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Category: Passive Voice

  • Causative *Have / Get Something Done* (PDF)

    Causative *Have / Get Something Done* (PDF)

    The causative expresses that the subject arranged for someone else to do the action — they didn’t do it themselves. We had the office repainted last summer (we didn’t paint it; we arranged it). I need to get my laptop fixed (I’m not fixing it; I’ll arrange repair). Both forms (have + object + past participle and get + object + past participle) carry the same meaning, with get sounding more informal and conversational. The contrast with the regular passive is critical: The office was repainted focuses on the action; We had the office repainted focuses on arranging for someone else to do it.

    This worksheet drills B2 use of the causative in workplace and consumer contexts, with explicit contrast against the regular passive.

    What’s inside:

    • Grammar Box with both forms (have and get), the register difference (formal vs informal), and the passive-vs-causative comparison
    • Gap-fill: complete sentences with have/get + object + past participle in workplace and everyday contexts
    • Discrimination task: choose between regular passive and causative based on the meaning intended
    • Production: write five things you have arranged to have done in the past month
    • Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes on the negative and question forms (I haven’t had…, Have you had…?)

    Common mistakes addressed: wrong word order (I had repaired my laptop meaning I had my laptop repaired), missing past participle (I had my laptop repair), and confusion with the regular passive (My laptop was repaired used where I had my laptop repaired is meant).

    For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B2, in upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. The causative is a recurring task in Cambridge B2 First (FCE) and C1 Advanced (CAE) key-word transformations. Part of the Passive & Causative collection — the natural sibling is Passive Voice: All Tenses, which sets up the regular passive that the causative builds on.

  • Passive Voice: Present and Past Simple (PDF)

    Passive Voice: Present and Past Simple (PDF)

    The passive voice flips the focus of a sentence from agent to action. The team reviews all reports (active) becomes All reports are reviewed (passive) — the action stays the same, but the doer either drops out or moves to a by-phrase. Form: am/is/are + past participle for the present simple passive, was/were + past participle for the past simple passive. The by + agent phrase is added only when the agent is important (The report was written by the research team); it’s omitted when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or obvious (The office is cleaned every evening).

    This worksheet builds B1 control of the passive in present and past simple — and trains the with-agent / without-agent decision.

    What’s inside:

    • Grammar Box with form for both tenses and the with-agent / without-agent rule
    • Active-to-passive transformation: rewrite sentences in the passive, dropping or keeping the by-phrase as appropriate
    • Gap-fill with mixed-tense passive forms in workplace and news contexts
    • Drop the agent decision task: decide whether the by-phrase adds information or should be omitted
    • Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes on the no-be error and the agent-decision criterion

    Common mistakes addressed: dropping be (The report sent yesterday), wrong past participle (was sended), keeping the agent when it adds nothing (The office is cleaned by the cleaners every evening), and missing tense agreement (is announced yesterday).

    For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. The basic passive is heavily tested in Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) and is foundational for the all-tenses passive in B2 First (FCE). Part of the Passive & Causative collection — the natural next step is Passive Voice: All Tenses, which extends the form across the full tense system.

  • Passive Voice: All Tenses (PDF)

    Passive Voice: All Tenses (PDF)

    The passive voice runs across the full English tense system on a single rule: the auxiliary be changes to match the tense, and the past participle stays the same. The cars are produced here (present simple), A new office is being built (present continuous), The results were announced (past simple), The plan had been approved (past perfect), The report will be published (future simple), The form must be submitted (modal). Mastery at B2 means moving fluidly across all tenses — particularly in formal written contexts like news articles, reports, and academic writing, where the passive is the default voice.

    This worksheet builds B2 comprehensive passive control through extended news-article gap-fill in three different domains.

    What’s inside:

    • Grammar Box with a full tense-by-tense table (active vs passive) covering all major tense forms
    • News-article gap-fill: three articles (data breach, regional acquisition, infrastructure overhaul) requiring mixed-tense passive forms
    • Modal-passive items: complete sentences using must be, should be, will be, can be + past participle
    • Active-to-passive rewriting across perfect, continuous, and modal forms
    • Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes on news-article register and the passive’s role in formal English

    Common mistakes addressed: wrong auxiliary form across tenses (is been built instead of is being built), dropping been in the perfect passive (has approved instead of has been approved), and mixing active and passive in the same complex sentence.

    For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B2, in upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. All-tenses passive is the single most-tested transformation type in Cambridge B2 First (FCE) Reading-Use of English. Part of the Passive & Causative collection — the natural next step is Causative Have / Get Something Done, which adds the “arrange for someone to do it” structure to the passive toolkit.