Exercise 6: Practice difference between Active to Passive across tense, modals, gerund, infinitive, participle & complete grammar set. Exam-style question with word meaning.
This practice set trains you to make correct passive forms sentences across a wide range of tenses and modals (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect-continuous, modals + perfect, infinitive, participle, gerund, passive with causatives, and more). Each question gives an active sentence followed by blanks for the passive voice — your job is to select & drop single-word option containers into the blanks. 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 other options and distractors are wrong. No verbs or questions repeat within the full set — designed for thorough practice and strong English Grammar and Spoken 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 given options. There is one word option to fill the blanks and you can use one option more than once.
- 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: Someone stole my wallet last night.
Convert To Passive: My wallet [[blank1]] [[blank2]] last night.
Options: was, were, stolen, is, are, mine, my, by, someone, last, night, stole
Verb (POS & meaning): steal — verb. To take something without permission.
Key POS: someone (agent), stole (past), my wallet (object → passive subject), last night (time).
Correct Passive (blanks): My wallet [[was]] [[stolen]] last night.
Explanation (detailed): The active verb stole is simple past. Simple past passive = was/were + V3. My wallet (object) becomes the subject; was agrees with singular wallet. The past participle of steal is stolen.
Why distractors wrong: were is plural; is/are are present tense; mine/my are pronouns/determiners, not auxiliaries or past participles.
Trap/tip: Always match was/were to the subject number in simple past passives.
2. Active: They consider the novel entertaining.
Convert To Passive: The novel [[blank1]] [[blank2]] entertaining.
Options: is, are, considered, considering, was, were, being, the, novel, entertaining, by, them, be
Verb (POS & meaning): consider — verb. To regard or think of something in a particular way.
Key POS: they (agent), consider (verb), the novel (object → passive subject), entertaining (adjective/participle complement).
Correct Passive (blanks): The novel [[is]] [[considered]] entertaining.
Explanation (detailed): Here entertaining is an adjective complement, not the main verb. Passive uses be + past participle: is considered. The adjective entertaining follows the participle and remains unchanged. This keeps the same meaning: people regard the novel as entertaining.
Why distractors wrong: are/was/were change number/tense; considered to be is a longer but acceptable variant — however your chosen pattern requires exactly two one-word blanks. being would create continuous passive and alter meaning.
Trap/tip: When the object of an active sentence becomes subject and is followed by an adjective, the construction usually becomes be + V3 + adjective (not be + being + adj).
3. Active: They found the play entertaining.
Convert To Passive: The play [[blank1]] [[blank2]] [[blank3]].
Options: was, found, they, founded, be, were, been, entertaining, entertained, the, play, by, them, finding, being
Verb (POS & meaning): find — verb (sense/perception). To judge or perceive something.
Key POS: they (agent), found (past), the play (object → passive subject), entertaining (adjective).
Correct Passive (blanks): The play [[was]] [[found]] [[entertaining]].
Explanation (detailed): Perception/judgment verbs often turn into be + V3 + to-infinitive in passive: They found the play entertaining → The play was found to be entertaining. This retains the notion that people judged the play that way.
Why distractors wrong: was found without to leaves the infinitive missing; found to be combined tile not allowed if we need single-word blanks.
Trap/tip: For verbs like find, consider, believe, the passive often becomes be + V3 + to + V1 / adjective.
4. Active: People say that the building was completed in 1910.
Convert To Passive: It [[blank1]] [[blank2]] that the building [[blank3]] [[blank4]] in 1910.
Options: is, said, being, was, are, saying, be, say, the, building, completed, date, in, 1910, been, by, completing, complete
Verb (POS & meaning): say — verb. To express an opinion or report information.
Key POS: people (agent), say (verb), it (dummy subject for impersonal passive), the building (embedded clause subject).
Correct Passive (blanks): It [[is]] [[said]] that the building [[was]] [[completed]] in 1910.
Explanation (detailed): Impersonal passive uses It is said that… to report commonly held information. The clause about the building keeps its original tense: was completed (simple past). So we have two passive layers: impersonal is said + reported clause was completed, it is already a Passive, so no need to convert it.
Why distractors wrong: are/says/was said change voice/tense; is said is the standard impersonal passive.
Trap/tip: Use It is said/believed/rumoured for reporting when the agent is general/unknown.
5. Active: People avoid paying taxes.
Convert To Passive: [[blank1]] taxes [[blank2]] [[blank3]] by people.
Options: is, are, avoided, avoid, being, been, paying, taxes, pay, by, many, people, avoid, paid, paying, was, were
Verb (POS & meaning): avoid — verb. To stay away from or refrain from.
Key POS: people (agent), avoid (verb), paying taxes (gerund phrase → subject in passive).
Correct Passive (blanks): [[Paying]] taxes [[is]] [[avoided]] by people.
Explanation (detailed): When a gerund phrase is the object in active, it can become the subject in passive: People avoid paying taxes → Paying taxes is avoided by people. Present simple passive uses is/are + V3; because paying taxes is singular as a phrase, we use is.
Why distractors wrong: are wrong agreement; being/been change aspect (continuous/perfect).
