1. Choose the correct answer.
1) Drinks and snacks serve / are served in the buffet car.
2) We gave / were given our boarding passes at the check-in desk.
3) The passenger wore / was worn his seatbelt.
4) The flight attendant has made / has been made a mistake with change.
5) The waiting room is cleaning / is being cleaned .
6) They had arranged / had been arranged to meet us in the arrivals hall.
7) A new airport has built / has been built in the city.
8) All flights to Scotland will cancel / will be cancelled tomorrow.
Show answers
1) are served 2) were given 3) wore 4) has made
5) is being cleaned 6) had arranged
7) has been built 8) will be cancelled
2. Complete the sentences with the passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the correct tense.
1) Each year, thousands of suitcases ________ (lose) by different airlines.
2) Kay is pleased because her favourite perfume ________ (reduce) in the duty-free shop.
3) We waited until the departure gate ________ (announce).
4) The hard shoulder ________ (close) next week for emergency repairs.
5) They ________ (stop) at passport control last night.
6) The ticket office ________ (use) by millions of passengers every week.
7) George couldn’t find his bag because it ________ (steal).
8) You ________ (take) to the airport tonight by taxi.
Show answers
1) are lost 2) has been reduced 3) was announced
4) will be closed 5) were stopped 6) is used
7) had been stolen 8) will be taken
3. Complete the second sentence with the correct form of the passive. Use by where necessary.
1) Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist.
Oliver Twist ________.
2) Vandals have damaged the petrol station.
The petrol station ________.
3) They will add four more carriages to the train at the next station.
Four more carriages ________.
4) Someone had left the bag at baggage reclaim.
The bag ________.
5) Low-cost airlines sell many cheap flights.
Many cheap flights ________.
6) They are repairing the tracks so there aren’t any trains.
The tracks ________.
Show answers
1) was written by Charles Dickens.
2) has been damaged by vandals.
3) will be added to the train at the next station.
4) had been left at baggage reclaim.
5) are sold by low-cost airlines.
6) are being repaired so there aren’t any trains.
4. Complete the article with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets.
PHONES past and future
The first mobile phone call in the UK 1) _____ (make) on 1 January 1985, nearly twelve years after the first mobile phone 2) _____ (demonstrate) in New York by Martin Cooper. Since then, a lot of money 3) _____ (invest) in developing the mobile phone industry and thousands of different models 4) _____ (produce).
Text messaging became popular in the 1990s, and today millions of text messages 5) _____ (send) each day. The first Internet service for mobile phones 6) _____ (introduce) in Japan in 1999. Today, the Internet 7) _____ (use) on smart phones, by all kinds of people, from company directors to students.
Technology is advancing rapidly and new processes 8) _____ (discover) almost daily. Many people think that computers 9) _____ (replace) by mobile phones in the future.
Show answers
1) was made 2) had been demonstrated 3) has been invested
4) have been produced 5) are sent 6) was introduced
7) is used 8) are being discovered 9) will be replaced
Challenge!
Find out information about one of these inventions. Write five sentences about it. Use the passive.
the radio the telephone the television
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