Passive Voice: Past Simple

subject

object
Active voice: Somebody cleaned this room yesterday.

Passive voice: This room was cleaned yesterday.

subject

subject

object
Active voice: The company produced 10,000 cars last year.

Passive voice: 10,000 cars were produced by the company last year.
subject

agent

Write in the Passive voice.

1 They opened a new disco in town last Saturday.

2 They cancelled the flight because of fog.
3 William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.
4 They took them to hospital after the accident.
5 Many people saw the accident.
6 They stole three famous paintings from the museum last night.
7 The police caught the thieves yesterday.
8 They took the criminals to prison.
9 They carried the paintings back to the museum this afternoon.
10 The factory dismissed three hundred people last month.
11 We sent the e-mails yesterday.
12 They paid 1,000 for the job.
13 Manolo Blanik made these shoes.
14 Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.
15 Bell didn’t invent the television.
16 Three more factories closed last week.
17 My uncle gave me this watch for my birthday.
18 They found the skeleton of a dinosaur in San Luis last week.
19 They lost the match in the last minute.
20 They saw a strange object in the sky last night.
Complete the questions in the Past Simple Passive

1 When ………………………………………………… ? (Concorde/develop)

2 How many planes ………………………………… last year? (build)
3 How many people ……………………………….in the car crash? (hurt)
4 When ………………………………………………………… ? (The Houses of
Parliament/build)
5 How much ……………………………………….. for speeding?(she/fine)
6 How much money ………………………………….. as a prize? (they/give)

Write in the Passive Voice.

Mickey Mouse
Walt Disney created the character of Micky Mouse sixty years ago.
They called Mickey ‘Topolino’ in Italian and ‘Mi Lo Shu’ in Chinese.
At first they called him Mortimer Mouse.
Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian, gave him the name Mickey.
Disney made the first full-length cartoon, ‘Snow White’, in 1937.
They have translated Micky Mouse cartoons into sixty languages.
They have made 120 cartoons since 1928.

Complete with Passive Voice. Use Present Simple or Past Simple.

Coca-Cola …………………………… (enjoy) all over the world. 1.6 billion gallons
…………………………. (sell) every year, on over one hundred and sixty countries.
The drink ………………….. (invent) by Dr John Pemberton in Atlanta as a health drink
on 8 May 1886, but it ………………………………. (give) the name Coca-Cola by his
partner, Frank Robinson, because it ……… originally ……………. (make) from the
coca plant. In the first year, only nine drinks a day …………………… (sell).
The business …………………………… (buy) by a man called Asa Candler in 1888,
and the first factory ……………………………….(open) in Dallas, Texas, in 1895.
Coca-Cola ………… still ……………….. (make) there. }They have produced billions
of bottles and cans since 1895, but the recipe ……….still …………..secret!