TOEIC Grammar: Active and Passive Voice (Rules and Examples)

Form

The passive is be + past participle; the tense is carried by be.

Choosing the voice

Ask whether the subject performs the action. People usually act (The manager approved); documents, products, orders, rooms and events are usually acted upon (The order was shipped, The room has been reserved). Then use the object test: a transitive verb in the active voice has an object after it; in the passive it does not.

• The committee will announce the winners on Friday. (object present → active)
• The winners will be announced on Friday. (no object; the winners receive the action → passive)

Verbs with two objects can keep one object in the passive: Ms. Grant was offered a promotion. The employees were given new badges. So "a noun after the blank" does not prove the active voice with give, offer, send, award, grant, issue, assign; check meaning too.

Verbs that cannot be passive

Intransitive verbs have no object, so they have no passive: arrive, occur, happen, take place, rise, fall, decline, remain, exist, emerge, expire, depart, consist of, belong to. The meeting was taken place and The incident was occurred are always wrong.

Passive + preposition combinations

Many passive forms work like adjectives and take a fixed preposition: be located in/on/at, be based in, be scheduled for, be committed to, be involved in, be satisfied with, be equipped with, be pleased with, be interested in, be known for, be required to, be expected to, be scheduled to, be entitled to, be designed to/for. These are often tested in Part 5 as a passive participle right before the preposition.

Quick check: (a) The package (delivered / was delivered) this morning. (b) The sales conference (will hold / will be held) in Denver. (c) A fire drill (occurred / was occurred) yesterday. — Answers: (a) was delivered, (b) will be held, (c) occurred.