# Passive Voice Tense Practice: Keep the Time, Change the Focus

*2026-10-15*

“The mechanic is repairing the bike” becomes “The bike is being repaired by the mechanic.” Write “The bike has been repaired” instead, and you've moved from work in progress to a completed repair. The participle *repaired* is correct in both sentences. The helping verbs tell different stories.

This **passive voice tense practice** is for that particular mistake: choosing the right participle while losing the original sentence's time or meaning. Follow a small repair workshop's job records, build an answer with the five-column audit, then try ten transformations and one sentence that can't become passive.

![A patched red kite fills the foreground while its line leads to a woman flying it on a coastal hill](/blog/passive-voice-tense-practice.png)

## Move the focus without moving the event

In “Lea repairs the bike,” *Lea* is the subject and does the action. *The bike* is the object and receives it. In the passive, the receiver becomes the subject: “The bike is repaired by Lea.” The [British Council's passive voice lesson](https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/free-resources/grammar/b1-b2/passives) explains this change of focus and the common passive forms.

The basic pattern is **a form of be + past participle**. Keep the original tense and aspect: its simple, continuous, or perfect structure. Changing voice doesn't require a tense shift. A present-continuous active sentence needs a present-continuous passive sentence; it doesn't become past tense because you use a past participle.

The word *repaired* stays the same across the passive forms below. The auxiliary chain—the helping verbs before it—carries the changes in time, aspect, and agreement.

If choosing *wrote* or *written* is still the difficult part, start with [past simple vs past participle](/blog/past-simple-vs-past-participle/). Here, the task is building the whole verb phrase around that participle.

### Read the workshop's event ledger

These are separate entries in a fictional repair workshop's records. Each passive report must preserve what its active report says.

| Entry | Active report | Passive report |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Routine | The technicians inspect every brake on Mondays. | Every brake **is inspected** by the technicians on Mondays. |
| Work in progress now | Lea is repairing the blue bike now. | The blue bike **is being repaired** by Lea now. |
| Completed repair, relevant now | Sam has repaired the red bike. | The red bike **has been repaired** by Sam. |
| Work completed before another past event | Nora had replaced the wheel before the owner called. | The wheel **had been replaced** by Nora before the owner called. |
| Future job | Lea will test the green bike tomorrow. | The green bike **will be tested** by Lea tomorrow. |

The first row also changes agreement. *The technicians* is plural, but the new subject, *every brake*, is singular, so the passive needs **is**. Don't copy the old subject's number into the new verb.

The fourth row keeps two events in order: the wheel replacement was complete before the call. Changing *had been replaced* to *was being replaced* would describe work in progress, losing that statement of completion. For more practice with this timeline, see [past perfect vs past simple](/blog/past-perfect-vs-past-simple/).

## Being vs been: build from the original verb phrase

For the forms used here, continuous passives contain **being**, while perfect passives contain **been**. Both are forms of *be*. Neither replaces the main verb's past participle. [Cambridge's passive forms reference](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/passive-forms) sets out these auxiliary patterns.

| Original structure | Passive structure | Example verb phrase |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Present simple | am/is/are + participle | is repaired |
| Present continuous | am/is/are being + participle | is being repaired |
| Past simple | was/were + participle | was repaired |
| Past continuous | was/were being + participle | was being repaired |
| Present perfect | has/have been + participle | has been repaired |
| Past perfect | had been + participle | had been repaired |
| Future with will | will be + participle | will be repaired |

Compare *is repairing → is being repaired* with *has repaired → has been repaired*. “Is been repaired” fits neither pattern. “Has being repaired” mixes them.

With a negative, put **not after the first helping verb**: *is not being repaired*, *has not been repaired*, *will not be repaired*. In simple active negatives, *doesn't repair* becomes *isn't repaired*, and *didn't repair* becomes *wasn't repaired*, when the new subject is singular. The passive form of *be* takes over the tense and negative structure; *do* disappears.

## Audit five things before accepting an answer

Start with “Sam has not tested the two bells yet.” Find the object, *the two bells*, and move it to the front. The original verb phrase, *has not tested*, is negative present perfect, so build the same structure in the passive: **have not been tested**. Use *have* because the bells are plural. Add *by Sam* and keep *yet*:

> The two bells have not been tested by Sam yet.

Now record those decisions in one audit row. The last column catches answers that look grammatical but report a different event.

| Receiver → new subject | Original tense/aspect | Passive verb | Retained agent | Preserved time/negation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| the blue bike | Present continuous | is being repaired | by Lea | now; affirmative |
| the two bells | Present perfect | have not been tested | by Sam | yet; negative |

For your own answers, fill all five columns before checking the key. If the verb phrase looks right but you've dropped *not* or *yet*, the transformation still needs fixing.

Keep the named actor in the exercises below. “The bike was repaired” is a valid sentence, but it leaves out information from “Lea repaired the bike.” For this worksheet, preserving the supplied information means keeping **by Lea**.

