Difference Between Passive Voice to Active Voice — Exercise 6 (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 proposal will be examined at the meeting by the advisory board.
A) The advisory board will examine the proposal at the meeting.
B) The advisory board will be examining the proposal at the meeting.
C) The proposal will examine the advisory board at the meeting.
D) The advisory board has examined the proposal at the meeting.
Verb (meaning): examine — to look at closely or evaluate.
POS notes: will be examined = future simple passive; by the advisory board = agent.
A (Correct): Moves the agent (advisory board) to subject and uses will examine (future simple active). This keeps the timing (at the meeting).
B (Why wrong): Will be examining is future continuous. It implies a longer, ongoing activity at that time. It’s not wrong grammar, but it changes the aspect — the passive sentence used future simple, not continuous. For precise conversion, A is better.
C (Why wrong): Reverses subject/object meaning — the proposal cannot examine the advisory board. Wrong roles.
D (Why wrong): Uses present perfect (has examined) — says it already happened before now, which conflicts with the passive future tense.
2. Passive: The encrypted files were being transferred by the technician during the outage.
A) The technician was transferring the encrypted files during the outage.
B) The technician transferred the encrypted files during the outage.
C) During the outage, the encrypted files were transferring the technician.
D) The technician had transferred the encrypted files during the outage.
Verb: transfer — to move data or files from one place to another.
POS notes: were being transferred = past continuous passive.
A (Correct): Past continuous passive → was/were being + V3 becomes active was/were + V-ing. It keeps the “ongoing” feel that the transfer was happening during the outage.
B (Why wrong): Simple past (transferred) indicates a completed action but drops the “in progress” nuance. It’s close in meaning but not the exact tense conversion.
C (Why wrong): Subject/object reversed — nonsense.
D (Why wrong): Past perfect (had transferred) says the transfer happened before another past event; passive only told us it was happening during the outage, not that it was completed earlier.
3. Passive: The confidential memo has been circulated to all directors by corporate affairs.
A) Corporate affairs has circulated the confidential memo to all directors.
B) Corporate affairs circulated the confidential memo to all directors.
C) The confidential memo has circulated corporate affairs to all directors.
D) Corporate affairs will circulate the confidential memo to all directors.
Verb: circulate — to distribute a document or information.
POS notes: has been circulated = present perfect passive.
A (Correct): Present perfect passive → active present perfect: has circulated with corporate affairs as subject; matches recent action with present relevance.
B (Why wrong): Simple past could be acceptable in casual context, but it doesn’t convey the same “has relevance now” nuance that present perfect does.
C (Why wrong): Reverses roles.
D (Why wrong): Future tense — wrong time frame.
4. Passive: A temporary workaround was suggested by the developer to unblock testing.
A) The developer suggested a temporary workaround to unblock testing.
B) The developer was suggesting a temporary workaround to unblock testing.
C) A temporary workaround suggested the developer to unblock testing.
D) The developer has suggested a temporary workaround to unblock testing.
Verb: suggest — to propose an idea.
POS notes: was suggested = past simple passive.
A (Correct): Past simple passive → past simple active (suggested) with developer as subject. Keeps meaning and timing.
B (Why wrong): Past continuous (was suggesting) implies an ongoing suggestion process; different aspect (not exact match).
C (Why wrong): Reverses agent/object — wrong.
D (Why wrong): Present perfect (has suggested) indicates a recent action with present relevance, different tense.
5. Passive: The audit findings have been summarized by the lead auditor in the report.
A) The lead auditor has summarized the audit findings in the report.
B) The lead auditor summarized the audit findings in the report.
C) The audit findings has summarized the lead auditor in the report.
D) The lead auditor will have summarized the audit findings in the report.
Verb: summarize — to present a short overview.
POS notes: have been summarized = present perfect passive (plural subject).
A (Correct): Present perfect passive → active present perfect: has summarized (lead auditor as subject). Matches the recent-reporting sense.
B (Why wrong): Simple past is okay in many contexts but again removes the “present relevance” nuance.
C (Why wrong): Unclear grammar and reverses roles.
D (Why wrong): Future perfect — suggests the summary will be finished before a future time, not what the passive says.
6. Passive: All user accounts were updated by the system during the maintenance window.
A) The system updated all user accounts during the maintenance window.
B) The system was updating all user accounts during the maintenance window.
C) All user accounts updated the system during the maintenance window.
D) The system has updated all user accounts during the maintenance window.
Verb: update — to make current or modify.
POS notes: were updated = past simple passive.
A (Correct): Past simple passive → past simple active: updated. Keeps timing and completed action.
B (Why wrong): Past continuous suggests ongoing activity at that time, which changes the nuance. If the passive had been were being updated, B would match; but it was were updated (completed).
C (Why wrong): Reverses roles.
D (Why wrong): Present perfect conflicts with a past time frame where a maintenance window is a specific past event.
7. Passive: The guidelines should be reviewed annually by department heads.
A) Department heads should review the guidelines annually.
B) Department heads should be reviewing the guidelines annually.
C) The guidelines should review department heads annually.
D) Department heads should have reviewed the guidelines annually.
Verb: review — to examine.
POS notes: should be reviewed = modal passive (recommendation).
A (Correct): Modal passive should + be + V3 → active should + base verb (review). This keeps the recommendation.
B (Why wrong): Progressive should be reviewing changes tone to an ongoing action habit, a subtle difference. A is the direct conversion.
C (Why wrong): Reverses roles.
D (Why wrong): Modal perfect (should have reviewed) indicates a missed obligation in the past — different meaning.
8. Passive: The webinar has been scheduled for next Tuesday by the communications team.
A) The communications team has scheduled the webinar for next Tuesday.
B) The communications team scheduled the webinar for next Tuesday.
C) Next Tuesday has been scheduled for the communications team by the webinar.
D) The communications team will schedule the webinar for next Tuesday.
Verb: schedule — to set a time for an event.
POS notes: has been scheduled = present perfect passive; next Tuesday (future time).
A (Correct): Present perfect passive → active present perfect: has scheduled (communications team as subject). Good because a scheduled event has present relevance.
B (Why wrong): Simple past is possible, but present perfect is closer to the passive form given.
C (Why wrong): Nonsensical reversal.
D (Why wrong): Future tense — wrong time frame.
9. Passive: The software update was rolled out gradually by the vendor last month.
A) The vendor rolled out the software update gradually last month.
B) The vendor was rolling out the software update gradually last month.
C) The software update rolled out the vendor gradually last month.
D) The vendor has rolled out the software update gradually last month.
Verb: roll out — to release something in stages.
POS notes: was rolled out = past simple passive; last month.
A (Correct): Direct past simple conversion. Keeps “last month” (a specific past time).
B (Why wrong): Past continuous changes aspect — suggests an ongoing process rather than a completed action. Passive given is simple past.
C (Why wrong): Wrong word order.
D (Why wrong): Present perfect paired with a past time phrase like last month is awkward/incorrect.
10. Passive: The access permissions have been revoked by IT after the audit.
A) IT has revoked the access permissions after the audit.
B) IT revoked the access permissions after the audit.
C) The access permissions have revoked IT after the audit.
D) IT will have revoked the access permissions after the audit.
Verb: revoke — to cancel or take back.
POS notes: have been revoked = present perfect passive.
A (Correct): Present perfect passive → active present perfect: has revoked. It shows action with present relevance after a recent event (audit).
B (Why wrong): Simple past is acceptable but not an exact tense match.
C (Why wrong): Reverses roles.
D (Why wrong): Future perfect — wrong time relation.
