
Key POS: technicians (Agent, Noun), will (Modal future), the new prototypes (Object → passive subject), by Friday (Time).
A) Correct: will be assembled by — simple future passive aligns with “will assemble”.
B) Wrong: will assemble (active) — subject/aux wrong; passive needs be + V3.
C) Wrong: will have assembled (future perfect active in passive would be will have been assembled). Missing been.
D) Wrong: will be assembling — future continuous passive wrong; implies ongoing assembly by technicians.
2. Active: The manager has allocated funds to the new department.
A) Funds have been allocated to the new department by the manager.
B) Funds have allocated to the new department by the manager.
C) Funds had been allocated to the new department by the manager.
D) Funds have been allocating to the new department by the manager.
Verb: allocate — verb. To distribute resources for specific purposes.
Key POS: has allocated (present perfect active), funds (Object → passive subject).
A) Correct: have been allocated by — present perfect passive matches has allocated.
B) Wrong: have allocated (active) — requires auxiliary been for passive.
C) Wrong: had been allocated — past perfect passive; tense mismatch.
D) Wrong: have been allocating — present perfect continuous passive rarely used and incorrect here.
3. Active: The editor will brief the writers before midnight.
A) The writers will be briefed by the editor before midnight.
B) The writers will be briefed before midnight.
C) The writers will be briefing by the editor before midnight.
D) The writers will have been briefed before midnight.
Verb: brief — verb. To give essential information or instructions.
Key POS: will brief (future), before midnight (time).
A) Correct: will be briefed by the editor before midnight — clear future passive with agent.
B) Wrong: will be briefed before midnight — grammatically correct but lacks agent; still could be acceptable but A more precise for this quiz which asks to reflect agent. User asked for options including agent; choose option that correctly includes agent when active did. If you want agent optional, B would be correct too — here A is best because it keeps agent.
C) Wrong: will be briefing — wrong aspect.
D) Wrong: will have been briefed — future perfect passive; changes aspect (would imply completed before a later reference point).
4. Active: The research team had calibrated the instrument before the trial started.
A) The instrument had been calibrated by the research team before the trial started.
B) The instrument was calibrated by the research team before the trial started.
C) The instrument had calibrated by the research team before the trial started.
D) The instrument has been calibrated by the research team before the trial started.
Verb: calibrate — verb. To adjust an instrument for accuracy.
Key POS: had calibrated (past perfect), instrument (object).
A) Correct: had been calibrated by — past perfect passive matches past perfect active.
B) Wrong: was calibrated — simple past passive; loses the past-perfect nuance.
C) Wrong: missing auxiliary been.
D) Wrong: has been calibrated — present perfect passive; wrong tense.
5. Active: The architects are collaborating with consultants on the plan.
A) Consultants are being collaborated with by the architects on the plan.
B) Consultants are being collaborated with on the plan by the architects.
C) The plan is being collaborated on by the architects with consultants.
D) The plan is being collaborated by the architects with consultants.
Verb: collaborate — verb (intransitive with preposition with). To work together.
Key POS: are collaborating (present continuous), with consultants (prepositional object), on the plan (prepositional object).
C) Correct: The plan is being collaborated on by the architects with consultants. — Makes the plan the passive subject and keeps preposition on.
A/B) Wrong: Awkward and less idiomatic: consultants are being collaborated with is grammatically possible but changes focus; also passive of intransitive verbs often awkward.
D) Wrong: is being collaborated by — wrong because collaborate needs on/with; missing preposition.
6. Active: The director deferred the decision until further notice.
A) The decision was deferred by the director until further notice.
B) The decision deferred by the director until further notice.
C) The decision has been deferred by the director until further notice.
D) The decision had been deferred by the director until further notice
Verb: defer — verb. To postpone.
Key POS: deferred (simple past), decision (object).
A) Correct: was deferred by — simple past passive exact match.
B) Wrong: Missing auxiliary was.
C) Wrong: has been deferred — present perfect passive; different aspect.
D) Wrong: had been deferred — past perfect passive; different aspect.
7. Active: The clinician diagnosed the condition yesterday.
A) The condition was diagnosed yesterday by the clinician.
B) The condition diagnosed yesterday by the clinician.
C) The condition has been diagnosed yesterday by the clinician.
D) The condition had been diagnosed yesterday by the clinician
Verb: diagnose — verb. To identify a disease or problem.
Key POS: diagnosed (simple past), yesterday (time).
A) Correct: was diagnosed yesterday by — simple past passive matches simple past active.
B) Wrong: Missing auxiliary was.
C) Wrong: Present perfect with explicit past time adverbial — ungrammatical.
D) Wrong: Past perfect — wrong aspect.
8. Active: The author will edit the manuscript before publication.
A) The manuscript will be edited before publication by the author.
B) The manuscript will edit before publication by the author.
C) The manuscript will have edited before publication by the author.
D) The manuscript has been edited before publication by the author
Verb: edit — verb. To prepare by correcting and improving text.
Key POS: will edit (future), manuscript (object).
A) Correct: will be edited by — future passive correct.
B) Wrong: Missing be.
C) Wrong: will have edited needs been for passive: will have been edited.
D) Wrong: Present perfect passive — wrong aspect relative to future.
9. Active: The council imposed an embargo on trade last month.
A) An embargo on trade was imposed last month by the council.
B) An embargo on trade had been imposed last month by the council.
C) An embargo on trade has been imposed last month by the council.
D) An embargo on trade will be imposed last month by the council
Verb: impose — verb. To establish or apply (a rule or restriction).
Key POS: imposed (past), last month (time).
A) Correct: was imposed last month by — simple past passive.
B) Wrong: Past perfect passive; tense mismatch.
C) Wrong: Present perfect with past time — wrong.
D) Wrong: Future passive with past time — impossible.
10. Active: The coordinator facilitated the workshop series this quarter.
A) The workshop series was facilitated this quarter by the coordinator.
B) The workshop series facilitated this quarter by the coordinator.
C) The workshop series has been facilitated this quarter by the coordinator.
D) The workshop series had been facilitated this quarter by the coordinator.
Verb: facilitate — verb. To make an action easier or assist its progress.
Key POS: facilitated (past), this quarter (time).
A) Correct: was facilitated this quarter by — simple past passive.
B) Wrong: Missing auxiliary.
C) Wrong: Present perfect with explicit time adverbial (this quarter) could be acceptable in conversation but A better matches simple past.
D) Wrong: Past perfect; incorrect aspect.