Passive Voice Worksheet (B1)

It goes with the Passive Voice lesson plan but works on its own, in class or as homework.

Write the past participle of each verb.

Example: build → built

1. make → ________
2. write → ________
3. take → ________
4. grow → ________
5. send → ________
6. repair → ________
7. speak → ________
8. find → ________

Use the present or past simple passive of the verb in brackets.

Example: The bridge was built (build) in 1908.

1. Rice ________ (grow) in many parts of Asia.
2. The letters ________ (send) last Friday.
3. This room ________ (clean) every morning.
4. My bicycle ________ (steal) last week.
5. These shirts ________ (make) in Bangladesh.
6. The results ________ (not / publish) yet.
7. ________ the windows ________ (repair) after the storm?

Rewrite each sentence in the passive. Leave out the doer if it adds nothing.

Example: Somebody cleans the office every evening. → The office is cleaned every evening.

1. They built the school in 1975. → ________________________
2. Farmers grow tea on these hills. → ________________________
3. Someone stole my phone at the station. → ________________________
4. The council checks the water twice a year. → ________________________
5. Millions of people watch this programme. → ________________________

Decide whether the doer is worth keeping. Write the sentence with by ... or without it.

Example: The window was broken (by somebody). → The window was broken.

1. This novel was written (by a teenager). → ________________________
2. The room is cleaned (by a cleaner). → ________________________
3. The bridge is used (by thousands of drivers). → ________________________
4. My car was repaired (by someone). → ________________________

Describe a process you know in six sentences: how something is made, grown, cooked or organised. Use the passive where the doer is not important.

• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________

• Timing: Tasks 1 to 4 take about 25 minutes; Task 5 about 10, or set it as homework.
• The one to watch: the missing be (the school built in 1975) and the past simple used instead of the participle (was build). Both come from the same place - the passive needs two parts, and learners produce one.
• Task 2, item 6 accepts two answers. Have not been published is the present perfect passive and is what a fluent speaker would say with yet; were not published is acceptable at B1. Praise the first if it appears.
• Task 4 is the thinking task. Learners who keep every by have the form but not the purpose, and that is what makes passive writing sound wrong.
• Extension: learners rewrite a short paragraph from their coursebook in the passive and decide whether it is improved. Often it is not, and noticing that is the point.