Difference Between Passive Voice to Active Voice — Exercise 4 (Tenses, Modals, Infinitive, Participle, Gerund, All English Grammar Included) Enrich Your Vocabulary
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. Passive: The data had been corrupted before the backup ran.
A) Someone had corrupted the data before the backup ran.
B) The data corrupted someone before the backup ran.
C) Someone corrupted the data before the backup ran.
D) Someone has corrupted the data before the backup ran.
Verb: corrupt — to damage or alter.
Key POS: had been corrupted = past perfect passive.
Learner tip: Use had + V3 in active when passive shows had been + V3.
A) Correct: Past perfect passive → active past perfect (had + V3).
A uses had corrupted with unspecified agent someone — matches sequence: corruption happened before backup.
B) Wrong: flips roles.
C) Wrong: is simple past (corrupted) — loses exact past-before-past ordering expressed by had.
D) Wrong: uses present perfect (has) — wrong timing.
2. Passive: The decision must be announced immediately by the president.
A) The president must announce the decision immediately.
B) The president must be announcing the decision immediately.
C) The decision must announce the president immediately.
D) The president must have announced the decision immediately.
Verb: announce — to make public.
Key POS: must be announced = modal passive.
Learner tip: For must in passive, active is must + verb.
A) Correct: Modal passive must + be + V3 → active must + base verb with agent as subject.
A: direct, keeps urgency immediately.
B) Wrong: mixes modal with progressive (different tone).
C) Wrong: reverses roles.
D) Wrong: changes to modal perfect (must have announced) — it means you are concluding it already happened, not giving an instruction.
3. Passive: A review has been commissioned by the department.
A) The department has commissioned a review.
B) The department commissioned a review.
C) A review has commissioned the department.
D) The department will commission a review.
Verb: commission — to request/authorize work.
Key POS: has been commissioned = present perfect passive.
Learner tip: When passive has has/have been, active usually has has/have + V3.
A) Correct: Present perfect passive → active present perfect: has commissioned with department as subject.
A keeps the recent action with present relevance.
B) Wrong: simple past (acceptable in many contexts but loses the nuance of present relevance).
C) Wrong: reverses roles.
D) Wrong: future — wrong.
4. Passive: The server is being updated right now by the admin team.
A) The admin team is updating the server right now.
B) The admin team updates the server right now.
C) The server is updating the admin team right now.
D) The admin team has updated the server right now.
Verb: update — to apply changes or patches.
Key POS: is being updated = present continuous passive.
Learner tip: is/are being + V3 → active is/are + V-ing.
A) Correct: Present continuous passive → active present continuous: is updating.
A: exact conversion, keeps right now immediacy.
B) Wrong: present simple is odd for an action happening at the moment.
C) Wrong: flips roles.
D) Wrong: present perfect changes meaning to “already done” (not ongoing).
5. Passive: The proposals had been evaluated by the panel before voting.
A) The panel had evaluated the proposals before voting.
B) The panel evaluated the proposals before voting.
C) The proposals had evaluated the panel before voting.
D) The panel has evaluated the proposals before voting.
Verb: evaluate — to judge or examine carefully.
Key POS: had been evaluated = past perfect passive.
Learner tip: When the passive has had been, use had + V3 with the agent as subject.
A) Correct: Past perfect passive → active past perfect: had evaluated.
A preserves the sequence (evaluation done before voting).
B) Wrong: simple past removes the “before another past event” feel.
C) Wrong: wrong order.
D) Wrong: present perfect changes timeframe.
6. Passive: A full refund will be offered if the item is returned within 30 days.
A) The store will offer a full refund if you return the item within 30 days.
B) A full refund will offer the store if you return the item within 30 days.
C) The store will be offering a full refund if you return the item within 30 days.
D) You will be offered a full refund if you return the item within 30 days.
Verb: offer — to provide something, e.g., money back.
Key POS: will be offered = future passive; conditional clause if.
Learner tip: In conditional passive sentences, check whether agent is implicit — choose a realistic actor for the active sentence.
A) Correct: (D is also passive -> active? D is passive again; A is clearest active conversion.)
Passive has agent implied (the store). To make active, put the store as subject: will offer.
A: simple future active and keeps the condition.
B) Wrong: wrong word order.
C) Wrong: uses future progressive which changes tone (less direct promise).
D) Wrong: is passive again, not an active conversion.
7. Passive: The medication was being administered to the patient by the nurse.
A) The nurse was administering the medication to the patient.
B) The nurse administered the medication to the patient.
C) The medication was administering the nurse to the patient.
D) The nurse had been administering the medication to the patient.
Verb: administer — to give medicine.
Key POS: was being administered = past continuous passive.
Learner tip: Use was/were + V-ing in active when passive shows was/were being + V3.
A) Correct: Past continuous passive → active past continuous: was administering.
A keeps ongoing action in the past.
B) Wrong: simple past is plausible but removes the “was in progress” feel.
C) Wrong: reverses roles.
D) Wrong: past perfect continuous implies it happened before another past point — different meaning.
8. Passive: The guidelines will have been circulated by the end of the week.
A) They will have circulated the guidelines by the end of the week.
B) The office will have circulated the guidelines by the end of the week.
C) The guidelines will circulate by the end of the week.
D) The office will circulate the guidelines by the end of the week.
Verb: circulate — to distribute something for people to read.
Key POS: will have been circulated = future perfect passive.
Learner tip: will have been + V3 → put the doer first + will have + V3.
B) Correct: Future perfect passive → active future perfect: will have + V3.
B: The office will have circulated the guidelines by the end of the week — correct, with a plausible agent.
A) Wrong: uses vague They — vague but grammatically acceptable; B is clearer and preferred.
C) Wrong: simple future (will circulate) doesn’t express completion before the end as strongly as will have circulated.
D) Wrong: simple future again — different nuance.
9. Passive: The contractor is to be paid after inspection.
A) They are to pay the contractor after inspection.
B) The company is to pay the contractor after inspection.
C) The contractor will pay after inspection.
D) After inspection the contractor is to pay the company.
Verb: pay — to give money.
Key POS: is to be paid = passive of a formal arrangement (be to + passive).
Learner tip: “Is to be” often shows scheduled/formal arrangements — active becomes [agent] is to + base verb.
B) Correct: Is to be paid indicates a formal plan: someone (usually the company) is responsible to pay.
B: The company is to pay the contractor after inspection — makes the company the subject who will pay.
A) Wrong: uses They (vague) and flips meaning slightly (subject unspecified).
C) Wrong: flips payer/recipient (contractor paying is wrong).
D) Wrong: reverses roles.
10. Passive: The software can be uninstalled by following these steps.
A) You can uninstall the software by following these steps.
B) Following these steps can uninstall the software.
C) The software can uninstall by you with these steps.
D) These steps can be uninstall by you.
Verb: uninstall — to remove software.
Key POS: can be uninstalled = modal passive.
Learner tip: For instructions, “you” often becomes the active subject.
A) Correct: Modal passive can + be + V3 → active can + base verb with agent as subject.
A: You can uninstall the software… — natural, clear instruction.
B) Wrong: makes following these steps the subject (awkward but possible).
C) Wrong: incorrect word order.
D) Wrong: ungrammatical.
