Active and Passive Voice Grammar Quiz
12 multiple-choice questions on active and passive voice: forming the passive with be + past participle, tense mapping, and when to use the passive. B1–B2 level.
This quiz checks how confidently you can apply Active and Passive Voice at B1–B2 level, with questions built around real forms such as present simple, past participle, agent, by and process or result rather than abstract rule statements. Each question presents a full example sentence, so you have to judge which form fits the meaning and structure correctly instead of recalling a rule in isolation.
If a question catches you out, the FAQ section below explains the underlying rule in more detail, including common mistakes learners make with this point. Reviewing the explanation immediately after an incorrect answer, then retrying the quiz on a different day, builds more durable grammar knowledge than repeating the same 12 questions back to back.
Active and Passive Voice — FAQ
What is the difference between active and passive voice?
In the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action, as in 'The company launched the product'. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action instead, as in 'The product was launched by the company'. The passive is formed with a form of 'be' plus the past participle of the main verb.
How do you form the passive voice?
The passive voice is formed with the appropriate tense of the verb 'be' followed by the past participle of the main verb. For example, present simple active 'They make cars here' becomes passive 'Cars are made here', and past simple active 'Someone stole the bag' becomes passive 'The bag was stolen'.
When should you use the passive voice instead of the active voice?
The passive voice is preferred when the agent (the person or thing doing the action) is unknown or unimportant, as in 'My wallet was stolen'. It is also used to focus on the receiver of an action rather than the doer, as in 'The bridge was built in 1895', and it is common in formal or academic writing, such as scientific reports describing processes.
How is the passive voice formed in the present perfect and past perfect?
In the present perfect, the passive is formed with 'have/has been' plus the past participle: 'They have cancelled the flight' becomes 'The flight has been cancelled'. In the past perfect, it is formed with 'had been' plus the past participle: 'She had submitted the form' becomes 'The form had been submitted'.
How do modal verbs work in the passive voice?
With modal verbs, the passive is formed with the modal plus 'be' plus the past participle. For example, the active sentence 'You must complete the form' becomes 'The form must be completed' in the passive, keeping the modal verb unchanged but adding 'be' before the past participle.
What is the 'agent' in a passive sentence?
The agent is the person or thing that performs the action, and in the passive voice it is often introduced with 'by', as in 'The bridge was built by Victorian engineers'. The agent is frequently omitted altogether when it is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from context.
What is a common mistake learners make when forming the passive?
A very common mistake is using the wrong verb form after 'be', such as saying 'The letter was wrote by her' instead of the correct 'The letter was written by her', because the passive requires the past participle, not the past simple form. Similarly, learners often forget the past participle entirely, saying 'The problem has been solve' instead of 'has been solved'.
Why is the passive voice common in scientific and academic writing?
Scientific and academic writing often focuses on processes and results rather than on who performed an action, so the passive voice is used to keep the focus on the experiment or outcome itself. For example, 'The experiment was conducted at 20 degrees Celsius' emphasises the experiment rather than the researcher who carried it out.
How is the passive used to describe a process?
When describing a process, each step is often expressed in the passive voice because the focus is on what happens to the material or object, not on who performs each action. For example, 'The ore is mined, crushed, and refined before export' describes a sequence of steps without needing to name the workers involved.
Is it always better to use the passive instead of the active voice?
No, the active voice is usually clearer and more direct, and using the passive unnecessarily can make writing sound awkward, as in 'The car was being repaired by him yesterday' instead of the more natural 'He repaired the car yesterday'. The passive should be used deliberately, when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or when the focus needs to shift to the receiver of the action.