Form

passive voice: a form of the verb to be + past participle

 active voicepassive voice
present continuousJack is building a house.A house is being built (by Jack).
 Jack is selling houses.Houses are being sold (by Jack).
past continuousJack was building a house.A house was being built (by Jack).
 Jack was selling houses.Houses were being sold (by Jack).
 list of irregular verbs

Exercises

Making active sentences passive in the present continuous (He is building a house ⇒ A house is being built)

  • exercise 1: rewrite the sentences (present continuous) in passive voice
  • exercise 2: fill in the correct passive verb form (present continuous)
  • exercise 3: fill in the correct passive verb form (simple present en present continuous)
  • exercise 4: fill in the correct passive verb form (present continuous)

Making active sentences passive in the past continuous (He was building a house ⇒ A house was being built)

  • exercise 1: rewrite the sentences (past continuous) in passive voice
  • exercise 2: rewrite the sentences (past continuous) in passive voice

Useful pages

  • exercises for practising recognizing active and passive voice
  • exercises for practising the Simple Present Passive (The house is built.)
  • exercises for practising the Simple Past Passive (The house was built.)
  • exercises for practising the Perfect Passive (The house has/had been built.)
  • exercises for practising the Future and Modal Passive (The house will be built. / The house may have been built.)
  • exercises for practising the passive in various tenses
  • exercises for practising the Personal Passive (She is known to have built a house.)
  • exercises for practising the Double Object Passive (She was given a house / A house was given)