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Exercise 1   

Complete the sentences using one of these verbs in the correct form, present or past:

cause    overtake    damage    show    hold

surround    invite    translate    make    write

1   Many accidents ……………………. by dangerous driving.

2   Cheese ……………………. from milk.

3   The roof of the building ……………………. in a storm a few days ago.

4   You ……………………. to the wedding. Why didn’t you go?

5   A cinema is a place where films …………………….

6   In the United States, elections for president ……………………. every four years.

7   Originally the book ……………………. in Spanish, and a few years ago it ……………………. into English.

8   Although we were driving fast, we ……………………. by a lot of other cars.

9   You can’t see the house from the road. It ……………………. by trees.

Answers

1

1   are caused

2   is made

3   was damaged

4   were invited

5   are shown

6   are held

7   was written … was translated

8   were overtaken

9   is surrounded

Exercise 2   

Write questions using the passive. Some are present and some are past.

1   Ask about glass. (how / make?) …………………….

2   Ask about television. (when / invent?) …………………….

3   Ask about mountains. (how / form?) …………………….

4   Ask about antibiotics. (when / discover?) …………………….

5   Ask about silver. (what / use for?) …………………….

Answers

2

1   How is glass made?

2   When was television invented?

3   How are mountains formed?

4   When were antibiotics discovered?

5   What is silver used for?

Exercise 3   

Put the verb into the correct form, present simple or past simple, active or passive.

1   It’s a big factory. Five hundred people ……………………. (employ) there.

2   ……………………. (somebody I clean) this room yesterday?

3   Water ……………………. (cover) most of the earth’s surface.

4   How much of the earth’s surface ……………………. (cover) by water?

5   The park gates ……………………. (lock) at 6.30 p.m. every evening.

6   The letter ……………………. (send) a week ago and it (arrive) ……………………. yesterday.

7   The boat hit a rock and ……………………. (sink) quickly. Fortunately everybody ……………………. (rescue).

8   Robert’s parents ……………………. (die) when he was very young. He and his sister ……………………. (bring up) by their grandparents.

9   I was born in London, but I ……………………. (grow up) in Canada.

10   While I was on holiday, my camera ……………………. (steal) from my hotel room.

11   While I was on holiday, my camera ……………………. (disappear) from my hotel room.

12   Why ……………………. (Sue / resign) from her job? Didn’t she enjoy it?

13   Why ……………………. (Ben / fire) from his job? Did he do something wrong?

14   The company is not independent. It ……………………. (own) by a much larger company.

15   I saw an accident last night. Somebody ……………………. (call) an ambulance but nobody ……………………. (injure), so the ambulance ……………………. (not I need).

16   Where ……………………. (these pictures / take)? In London?

       ……………………. (you / take) them, or somebody else?

17   Sometimes it’s quite noisy living here, but it’s not a problem for me – I ……………………. (not / bother) by it.

Answers

3

1   are employed

2   Did somebody clean

3   covers

4   is covered

5   are locked

6   was sent … arrived

7   sank … was rescued

8   died … were brought up

9   grew up

10   was stolen

11   disappeared

12   did Sue resign

13   was Ben fired

14   is owned

15   called … was injured … wasn’t needed

16   were these pictures taken … Did you take

17   ‘m not bothered / am not bothered

Exercise 4   

Rewrite these sentences. Instead of using somebody, they, people etc., write a passive sentence.

1   Somebody cleans the room every day.

     …………………….

2   They cancelled all flights because of fog.

     All …………………….

3   People don 1t use this road much.

     …………………….

4   Somebody accused me of stealing money.

     I …………………….

5   How do people learn languages?

     How …………………….

6   People warned us not to go out alone.

     …………………….

Answers

4

1   The room is cleaned every day.

2   All flights were cancelled because of fog.

3   This road isn’t used much.

4   I was accused of stealing money.

5   How are languages Learned/learnt?

6   We were warned not to go out alone.

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