The Passive

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Why is the passive form useful?

1. to talk about things without knowing who did them
2. to talk about things without focusing on who did them
3. focusing on who did something
4. active sentences are too direct

Choose the sentence in the passive.

1. The Headmaster has given the present.
2. The Headmaster is giving the present.
3. The present was given to the Headmaster.
4. The Headmaster gave the present.

Choose the passive sentence.

1. The zookeeper picked up the leaves.
2. The woman was sweeping the floor.
3. Leaves were swept up.
4. The people were laughing.

Which sentence is in the passive voice?

1. The farmer is harvesting the corn.
2. The farmer has harvested the corn.
3. The corn is harvested by the farmer.
4. Harvesting corn is a heavy job.

Choose the sentence in the passive.

1. Our book was handed to our teacher.
2. We will hand our book to the teacher.
3. We hand our book to the teacher.
4. We're going to hand our book to the teacher.

Choose the sentence in the passive

1. Our maths teacher graded the tests.
2. Our maths teacher is grading the tests.
3. Our maths teacher grades the tests.
4. The tests are graded by our maths teacher.

The thief was caught right after the robbery.

The student was hit by a green car.

I am walking in the forest right now.

My manager was fired the other day.

My bike was stolen last week.

She broke up with me on Valentine's day.

Active

Passive

Passive

Passive

Active

Active

The secretary writes an email

The musicians have played another song

The emails are sent by the secretary now

The songs are played in a different order

Active

Passive

Passive

Active

Rewrite in the Passive Voice:
They won the game
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Put into the passive:
Somebody stole my bike.
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Change into the passive:
Storms destroy villages.
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Change into the passive the passive:
Serena tells the truth
(you don't have to write 'by...')

Correct this sentence
There has been committed a murder.

Correct the sentence:
There was found a man with a bullet in his chest

Use these words to write a news headline.
Twente/Ajax/beat/(fill in the score!)yesterday/premier league

Do you understand the passive now?

1. A little better
2. I don't understand this in Dutch
3. I need more practice
4. I can use this without too much problem.