English Grammar Exercises for B1- The passive

1. Choose the correct answer.

1   Drinks and snacks serve / are served in the buffet car.

2   We gave / were given our boarding passes at the check-in desk.

3   The passenger wore / was worn his seatbelt.

4   The flight attendant has made / has been made a mistake with my change.

5   The waiting room is cleaning / is being cleaned.

6   They had arranged / had been arranged to meet us in the arrivals hall.

7   A new airport has built / has been built in the city.

8   All flights to Scotland will cancel / will be cancelled tomorrow.

2. Complete the sentences with the passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the correct tense.

1   Each year, thousands of suitcases ………………………. (lose) by different airlines.

2   Kay is pleased because her favourite perfume ………………………. (reduce) in the duty-free shop.

3   We waited until the departure gate ………………………. (announce).

4   The hard shoulder ………………………. (close) next week for emergency repairs.

5   They ………………………. (stop) at passport control last night.

6   The ticket office ………………………. (use) by millions of passengers every week.

7   George couldn’t find his bag because it ………………………. (steal).

8   You ………………………. (take) to the airport tonight by taxi.

3. Complete the second sentence with the correct form of the passive. Use by where necessary.

1   Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist.

     Oliver Twist ………………………………….. .

2   Vandals have damaged the petrol station.

      The petrol station ………………………………….. .

3   They will add four more carriages to the train at the next station.

      Four more carriages ………………………………….. .

4   Someone had left the bag at baggage reclaim.

     The bag ………………………………….. .

5   Low-cost airlines sell many cheap flights.

     Many cheap flights ………………………………….. .

6   They are repairing the tracks so there aren’t any trains.

      The tracks ………………………………….. .

4. Complete the article with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets.

PHONES past and future

The first mobile phone call in the UK 1……………………. (make) on 1 January 1985, nearly twelve years after the first mobile phone 2……………………. (demonstrate) in New York by Martin Cooper. Since then, a lot of money 3……………………. (invest) in developing the mobile phone industry and thousands of different models 4……………………. (produce).

Text messaging became popular in the 1990s, and today millions of text messages 5……………………. (send) each day. The first Internet service for mobile phones 6……………………. (introduce) in Japan in 1999. Today, the Internet 7……………………. (use) on smart phones, by all kinds of people, from company directors to students.

Technology is advancing rapidly and new processes 8……………………. (discover) almost daily. Many people think that computers 9……………………. (replace) by mobile phones in the future.