Active and Passive Voice Exercise
Convert the following sentences from the active to the passive voice.
1. They grow coffee in Kenya.
2. Have they cleaned the swimming pool yet?
3. The Romans built the bridge 2000 years ago.
4. They asked him to leave.
5. They make fans in China.
6. They'll serve you lunch on the plane.
7. They sent her an invitation to the party.
8. A crocodile ate him in 2006.
9. They will tell you your results next week.
10. They fined him $100.
Make a choice between active and passive voice by selecting the appropriate answer.
a. Everybody ______by the terrible news yesterday.
(shocked, was shocked)
b. People in Chile ______Spanish.
(speak, is spoken)
c. Not much ______about the accident since that time.
(has said, has been said)
d. Microsoft ______a new system next week.
(will bring out, will be brought out)
e. A drunken motorist ______her down.
(knocked, was knocked)
f. The secretary ______to her new boss yesterday.
(introduced, was introduced)
g. Our plan ______by the members of the committee.
(is being considered, is considered)
h. He ______responsible for the accident.
(was holding, was held)
i. A prize ______to whoever solves this equation.
(will be giving, will be given)
j. Companies ______salaries these days.
(are increasing, are being increased)
Convert the following sentences from the active to the passive voice, and visa versa.
The movie fascinates me.
The movie bores Jack.
The movie surprises them.
I was bored by the movie.
Jack was fascinated by the movie.
They were surprisedby the movie.
I am helping Shannon.
June is helping Su and Ling.
I have mailed the gift.
Jack has mailed the gifts.
Steven Spielberg had directed the movie.
Penny Marshall had directed those movies.
The project will have been finished by next month.
The projects will have been finished before then.
I will mail the gift.
Jack will mail the gifts.
The cake is going to be made by me.
Two cakes are going to be made by Sue.
Sharon will invite Tom to the party.
Sharon won't invite Jeff to the party.
The composition was supposed to be typedby me.
The story in the book wasn't supposed to be copied.
The living room was supposed to be cleaned by Janet.
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Complete the following newspaper headlines with passives.
- Triad Boss’s Murder Case…
- Second Major Cocaine Cargo…
- Boat’s Captain Alone at Sea…
- Two Major Terrorist Suspects…
Now match each headline to the correct paragraph/article, and fill in the gaps using the passive auxiliaries and prepositions.
British captain Stephen Roy, 45, …………… found …………rescuers with his hands tied behind the back, alone on the deck of his boat as it drifted 100 miles off the French coast. On Friday morning, French authorities …………… informed ……… a Canadian vessel and immediately a helicopter and a rescue boat …………… sent to look for him but he was in a pretty bad way physically with dehydration and psychologically it seems as if he wasn’t at all well. Mr. Roy ……… taken to the hospital and only after he …………… released, he …………questioned …………… the police.
Two of the world’s most important terror suspects ……………….. seized ……… Scotland Yard. One …….. said to be a senior al Qaeda operative while the other ……… accused of being a major fundraiser for terrorism around the world. Ali Abu Abec ………… arrested in London yesterday: he …………… believed ………. US intelligence to be a trusted aide of Osama bin Laden and to have plotted to blow up Jewish target and financial institutions. The other man, Mohammed Ali Khan, 30, lived in Glasgow: he ………. accused of using websites and email to supply money and property for acts of terrorism. He ……….. said …….. the New York Times to be a relative of Osama bin Laden.
The investigation into the Triad Boss ‘Big Wu’ murder case ………….. reopened – nearly 20 years after he disappeared. Already existing police evidence ……………… examined by detectives who have announced that DNA profiling ……… also ………. used to try to solve the case. ‘Big Wu’ vanished in November 1989, a day after the murdered body of his children’s maid Sandra Smith ………….. found at his Wanchai home. Over the years people have claimed several sightings of the Triad boss whose body ………… never ………… found.
A second major seizure of cocaine …………………… made by Custom officers
in a week from a ship at the cargo port. Three plastics bags containing 3 kg of the Class A drug worth around $16 million …………………… found in the hold of a ship loaded ……………… bananas. Officers seized the Liberian-registered Horncliff when it arrived in Hong Kong from Colombia on Wednesday. No arrest ………………… yet ……………………… made. The find follows the discovery of 120 kg of cocaine worth $27 million on Monday.
(Adapted from
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