Active & Passive Voice
🔒 Log in to trackTense-by-tense conversions in action
🔒 Log in to trackEvery voice question is one row of the tense table. First name the active tense. Then write its passive row. Then make is/are, was/were, has/have agree with the new subject. The words being and been sit in fixed places, and mixing them is the most common planted error.
One row at a time
Name the active tense. Then write the passive row for it.
| Active | Passive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| writes | is / are + V3 | Ram writes a story. becomes A story is written by Ram. |
| is writing | is / are being + V3 | Sita is drawing a map. becomes A map is being drawn by Sita. |
| has written | has / have been + V3 | They have caught the thief. becomes The thief has been caught. |
| wrote | was / were + V3 | The cook made dinner. becomes Dinner was made by the cook. |
| was writing | was / were being + V3 | The boys were flying kites. becomes Kites were being flown by the boys. |
| had written | had been + V3 | She had finished the work. becomes The work had been finished by her. |
| will write | will be + V3 | The PM will address the nation. becomes The nation will be addressed by the PM. |
| will have written | will have been + V3 | He will have completed it. becomes It will have been completed. |
Being or been
Two small words cause many errors. Each has one fixed place.
- Continuous tense in the active means being: is being built, was being built.
- Perfect tense in the active means been: has been taken, had been taken, will have been taken.
- Modal (will, can, must) means plain be: will be published, must be obeyed.
Rule: Being follows a continuous be. Been follows have or had. Never write is been or will being.
Agree with the new subject
After you convert, the new subject decides is/are, was/were, has/have. The old subject no longer matters.
They have completed the projects. The new subject is the projects. So write The projects have been completed.
The clerk has filed the returns. The new subject is plural. So write The returns have been filed by the clerk, not has been.
Watch: Every set of options has one choice that agrees with the old subject. Check agreement first.
Verbs with two objects
Give, send, offer, grant, show, teach and award take two objects: a person and a thing. So they have two passives.
The teacher gave the students homework.
- Person first: The students were given homework.
- Thing first: Homework was given to the students.
The person-first form is usually the keyed answer. The thing-first form needs to. Homework was given the students is wrong.
Tenses that have no passive row
Present perfect continuous (has been writing), past perfect continuous (had been writing) and future continuous (will be writing) have no passive row in these exams. If a question uses one, look for the nearest simple form. Do not invent is being been written.
Stative verbs
Have, own, possess, resemble, lack, suit, fit and cost are normally stative. They describe a state, not an action. A car is had by him is not English. When a question uses one of these verbs, look for a "no passive possible" answer.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Perfect-row passives (has/had/will have been + V3)
The active verb is has written, had written or will have written. The options differ in been, the helping verb or the tense.
Name the active tense: present, past or future perfect.
Write its row: has/have been, had been, will have been + V3.
Match the helping verb to the new subject.
Keep the doer behind by, in the object case.
Perfect rows are set most often, and each wrong option breaks one cell.
Select the passive form: The workers have painted the gate.
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Have painted is present perfect.
The row is has/have been + V3.
The new subject the gate is singular, so use has.
The gate has been painted by the workers.
Continuous-row passives (is/are/was/were being + V3)
The active verb is is/are/was/were + V-ing. The options mix being, been and the bare participle.
Continuous in the active means being in the passive.
Match is/are or was/were to the new subject.
Reject options that drop being.
Being marks the continuous tense. Without it, the tense has changed.
Select the passive form: The masons are laying the bricks.
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Are laying is present continuous.
The row is is/are being + V3.
The new subject the bricks is plural, so use are.
The bricks are being laid by the masons.
Re-agreement with the new subject
The active subject is plural and the object is singular, or the reverse. One option agrees with the old subject.
Move the object to the front and note its number.
Singular subject: is, was, has. Plural subject: are, were, have.
Then check the rest of the row.
The helping verb follows its own subject, and the subject has changed.
Select the passive form: The clerk has filed all the returns.
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The new subject is all the returns, which is plural.
Has filed is present perfect: have been + V3.
Has been filed would agree with the old subject.
All the returns have been filed by the clerk.
Being or been slot
The options are the same except for being and been (is being repaired / is been repaired).
Name the active tense: continuous or perfect.
Continuous means being. Perfect means been. Modal means neither.
Check that the helping verb has the same tense as the active verb.
Being and been have fixed places, so swapping them is a common planted error.
Select the passive form: The engineers were repairing the bridge when we crossed.
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Were repairing is past continuous.
The row is was/were being + V3.
The new subject the bridge is singular, so use was.
The bridge was being repaired when we crossed.
Two-object verb: person-first passive
The sentence has a person and a thing after give, grant, show, offer or award. One option starts with the person.
Find the person and the thing.
The keyed passive moves the person to the front.
If an option moves the thing first, it must keep to before the person.
Both passives are correct. The setter breaks the thing-first one by deleting to.
Select the passive form: The principal granted Meena a scholarship.
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The person is Meena. The thing is a scholarship.
Person first: Meena was granted a scholarship by the principal.
A scholarship was granted Meena has no to, so it is broken.
Meena was granted a scholarship by the principal.
Verbs that refuse the passive
The question asks which sentence cannot be made passive. One option uses have, own, resemble, lack or suit.
Underline each option's verb.
Stative verbs (resemble, lack, suit, have) do not passivise.
Verbs with a normal object do.
A stative verb describes a state, so no receiver can move to the front.
Which sentence cannot be changed into the passive voice? (a) The manager signed the letter. (b) The girl resembles her mother. (c) The clerk typed the notice. (d) Rahul opened the door.
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Signed, typed and opened are action verbs with objects.
Resembles is a stative verb.
Her mother resembles by the girl is not English.
The girl resembles her mother.
Shortcuts that save time
Name the active tense. Then say its passive row: present continuous is is/are being + V3, past perfect is had been + V3, future is will be + V3. Each wrong option breaks one cell of the row.
Select the passive form: The workers had painted the gate.
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Had painted is past perfect.
The row is had been + V3.
The new subject is the gate.
The gate had been painted by the workers.
After converting, check is/are, was/were and has/have against the NEW subject before anything else.
Continuous in the active gives being. Perfect in the active gives been. A modal gives plain be.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Writing is been for a continuous passive.
Use is being: The bridge is being repaired.
Writing is being for a perfect passive.
Use has been: The bridge has been repaired.
Keeping the old subject's number: The returns has been filed.
The new subject decides: The returns have been filed.
Promoting the person and keeping the old subject: The cook was made dinner by...
Move only one object to the front: Dinner was made by the cook.
Dropping to in the thing-first passive: Homework was given the students.
Write Homework was given to the students.
Trying to passivise have, own, resemble, suit.
These stative verbs normally have no passive.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Perfect rows: has/have been, had been, will have been + V3.
Continuous rows: is/are/was/were being + V3.
Modals: modal + be + V3, with nothing between.
being follows a continuous be. been follows have or had. Never is been, never will being.
The new subject decides is/are, was/were, has/have.
Two-object verbs: person-first passive is keyed; thing-first needs to.
No passive row: present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future continuous.
Practice: 15 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 5 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.