What Is Passive Voice
Passive voice combines a form of the verb "be" with a past participle, as in "is made" or "was written." The subject receives the action instead of performing it. Active voice puts the doer first; passive voice puts the receiver first.
Active voice follows a subject-verb-object order: the doer comes first, then the action, then the receiver. Compare "She wrote the report" (active) with "The report was written by her" (passive). Both sentences describe the same event, but the passive version puts the report at the center of the sentence instead of the person who wrote it.
The "by" phrase naming the agent is optional. English speakers drop it constantly when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant. "The bridge was built in 1932" works fine without stating who built it. This flexibility is why passive voice appears so often in news reports, scientific writing, and formal instructions.
Passive voice exists across all 12 English tenses, from present simple ("The form is submitted") to future perfect ("The form will have been submitted by Friday"). A2 learners typically manage present and past simple passives. B1 and B2 learners handle modal and perfect passives. C1 and C2 learners produce passive constructions across complex, mixed-tense discourse. The tense-passive combinations you can build accurately say a lot about your actual proficiency level.
Passive voice is one of the grammar points learners search for most: across ten major English grammar and vocabulary topics analyzed in Examinizer's own keyword research (covering conditionals, modal verbs, irregular verbs, prepositions, and others), passive-voice queries made up roughly 12% of all related search activity, more than reported speech and relative clauses combined.
Examinizer's free test includes passive voice questions across multiple tenses and CEFR levels. It takes 25 minutes and gives you a clear picture of where your grammar control stands right now.
Active vs Passive: Comparison Table Across Tenses
English learners encounter passive constructions across 6 core tenses. A2 learners handle present simple and past simple passives; B2 and C2 learners tackle perfect tenses and modal forms. The table below puts active and passive side-by-side for fast comparison.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | They make cars. | Cars are made. |
| Past simple | She fixed it. | It was fixed. |
| Present continuous | They are building it. | It is being built. |
| Present perfect | They have built it. | It has been built. |
| Future simple | They will finish it. | It will be finished. |
| Modals | You must submit it. | It must be submitted. |
Each passive form uses "be" plus the past participle, adjusted to match the original tense. Present simple passive uses "is/are + participle." Past simple passive uses "was/were + participle." Modal passives insert "be" after the modal verb. Once you match the tense to its "be" form, building the passive version stops being a memorization exercise.
Test writers use this exact tense-shifting to separate B1 candidates from B2 and C2 candidates. Accurate passive use across multiple tenses signals stronger grammatical range. Examinizer's free test checks this directly, with a certificate available afterward for €8 (incl. 21% EU VAT = €9.68), delivered by email in 30 seconds.
CEFR Level Breakdown: When Passive Voice Is Taught (A1-C2)
The CEFR framework, developed by the Council of Europe, defines six proficiency levels from A1 to C2, and curricula built on it introduce passive voice across those six stages, each adding a distinct layer of complexity. At A1 and A2, learners meet passive forms only as vocabulary chunks. They recognize phrases like "It is made" or "It was built" without producing them independently, since teachers at this stage focus on comprehension rather than output.
B1 marks the shift to active production. Students build present and past simple passive sentences on their own, usually to describe processes or report facts, as in "The report was sent yesterday." By B2, the grammar expands to perfect and continuous passive forms such as "has been completed" or "is being reviewed," plus modal passives like "should be done" or "must be considered." These structures show up constantly in workplace and academic materials at this stage.
C1 learners take on passive reporting structures, including "It is believed that.." and the impersonal passive common in news writing and formal reports. This level demands accuracy across a wider range of registers, not just grammatical correctness. At C2, passive voice turns into a stylistic tool rather than a rule to follow. Learners pick passive constructions on purpose for formal, academic, or nuanced writing, and they shift emphasis and tone with precision.
Knowing the rules is one thing. Knowing your actual level is another. Examinizer's free English test pinpoints where you stand across these six CEFR stages, based on how you handle passive voice and dozens of other grammar points. A certified result costs €8 (incl. 21% EU VAT = €9.68) and arrives by email within 30 seconds. It is not a substitute for accredited exams like IELTS or Cambridge, but it gives you a fast, reliable benchmark before you commit to formal testing.
Common Mistakes with Passive Voice
B1 and B2 learners repeat five errors so often that examiners flag them within the first two sentences of a writing task. The most frequent is dropping or misusing the auxiliary verb "be," producing "The cake baked" instead of "The cake was baked." Without that auxiliary, the sentence reads as active and the meaning changes entirely.
The second mistake swaps the past participle for the simple past tense, so "was wrote" appears instead of "was written." B1 learners often memorize these two verb forms together and then apply them incorrectly. A third issue shows up at B2 and C1: overusing passive voice until writing sounds vague, stiff, or evasive. Examiners on CEFR writing tasks penalize this habit because it hides who did what.
Fourth, some learners try to passivize intransitive verbs that have no object at all. "Was happened" is incorrect because "happen" never takes a direct object, so there's nothing to turn into a passive subject. Fifth, subject-verb agreement breaks down under pressure: "The books was sold" should read "The books were sold," since the plural subject needs a plural auxiliary.
A1 and A2 learners rarely produce passive voice unprompted. B1 introduces it for simple facts. B2 demands accuracy across mixed tenses. C1 and C2 expect nuanced control, including knowing when to avoid passive voice altogether. Examinizer's 25-question, 25-minute test pinpoints exactly which of these five errors is holding a learner back, with results and a certificate (€8, or €9.68 including 21% EU VAT) delivered by email within 30 seconds.
When to Use Passive Voice
Four situations call for passive voice over active. First, use it when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant: "My car was stolen" works better than forcing in an unknown thief. Second, formal, scientific, and academic writing favor passive to sound objective, so B2 and C1 learners meet it constantly in reports and research summaries. Third, passive shifts focus onto the action or result rather than the person performing it. Fourth, it softens direct statements in formal or diplomatic contexts, as in "Mistakes were made" rather than naming who made them.
A2 learners typically handle simple present and past passive forms, such as "The window was broken." B1 adds modal passives like "It must be done." B2 and C1 push into passive constructions with reporting verbs, as in "It is believed that..", and mixed tenses in formal writing. C2 speakers use passive almost instinctively to control tone and emphasis across 6 or more tense combinations. Your level determines whether a passive sentence sounds natural or overworked.
Skip passive voice in casual conversation. Saying "The pizza was eaten by me" instead of "I ate the pizza" sounds stiff in everyday speech, where active voice is direct and expected. Overusing passive in informal contexts is one of the most common mistakes test-takers make at B1 and B2 levels.
To strengthen accuracy around passive voice, review related grammar at /grammar/, /grammar/tenses/, and /grammar/articles/. For structured practice across tenses, articles, and passive constructions together, try /english-grammar-test/, a 25-question test that takes about 25 minutes and pinpoints your CEFR level.