Trap/tip: Treat gerund phrases as noun phrases — choose singular/plural verb accordingly.
6. Active: They made him apologize for his mistake. (causative make)
Convert To Passive: [[blank1]] [[blank2]] [[blank3]] to [[blank4]] for his mistake.
Options: was, be, him, made, to, apologize, making, were, been, apologized, had, been, by, them, he, they, apologizing
Verb (POS & meaning): make — verb (causative). To force or cause someone to do something.
Key POS: they (agent), made (past causative), him (object → passive subject), apologize (bare infinitive).
Correct Passive (blanks): [[He]] [[was]] [[made]] to [[apologize]] for his mistake.
Explanation (detailed): In causatives with make, the passive inserts to before the base verb: They made him apologize → He was made to apologize. Structure: be + made + to + V1. Note that make in active uses bare infinitive; passive requires to+infinitive.
Why distractors wrong: made to combined may be acceptable wording but we need single-word blanks; had/been alter tense/aspect.
Trap/tip: Remember: make (active) + bare infinitive → passive uses be made to + V1.
7. Active: They let her use their car. (permission let)
Convert To Passive: [[blank1]] [[blank2]] [[blank3]] to use their car.
Options: was, her, let, allowed, allow, were, letting, to, they, use, she, by, them, are
Verb (POS & meaning): let — verb. To allow or permit.
Key POS: they (agent), let (verb granting permission), her (object → passive subject), use (bare infinitive).
Correct Passive (blanks): [[She]] [[was]] [[allowed]] to use their car. (Preferable and formal: was allowed to; colloquial passive of let is was let + bare infinitive in some varieties, but was allowed to is safer.)
Explanation (detailed): Let in active uses bare infinitive; in passive, English usually replaces let with allow: She was allowed to use the car. The structure is be + allowed + to + V1.
Why distractors wrong: was let (colloquial) exists but may be flagged as informal; let alone is active. allowed to combined tile not single-word.
Trap/tip: For passive of permission verbs, prefer be allowed to + V1 for clarity. “Are” is given there but we do not use “She” with are, otherwise, we use Let for present, past and future tense. If there is “Is” given then it will be confusing whether to assume “Let” as Present Tense and choose “Is” or Past tense like above to choose “Was.”
8. Active: Somebody will finish the report by noon.
Convert To Passive: The report [[blank1]] [[blank2]] [[blank3]] by noon.
Options: will, be, finished, being, have, finishing, finish, the, report, by, noon, someone, would
Verb (POS & meaning): finish — verb. To complete something.
Key POS: somebody (agent), will finish (future), the report (object → subject), by noon (time).
Correct Passive (blanks): The report [[will]] [[be]] [[finished]] by noon.
Explanation (detailed): Future simple passive uses will be + V3. The agent somebody is optional and often omitted.
Why distractors wrong: will have been is future perfect passive (changes meaning); will have incomplete without been.
Trap/tip: Don’t confuse future simple passive (will be + V3) with future perfect passive (will have been + V3).
9. Active: They had the mechanic check the brakes. (causative have)
Convert To Passive: The mechanic [[blank1]] [[blank2]] to [[blank3]] the brakes.
Options: was, had, have, made, been, be, checked, check, by, them, the, mechanic, they, checked, checking
Verb (POS & meaning): have — verb (causative). To arrange for someone to do something.
Key POS: they (agent), had (past causative), the mechanic (object → passive subject), check (bare infinitive).
Correct Passive (blanks): The mechanic [[was]] [[made]] to [[check]] the brakes. (Important: with have in causative sense, passive often uses be made to in past contexts; however, have active -> passive varies. Better to rephrase: If active They had the mechanic check the brakes, the passive is The mechanic was had to check the brakes which is ungrammatical. So we normally express causative have in passive as The mechanic was made to check the brakes if the meaning is that they forced him. If have means “arranged”, passive might be The mechanic was arranged to check the brakes (rare). To be safe pedagogically, use was made to. )
Explanation (detailed): Have as causative can be tricky. If it implies forcing (synonymous with make), passive becomes was made to + V1. If it implies arrangement, rewording may be required. For teaching purposes, emphasizing make → be made to is clearer.
Why distractors wrong: had been changes tense/aspect; checked as past participle alone is incomplete if agent/auxiliary missing.
Trap/tip: Explain different senses of have (arrange vs force) and give alternate passive paraphrases.
10. Active: They have completed the renovation.
Convert To Passive: The renovation [[blank1]] [[blank2]] [[blank3]].
Options: has, have, been, completed, is, was, the, renovation, by, be, being, they, finished
Verb (POS & meaning): complete — verb. To finish.
Key POS: they (agent), have completed (present perfect), the renovation (object → subject).
Correct Passive (blanks): The renovation [[has]] [[been]] [[completed]].
Explanation (detailed): Present perfect passive uses has/have been + V3. Choose has because renovation is singular. This shows the action was done with present relevance.
Why distractors wrong: have wrong agreement; was changes tense to simple past; finished is a synonym but not the V3 of complete here.
Trap/tip: Watch agreement in perfect passive (has/have).