In ordinary writing, you can omit an agent when they're unknown, obvious, or unimportant. [Cambridge's guide to passives with and without an agent](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/passives-with-and-) explains that choice. Cambridge’s [reference for by](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/by) distinguishes the doer from a tool: a wheel can be removed **by Nora**, **with a wrench**. Those phrases answer different questions.

## Ten active-to-passive exercises, plus a boundary check

Write the complete passive sentence before reading the answers. Keep every named agent, time expression, and negative. Move the object of the main clause into subject position; leave any *when* or *before* clause unchanged. Contractions and sensible changes in word order are fine.

1. The technicians clean the workbench every evening.
2. Nora checks the two locks each morning.
3. The technicians are replacing the chain now.
4. Lea has repaired the two scooters already.
5. Sam had packed the tools before the van arrived.
6. Nora will collect the blue bike tomorrow.
7. Lea does not test the bells on Sundays.
8. The technicians did not replace the tyre yesterday.
9. Sam was painting the frame when the owner called.
10. Nora removed the wheel with a wrench this morning.
11. Boundary check: “The spare parts arrived yesterday.” Can you make this sentence passive without adding an action or changing the verb?

### Answers and the reason for each

1. **The workbench is cleaned by the technicians every evening.** Present simple stays present simple. The new subject is singular, so use *is*, even though *the technicians* is plural. Keep *every evening* to preserve the routine.
2. **The two locks are checked by Nora each morning.** The plural receiver becomes the subject, so *checks* becomes *are checked*. “The two locks is checked” has the right participle but the wrong agreement.
3. **The chain is being replaced by the technicians now.** Present continuous stays continuous. The singular chain needs *is*, followed by *being replaced*. “Has been replaced” would report a completed replacement instead of work in progress.
4. **The two scooters have already been repaired by Lea.** Present perfect stays present perfect. The new plural subject needs *have*, although the active used *has* with Lea. *Already* can move within the verb phrase; it still reports that the repair is complete.
5. **The tools had been packed by Sam before the van arrived.** *Had been packed* preserves the past perfect and the earlier completed action. The van's arrival remains past simple in its own clause.
6. **The blue bike will be collected by Nora tomorrow.** Keep *will*, add *be*, and use the participle *collected*. “Will being collected” is incorrect; *will* takes the base form *be* here.
7. **The bells are not tested by Lea on Sundays.** This remains a negative present-simple statement about a routine. The plural subject takes *are not*. Leaving out *not* reverses the meaning; keeping *does not* would produce the wrong passive structure.
8. **The tyre was not replaced by the technicians yesterday.** Past simple stays past simple, with *was not* for the singular tyre. “Had not been replaced” introduces a past-perfect structure that the original didn't use.
9. **The frame was being painted by Sam when the owner called.** *Was being painted* preserves work in progress at the time of the call. “Was painted” loses that continuous aspect; “had been painted” presents the painting as earlier and completed.
10. **The wheel was removed by Nora with a wrench this morning.** This is past simple with the singular subject *the wheel*. Nora remains the agent after *by*; the wrench remains the tool after *with*. “By a wrench” doesn't preserve the supplied roles.
11. **No passive transformation is available.** *Arrived* has no object here. The spare parts are already the subject; there's no object to move into that position. “The spare parts were arrived” is incorrect. “The spare parts were delivered” is grammatical, but it introduces a different verb and a delivery action. Cambridge's [guide to typical passive errors](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/passive-typical-errors) explains why intransitive verbs don't form passives.

## Keep the mistake, then change the example

Mark an answer correct only after the five audit columns match. A correct participle is one part of the answer. Missing *being*, changing *have* to *has*, or dropping *not* each deserves a different correction.

Make a card for a choice you actually missed, rather than copying the whole reference table:

| What went wrong | Card front | Card back |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Changed progress into completion | Keep the meaning: “Sam is testing the bell now.” → “The bell ___ by Sam now.” | **is being tested** — present continuous passive; the test is in progress. |
| Kept agreement with the old subject | Keep the meaning: “Nora has checked the locks.” → “The locks ___ by Nora.” | **have been checked** — present perfect; *locks* is plural. |
| Tried to transform an intransitive verb | Can “The mechanic arrived at noon” become passive with *arrive*? Explain. | **No.** *Arrive* has no object here, so there's no object to make the passive subject. |

The [cloze vs basic flashcards guide](/blog/cloze-deletion-vs-basic-flashcards/) can help you choose between a sentence blank and a direct explanation prompt. Keep the original active sentence on the front when the skill you're practicing is preserving its meaning.

After correcting a card, try a new receiver: change *the bell* to *the brakes*, for example. “The brakes are being tested by Sam now” makes you choose agreement again while keeping the action in progress. That's the useful check: you can rebuild the sentence when one part changes.

*Drafted with AI assistance using the linked British Council and Cambridge grammar references. The workshop records, exercises, and audit are original teaching examples.*

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