Passive voice worksheet

PassiveVoiceChecker editorial · Updated November 10, 2026 · 2 min read

Three exercises, thirty sentences, answer key at the end. Print this page (the header, footer and tools are hidden in print), or download the one-page cheat sheet to go with it.

Exercise A — Active or passive?

Write A (active) or P (passive) beside each sentence.

1. The nurse checked the patient’s blood pressure.
2. The patient’s blood pressure was checked every hour.
3. Our school was built in 1965.
4. The students are planting a garden behind the gym.
5. The garden was planted by the students.
6. Someone has eaten the last slice.
7. The last slice has been eaten.
8. The librarian will announce the winners on Friday.
9. The winners will be announced on Friday.
10. The bus was late again.

Exercise B — Rewrite in the active voice

Supply a doer where none is given.

11. The window was broken by the ball.
12. The essays were graded over the weekend.
13. The new rule was explained to the class by Mr. Alvarez.
14. Lunch is served at noon.
15. The trophy has been won three times by our team.
16. The decision will be made tomorrow.
17. The letters were delivered late because of the storm.
18. The experiment was repeated by the second group.
19. The concert was cancelled.
20. The puppy was named Biscuit by the children.

Exercise C — Passive, or just an adjective?

Write P if the sentence is passive (something was done to the subject) or Adj if the word after be is an adjective describing a state. Hint: if you can put very in front of the word, it is an adjective.

21. I was surprised by the ending.
22. The ending was written by a committee.
23. We were tired after the hike.
24. The trail was closed after the storm.
25. She is interested in chemistry.
26. The lab was cleaned on Friday.
27. They were married in June.
28. The invitations were printed in June.
29. He is well known in the town.
30. He was known to the police.

Answer key

A. 1 A · 2 P (was checked) · 3 P (was built) · 4 A (progressive, not passive) · 5 P (was planted) · 6 A (present perfect, no be) · 7 P (has been eaten) · 8 A · 9 P (will be announced) · 10 A (late is an adjective).

B. Sample answers; any sensible doer is acceptable where none was given. 11 The ball broke the window. · 12 The teacher graded the essays over the weekend. · 13 Mr. Alvarez explained the new rule to the class. · 14 The cafeteria serves lunch at noon. · 15 Our team has won the trophy three times. · 16 The principal will make the decision tomorrow. · 17 The post office delivered the letters late because of the storm. · 18 The second group repeated the experiment. · 19 The organisers cancelled the concert. · 20 The children named the puppy Biscuit.

C. 21 Adj (very surprised; the “by” phrase names a cause, and the sentence could be rewritten “The ending surprised me”) · 22 P · 23 Adj · 24 P or Adj — ambiguous; “closed” can be a state or the result of someone closing it · 25 Adj · 26 P · 27 Adj (a state; “were married” can also be a passive event — “They were married by a judge”) · 28 P · 29 Adj (well known) · 30 P (was known to = the police knew him).

Numbers 24 and 27 are deliberately ambiguous and make a good class discussion: the same words can be a passive or an adjective depending on what the writer means, which is why our checker has a “probably passive” tier.

Questions people ask

Is this worksheet free to print and use in class?

Yes. Print it, copy it, hand it out. A link back to passivevoicechecker.com is appreciated but not required.

What grade level is it for?

Exercises A and B suit grades 7–12 and intermediate ESL learners. Exercise C, which separates passives from adjectival participles, is for advanced students and adult writers.

Can students check their answers online?

Yes — they can paste any sentence into the checker on this site, which marks passives, probable passives and adjectives, and explains each. The interactive quiz covers the same ground with instant feedback.

Check your own text

Paste a paragraph. The check runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Open the full checker for benchmarks and longer texts.

Sources

• Purdue OWL — Active versus passive voice