Present Simple Passive Voice: Forms, Uses, and Exercises

“Parcels are delivered every morning” describes a regular action while focusing on the parcels. The sentence does not need to name the people who deliver them.

The present simple passive uses am, is, or are + past participle. It is useful for routines, processes, and general statements when the receiver of an action is the topic you want to discuss.

Forming statements, negatives, and questions

Choose am, is, or are to agree with the passive subject. The participle stays the same: “The room is cleaned” and “The rooms are cleaned.”

With I, use am: “I am contacted by email.” To make a negative, put not after be; to make a question, put be before the subject. Do not add do or does to a passive question of this kind.

Active or passive: choose the topic

“They deliver parcels every day” puts the delivery workers or company first. “Parcels are delivered every day” puts the parcels first and leaves the workers unnamed.

Neither form is automatically more professional or more objective. Use the active when responsibility matters: “Our support team answers urgent messages.” Use the passive when describing what happens to an item: “Urgent messages are answered first.”

A routine delivery process

Orders are checked each morning. The items are packed in reusable boxes, and each box is labelled with the delivery address. Parcels are collected in the afternoon and delivered on the next working day.

This is an example process, not a statement about a particular delivery service. The passive maintains a consistent focus on orders, items, boxes, and parcels as they move through the process.

When to include by

A by-phrase names the agent: “The exams are graded by the teacher.” Keep it when it adds useful information, especially when identifying a particular person, creator, or responsible organisation.

Omit it when the agent is unknown, obvious, or unimportant. “English is spoken in many countries” is natural without “by people.” A transformation exercise may retain an agent to preserve all the original information, even when a real text would not need it.

Use a past participle, not a past tense

Regular verbs usually have the same spelling in both forms: cleaned, repaired, and completed. Irregular verbs may differ: write has past tense wrote and participle written.

The present simple passive describes routines or general situations. For something happening now, a continuous passive may be needed: “The road is being repaired.” That is different from “The road is repaired every spring.”

Practice: change active to passive

The following transformations practise the core structure. Keep the agent for these first ten questions so that all the original information remains available.

1. The chef prepares the meal.
2. The manager oversees the project.
3. The teacher grades the exams.
4. The company produces electronic devices.
5. The artist paints the mural.
6. The students complete their homework.
7. The technician repairs the computers.
8. The author writes the novel.
9. The designer creates the website.
10. The crew cleans the ship.

Answers and explanations

1. The meal is prepared by the chef. Meal is singular, so use is.
2. The project is overseen by the manager. Overseen is the participle of oversee.
3. The exams are graded by the teacher. Exams requires are.
4. Electronic devices are produced by the company. The plural object becomes the plural subject.
5. The mural is painted by the artist. Retaining the agent can be useful when the artist matters.
6. Their homework is completed by the students. Homework is uncountable and takes is.
7. The computers are repaired by the technician. Repaired follows are.
8. The novel is written by the author. Use written, not wrote.
9. The website is created by the designer. The website receives the action.
10. The ship is cleaned by the crew. Ship is singular even though crew refers to a group.

Apply the passive in a real description

Write three sentences about a regular process, such as cleaning a classroom or handling customer orders. Begin each sentence with the thing affected, then decide whether naming the person adds information.

A possible model is: “The tables are cleaned after each class. The windows are opened before the next group arrives. Equipment problems are reported to reception.” The agent is not repeated because the description focuses on the routine.