Active & Passive Voice Worksheet
20 exam-style questions across three sections — fill-in-the-blank, error correction, and sentence transformation. Reveal each answer as you go, then download the full PDF for offline practice.
Prof. Amirul Khan — amirulkhan.in
Active & Passive Voice Worksheet — 20 Exam-Style Questions
Section A — Fill in the Blank (10 Questions)
1.The letter ___ (write) by the secretary every morning.
Answer: is written
Present Simple passive: is/are + past participle.
2.The thief ___ (arrest) by the police yesterday.
Answer: was arrested
Past Simple passive: was/were + past participle.
3.The road near my house ___ (repair) right now.
Answer: is being repaired
Present Continuous passive: is/are + being + past participle.
4.The project ___ (complete) before the deadline last month, but it was not.
Answer: should have been completed
Modal perfect passive expresses a past, unfulfilled obligation.
5.He was made ___ (do) the entire assignment again.
Answer: to do
The causative 'make' requires 'to' to reappear in the passive form.
6.The employee ___ (give) an award by the manager.
Answer: was given
The indirect object (person) as passive subject needs no preposition.
7.I still remember ___ (scold) by my first teacher.
Answer: being scolded
After 'remember', a passive meaning requires 'being + past participle'.
8.This wall ___ (paint) — it looks quite dull.
Answer: needs painting
'Need' + gerund expresses the same passive meaning as 'needs to be painted'.
9.The bread was cut ___ (by / with) a sharp knife ___ (by / with) the chef.
Answer: with, by
'With' introduces the instrument; 'by' introduces the agent performing the action.
10.He was seen ___ (leave) the building around midnight.
Answer: to leave
Perception verbs (see, hear, watch) require 'to' before the verb in the passive, though the active used a bare infinitive.
Section B — Spot and Correct the Error (5 Questions)
11.Find and correct the error: 'The accident was happened near the school yesterday.'
Answer: The accident happened near the school yesterday.
'Happen' is intransitive and cannot be passivised.
12.Find and correct the error: 'The bridge is been constructed for the past three years.'
Answer: The bridge has been constructed for the past three years.
'Is been' is never correct — 'for the past three years' signals present perfect passive.
13.Find and correct the error: 'By whom this letter was written?'
Answer: By whom was this letter written?
Passive questions require subject-auxiliary inversion, just like active questions.
14.Find and correct the error: 'A large playing field is had by the school.'
Answer: The school has a large playing field.
'Have' meaning 'possess' is a stative verb and cannot be passivised.
15.Find and correct the error: 'The matter is being looked by the authorities into.'
Answer: The matter is being looked into by the authorities.
The preposition of a prepositional verb must stay attached at the end of the passive sentence.
Section C — Sentence Transformation (5 Questions)
16.Convert to passive: 'People say that he is very wealthy.'
Answer: It is said that he is very wealthy. / He is said to be very wealthy.
Both impersonal passive structures are correct and equivalent.
17.Convert to passive, keeping the thing as subject: 'The manager sent the client a proposal.'
Answer: A proposal was sent to the client by the manager.
When the direct object becomes the subject, the preposition 'to' must reappear before the indirect object.
18.Convert to passive: 'The association elected him president.'
Answer: He was elected president by the association.
The object complement ('president') stays directly attached after the passive verb, without inserting 'as'.
19.Rewrite in the active voice for a clearer formal tone: 'The proposal was approved by the committee.'
Answer: The committee approved the proposal.
Modern formal style prefers active voice by default unless the agent is unknown or deliberately de-emphasised.
20.Convert to a negative passive: 'The clerk has not processed the application yet.'
Answer: The application has not been processed yet.
'Not' is placed immediately after the auxiliary in a negative passive sentence.