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4.3.1.1.1.1.1.1: Past Tense Passive Exercise

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    122338
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    Past Tense Passive Exercise 

    Exercise 4:  Change the following past tense active sentences to past tense passive sentences, please.

    1.  Customers bought three hundred books at the store yesterday.

     

    2.  My son wore my suit to the party.

     

    3.  The thief broke into the car and stole the CD player.  (Be Careful.)

     

    4.  My wife nursed my sons when they were babies.

     

    5.  A truck hit a pedestrian who was crossing the street this morning.

     

    6.  The bus driver drove the bus along Third Avenue in downtown Seattle.

     

    7.  I roasted a chicken for dinner this evening.

     

    8.  A car struck a pedestrian in the crosswalk this morning.

     

    9.  I grew beets in my garden over the winter.

     

    10.  An old woman brought bread to my house last Monday.

     

    11.  Cleveland beat Seattle in the baseball game tonight, 9 to 5.

     

    12.  Millions of Americans ate millions of hamburgers yesterday.

     

    13.  A burglar stole a valuable diamond ring from my neighbor last week.

     

    14.  I wrote this sentence at 11:45 PM last night.

     

    15.  The little girl blew out the candles on her birthday cake.

     

    16.  The dog tripped the boy’s mother.

     

    17.  My son fried two eggs for breakfast.

     

    18.  Your teacher wrote these 18 sentences.

     

    19.  Someone broke into the bookstore last night.

     

    20.  The robbers stole a lot of money.

     

    21.  The people elected a new president last year.

     

    22.  The boy threw a ball to his brother during the game.

     

    23.  The pilot few the plane into the side of a mountain.

     

    24.  The boy shoved five books into his back pack.

     

    25.  I lost all of my money in the casino last week.

     

    Exercise 5:  Change the following active voice modal sentences to passive voice modal sentences, please.

    1. My friends will fix my fence on Sunday.

     

    1. My father would take my friends and me fishing when I was a boy.

     

    1. Boys can play football in high school.

     

    1. People might give away a lot of old clothes after Christmas.

     

    1. Students must skip lines in my class.

     

    1. Students should give the homework to the teacher on its due date.

     

    1. Children could buy a lot of candy for a few cents a long time ago.

     

    1. People may use public restrooms whenever people need to.

     

    1. Everyone should eat a good breakfast every morning.

     

    1. I could see the baseball field from my bedroom when I was a boy.

     

    1. You should wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.

     

    1. You will understand more English by the end of this quarter.

     

    1.  People can speak many languages in this class.

     

    Exercise 6: Change the following modal sentences from the active voice to the passive voice, please.

    1. Nursing mothers can give nutritious breast milk to their babies.

     

    1. Someone in our family must feed our dog every day.

     

    1. Children should respect and obey their parents.

     

    1. A robber might break into my house when I am at work.

     

    1. My friend would fly helicopters every day in Vietnam.

     

    1. In some schools in America, students must wear uniforms to school.

     

    1. My grandfather would cut my hair when I was a boy.

     

    1. My son might compose a piece of music this weekend.

     

    1. I will iron my pants and shirts this weekend.

     

    1.  Someone in my family may pick up some groceries at the store today.

     

    1.  I will spend a lot of money this summer in Rhode Island.

     

    1.  Children can blow out candles on a birthday cake.

     

    1.  My sons should give a present to their mother on Mother’s Day.

     

    Exercise 7: Do as directed for each section, please.

    A.  Please put the appropriate verb in the space provided.

    1. Many cars will-------------- (make) in Detroit this year.

    2.  My brother might----------------- (operate on) last week.     (BE Careful.)

    3. His television must ----------------------- (fix) before the big game on Saturday.

    4. A new kind of computer ought to ------------------ (invent) to help do this job.

    5. Many topics should --------------- (discuss) by world leaders to prevent wars.

    B. Please change these sentences from the active to the passive.

    1. The students must have done a lot of homework.

    2. My wife will cook dinner for my family tonight.

    3. Children must not play with matches.

    4. A mechanic has to repair many cars.

    5. You had better wash the floors before Sunday.

    C. Please change these sentences from the passive to the active.

    1.  Many tools had to be used by the mechanic to fix the car.

    2.  The book should have been read by Mr. Smith's students.

    3.  A lot of candy can be eaten by young children.

    4.  Many patients must have been studied by those doctors.

    5.  Grammar should be studied by all students.

    D. Please put the appropriate verb in the blank space. 

    1.  Medicine should ----------------------- (avoid) unless it is necessary.

    2.  The cake must ----------------------- (eat) by the kids last night.

    3.  The bank robber could ---------------------- (sent) to jail for ten years.

    4.  Idioms have to --------------------------- (learn) by ESL students.

    5.  The movie should ----------------------- (see) by your father when we saw it last week.

    6.  He ought to ----------------------- (punish) by his parents for being so rude.

    E. Change these active sentences to the passive, please.

    1.  He had to do the dishes for his sick wife.

    2.  She should have cooked a turkey for her guests on Thanksgiving.

    3.  He may take his girlfriend to a restaurant for dinner tonight.

    4.  They could have eaten all the food.

    5.  He would invent a beautiful device for cleaning floors.

    6.  He might drink a glass of milk for breakfast.

    F. Change these passive sentences to the active, please.

    1.  The dirty clothes would be washed by my mother on Saturday.

    2.  He might have been bitten by his neighbor's dog.

    3.  A computer can be used by anyone in this school.

    4.  He was able to be seen by everyone in the room.   (BE CAREFUL)

    5.  Five boys will be expelled from the school by the principal for fighting.

    Exercise 8: Change the following sentences from active to passive, please.

