The passive: be + past participle, used on purpose.
The passive is not a fancier way to write every sentence. It is a precise tool: it puts the action or the result first and pushes the doer into the background, or out of sight altogether. Knowing exactly when to reach for it, and when the active is clearer, is a Band 7 marker.
Why this matters. Two parts of the test lean on the passive. Task 1 process descriptions live in it (the pulp is pressed, the sheets are dried), because the agent, whoever runs the machine, is irrelevant. And academic, impersonal writing uses it to keep the focus on findings rather than on who found them (it has been argued that…). The form is simple, the verb be in the right tense plus a past participle, but it is also where range quietly breaks: a dropped be, a wrong participle, or a whole answer drowned in the passive until it reads as heavy and evasive. This page is the form, the three reasons to use it, where the active is better, and ten to drill.
Be, in the right tense, plus a past participle.
The passive turns the object of an active sentence into the subject. Engineers built the bridge (active) becomes The bridge was built (passive). The recipe never changes: the verb be carries the tense, and the past participle carries the meaning.
The structure
subject + be (tensed) + past participle (+ by…)
Only be changes for tense; the participle stays fixed. The same verb runs across every tense, which is the whole table you need.
is written · was written · is being written · has been written · will be written
Why use it: three reasons
the doer is unknown, obvious or irrelevant
Choose the passive when the action matters more than the agent: in a process (nobody cares who operates the machine), when reporting a result, or to keep an impersonal academic tone.
The samples were then heated to 200°C. · English is spoken here.
The by-agent
… by + the doer (optional)
Add by… only when the doer genuinely matters. In most process and academic writing you drop it, which is the point of the passive in the first place.
The theory was proposed by Darwin. · The forms are processed overnight.
The participle is load-bearing
regular -ed · but the irregulars trip people
Get the third form right. Regular verbs take -ed; irregular ones must be learned (write → written, build → built, grow → grown). A wrong participle is a clear accuracy error.
was written, not was writed; was grown, not was growed
The two errors that cap accuracy
First, never drop be. “The report written in May” is not a passive sentence, it is a fragment (or a reduced relative). The passive needs the verb: “The report was written in May.” Second, do not drown the answer in it. A whole paragraph in the passive reads as heavy and evasive, and examiners reward a mix. Use the passive where the agent does not matter, and the active where it does, “The council built the lane; it was completed in 2019” moves between the two on purpose.
What passive use reads like at each band.
At Band 5
The passive is attempted but often breaks, a missing be (the bridge built in 1990) or a wrong participle (was build). More often it is avoided altogether, so a process description is forced awkwardly into the active and the writing reads as informal where it should be impersonal.
At Band 6
The passive appears and is correct in simple tenses (is made, was built), but it is overused or locked to one tense. The by-agent is often left in where it adds nothing (the form is filled in by the person), and active and passive are not yet chosen on purpose.
At Band 7
The passive is used where it fits, in processes, in reporting results, for an impersonal tone, and across more than one tense (has been shown, is being replaced). It is mixed with the active for clarity rather than applied everywhere, and the agent is dropped when it does not matter.
At Band 8+
The passive is woven in flexibly and accurately, including with modals and perfect or continuous forms (could have been prevented, is thought to have been). It never reads as a tic; each use is a deliberate choice of focus, and the writer moves between active and passive so smoothly the reader does not notice the machinery.
Reach for the passive for a reason, not a register.
The passive is right when the focus belongs on the action or the result, and wrong when it only hides a clear, relevant agent. Decide what the sentence is about first, then choose.
| Use the passive for… | Because… | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Task 1 processes | the operator is irrelevant; the steps are the point | The pulp is pressed and then dried. |
| Reporting results or methods | the finding matters more than who found it | The samples were tested over six weeks. |
| An unknown or general agent | nobody specific did it, or everyone does | English is spoken across the region. |
| A formal, impersonal tone | it keeps I and you out of academic prose | It has been argued that… |
| Do NOT use it when… | the doer is clear and relevant, the active is shorter and clearer | Mistakes were made by the council → The council made mistakes. |
A simple test: if you can add a meaningful by… and the sentence is better for naming the doer, the active was probably the right choice. The passive earns its place when the by-phrase would be obvious, unknown, or beside the point. The passive across tenses → · reduce a passive clause to a phrase →
Ten to drill.
Transform the sentence, choose the right passive form, spot the error, or decide whether the passive even belongs. Press Check answers for your score and the reason behind each one. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Knowing the form is easy. Choosing the passive on purpose, and dropping it when the active is clearer, is the work.
A dropped be, a wrong participle, or a paragraph drowned in the passive, these hide in your own writing, exactly where you cannot catch them.
In a lesson I mark your writing against the grammar criteria and show you, line by line, where the passive is doing real work and where it has only made a clear sentence heavier. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English; the first step is a free 25-minute introduction. This page is adapted from the grammar chapter of the forthcoming Ultimate Guide to IELTS Speaking.