Grammar Challenge

Simple passives
Practice

BBC Learning English Grammar Challenge

Grammar Challenge simple passives Exercise 1: Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Romeo and Juliet ... These windows ... Smoking ... The post ... A huge bunch of flowers and a cheque for $10,000 ... Five lucky winners ... There are no newspapers left. The last one ... French, Italian, Romansch and German ... a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. ... were chosen at random. ... are all spoken in Switzerland. was written by William Shakespeare. ... are cleaned every morning. ... is delivered every morning. ... is not allowed in this office. ... were presented to the winner. ... was sold five minutes ago.

Grammar Challenge Simple passives practice bbclearningenglish.com

BBC Learning English Page 2 of 6

BBC Learning English Grammar Challenge

Exercise 2: Read the sentence and choose the one option a-d which best fits the space. 1. a. b. c. d. 2. a. b. c. d. 3. a. b. c. d. 4. a. b. c. d. 5. a. b. c. d. 6. a. b. c. d. Oxygen ... by red blood cells. carrying is carrying is carried carried Bread ... from wheat. is made made making is making Penicillin ... by Sir Alexander Fleming. is discovered was discovered discovered was discovering Two people ... in the accident. are killed were died were killed was killed In many countries, Labour day ... on May 1 every year. is celebrate is celebrated is celebrating celebrated Oxygen ... for a fire to burn. is requiring is requires requires is required

Grammar Challenge Simple passives practice bbclearningenglish.com

BBC Learning English Page 3 of 6

BBC Learning English Grammar Challenge

Exercise 3: active passive transformations Rearrange the words in the boxes to form a passive version of each sentence. 1. After the final performance, the judges chose the winner. After the winner performance , was the

chosen

final

2. When did someone invent the microchip? the was invented when ? microchip

3. If you don't water the plants regularly, they will die. will the watered regularly, plants If die aren't they

4. Someone told me that the bus leaves at 10 o'clock. was that 10 o'clock the bus I at told leaves

5. Do people process new applications here? ? new here processed are

applications

6. The police caught the robbers this morning. robbers were this arrested The morning

Grammar Challenge Simple passives practice bbclearningenglish.com

BBC Learning English Page 4 of 6

BBC Learning English Grammar Challenge

Grammar Challenge simple passives Answers Exercise 1: Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Romeo and Juliet ... These windows ... Smoking ... The post ... A bunch of flowers and a cheque for $10,000 ... Five lucky winners ... There are no newspapers left. The last one ... French, Italian, Romansch and German ... c. d. f. e. g. a. h. b. was written by William Shakespeare. ... are cleaned every morning. ... is not allowed in this office. ... is delivered every morning. ... were presented to the winner. ... were chosen at random. ... was sold five minutes ago. ... are all spoken in Switzerland.

Exercise 2: Read the sentence and choose the one option a-d which best fits the space. 1. Oxygen ... by red blood cells. a. carrying Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' and the past participle. b. is carrying - Wrong you need to use the past participle instead of the '-ing' form of the verb. c. is carried Correct this sentence is present simple passive. d. carried Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' as well as the past participle of the verb. 2. a. b. c. d. 3. a. b. c. d. Bread ... from wheat. is made Correct this sentence is present simple passive. made Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' as well as the past participle. making Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' and the past participle. is making Wrong you need to use the past participle of the verb, not the '-ing' form. Penicillin ... by Sir Alexander Fleming. is discovered Wrong the verb 'to be' should be in the past tense. was discovered Correct this sentence is past simple passive. discovered Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' as well as the past participle. was discovering - Wrong you need to use the past participle instead of the '-ing' form of the verb. BBC Learning English Page 5 of 6 bbclearningenglish.com

Grammar Challenge Simple passives practice

BBC Learning English Grammar Challenge

4. a. b. c. d. 5. a. b. c. Two people ... in the accident. are killed wrong the verb 'to be' should be in the past tense. were died wrong 'died' is not normally used in the passive. were killed Correct this sentence is past simple passive. was killed - Wrong the verb 'to be' must agree with the subject.

In many countries, Labour day ... on May 1 every year. is celebrate Wrong you need to use the past participle of the verb. is celebrated Correct this sentence is present simple passive. is celebrating - Wrong you need to use the past participle instead of the '-ing' form of the verb. d. celebrated Wrong you need to use the verb 'to be' as well as the past participle. 6. Oxygen ... for a fire to burn. a. is requiring Wrong you need to use the past participle instead of the '-ing' form of the verb. b. is requires Wrong you need to use the past participle of the verb. c. requires Wrong - you need to use the verb 'to be' as well as the past participle. d. is required Correct this sentence is present simple passive.

Exercise 3: active passive transformations Rearrange the words in the boxes to form a passive version of each sentence. 1. After the final performance, the judges chose the winner. After the final performance, the winner was chosen. 2. When did someone invent the microchip? When was the microchip invented? 3. If you don't water the plants regularly, they will die. If the plants aren't watered regularly, they will die. 4. Someone told me that the bus leaves at 10 o'clock. I was told that the bus leaves at 10 o'clock. 5. Do people process new applications here? Are new applications processed here? 6. The police arrested the robbers this morning. The robbers were arrested this morning.

Grammar Challenge Simple passives practice bbclearningenglish.com

BBC Learning English Page 6 of 6