The full rule, with examples. This is your reference before the exam.
Active vs Passive — what's the difference?
In an active sentence, the subject does the action. In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action — the focus moves to what happened, not who did it.
Active: “The airline canceled the flight.” (focus on the airline)
Passive: “The flight was canceled.” (focus on the flight — we may not even know who did it)
How to form the passive
SUBJECT + BE + PAST PARTICIPLE
The “be” verb changes to match the tense of the original sentence.
“Our tickets are checked at the gate.” (Simple Present)
“Our luggage was lost at the airport.” (Simple Past)
“Our hotel has been booked already.” (Present Perfect)
“The trip will be organized by a local guide.” (Future with will)
When do we use the passive?
We use the passive when the action is more important than who did it, when we don’t know who did it, or when it’s obvious who did it.
“The passport was stolen.” (we don’t know who did it)
“Visas are issued by the embassy.” (the action matters more than the specific person)
Adding 'by' when needed
If it’s important to say who did the action, add “by + person/thing” at the end.
“The tour was organized by a local agency.”
A common mistake
Don’t forget the correct form of “be” — it must match the subject and the tense, and the main verb must always be a past participle, never the base form.
❌ “The flight was cancel.”
✅ “The flight was canceled.”
Short rounds testing everything from the Learn zone above.
🔍 Find the mistake — tap the wrong word.
🧩 Tap the words in the correct order.
🔎 Tap the word that doesn't belong.
🔍 Find the mistake — tap the wrong word.
🧩 Tap the words in the correct order.
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