07
Passive Voice — Present & Past
The cake was made. The report is written.
Visual Explanation
Passive construction
Subject (receiver)+is / are / was / were+past participle
Examples
English is spoken in over 60 countries.
The bridge was built in 1923.
These cars are manufactured in Germany.
When to Use
- When the action matters more than the doer
- Use passive when who did it is unknown or unimportant: 'My phone was stolen.'
- Present passive
- is/are + past participle: 'Coffee is grown in Colombia.'
- Past passive
- was/were + past participle: 'The letter was sent yesterday.'
Tip
If you want to say who did the action, add 'by': 'The book was written by a Norwegian author.' But only include 'by' when the doer adds useful information.
Practice Exercises
Multiple Choice
Read the prompt and pick the correct answer from four options. A good way to test recognition before producing language yourself.
Coming soonFill in the Blanks
Complete sentences by typing the missing word or phrase. Tests active recall and spelling accuracy.
Coming soonScrambled Sentences
Drag words into the correct order to form a grammatically correct sentence. Builds structural intuition.
Coming soon