    1.  We took the boy to the hospital last week.

     

    2.  The man was driving the car very fast on the highway.

     

    3.  You need to do the dishes before you go to bed.

     

    4.  We have studied the past time frame of verbs in this class.

     

    5.  I am writing this sentence right now.

     

    6.  The mechanic must have fixed the car by now.

     

    7.  The boy hangs his coat up in the closet every night.

     

    8.  The father brings his boys to the movies every Saturday.

     

    9.  We had done our homework before we went to the movies.

     

    10.  He drove his truck into the lake by accident last Friday evening.

     

    11.  Children should help their parents around the house.

     

    12.  He dropped his book on the floor in the classroom.

     

    13.  My grandfather will give some money to my children next week.

     

    Exercise 9:  Change the following sentences from the passive to the active, please.  Be careful because you may have to supply the active sentence subjects yourself.

    1.  The lesson was prepared for the class by the teacher.

     

    2.  The floors and walls had been washed before I got home.

     

    3.  The exercises needed to be done before the students arrived at school the next day.

     

    4.  The house is being painted as we speak.

     

    5.  While the telephone was being repaired, I had to go to Safeway to make a call.

     

    6.  My friends have been told not to look for me next weekend.

     

    7.  All the food must be eaten before we go on vacation.

     

    8.  My computer is being repaired by my old friend today.

     

    9.  The bank robber was shot during the robbery attempt.

     

    10.   The medicine needed to be bought for the sick children.

     

    11.  The money could have been stolen from the convenience store last Wednesday.

     

    12.  The picture had been taken before they got married.

     

    13.  The students are taught grammar daily in class.

     

    Exercise 10:  Change the following sentences from the active voice to the passive voice, please.

    1.  My wife must have done the laundry last week.

     

    2.  My old friend could have bought a new car last week.

     

    3.  I should have planted seeds in my garden last Friday, but they weren’t.

     

    4.  My son must have paid a lot of money for his I-Pod.

     

    5.  My wife might have had lunch with her friend yesterday.

     

    6.  The old man may have forgotten his umbrella on the bus.

     

    7.  The young boy might have broken his leg playing football.

     

    8.  All of you should have learned the irregular verbs by now.

     

    9.  I could have drunk another cup of coffee this morning.

     

    10.  The boy might have shrunk his sweater in the washing machine.

     

    11.  Sara may have attended her daughter’s basketball game.

     

    12.  My son should have put some gas in my car on Saturday.

     

    13.  The man could have sent the letter by express mail.

     

    Exercise 11: Change the following sentences from the active voice to the passive voice, please.

    1.  The boys have eaten all of the food in the refrigerator.

     

    2.  My son has cut the grass in my yard today.

     

    3.  People have looked at the moon for thousands of years.

     

    4.  My sister has telephoned me twice this weekend.

     

    5.  You have learned a lot of passive voice grammar this quarter.

     

    6.  I have picked many vegetables from my garden this weekend.

     

    7.  My dog has dug a couple of holes in my yard this weekend.

     

    8.  I have written many exercises for this class so far this quarter.

     

    9.  My wife has opened a checking account for my son at the bank.

     

    10.  My son has done the dishes this evening.

     

    11.  My friend has written a lot of email messages to his friends today.

     

    12.  We have already read today’s newspaper.

     

    13.  I have spun the lettuce three days in a row this weekend.

     

    Exercise 12: Change these sentences from the active voice to the passive voice, please.

    1.  I want beans and rice for lunch.

     

    2.  I want John to cook the beans and rice.

     

    3.  I need to correct this exercise.

     

    4.  We need food and water to survive.

     

    5.  They ought to clean the house before their mother gets home.

     

    6.  Someone needs to eat the leftovers in the refrigerator pretty soon.

     

    7.  My girlfriend has to sweep the floor before she can go home from work.

     

    8.  The boy had to do all of his homework before he could go out and play.

     

    9.  I asked André to wash the dishes.

     

    10.  We are going to eat spaghetti for dinner tonight.

     

    11.  The daughter had better clean her room before the guests come to dinner.

     

    12.  My wife needs to wash the clothes by tomorrow.

     

    13.  I am thinking about my brother.


    This page titled 4.3.1.1.1.1.1.1: Past Tense Passive Exercise is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Don Bissonnette.

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