English Grammar Drills

250 Sentences
As you can see,
be present participle progressive
be past participle passive
A sentence can even be both progressive and passive so long as it meets the requirements: be
present participle (Pres Part) for the progressive and be past participle (Past Part) for the passive.
Here is an example of a sentence with both:
The job is being contracted out to a firm in Singapore.
be Pres Part be Past Part
In order to have both a progressive and a passive, the sentence must contain two different be’s:
one for the progressive, and one for the passive. What is tricky is that the verb being plays a role in
both constructions: it is the present perfect tense form that is required for the progressive, and it
is also the helping verb for the passive.
Only sentences that contain the sequence be a past participle verb are passive. All other
sentences are called active sentences. That is, by default, sentences that do not contain the
sequence of be a past participle are automatically classified as active.
Here are some examples of passive sentences with the helping verb be and the past participle
in bold. Note that the passive helping verb can be used in combination with other helping verbs
(in italics), sometimes producing rather long and complicated verb sequences:
The movie was filmed in Spain.
I was reminded that we have to go to Chicago tomorrow.
The contract will be signed Tuesday.
Your car has been parked on the lower level.
The meeting should have been finished by now.
The accident is being reported to the insurance company.
Exercise 14.1
Write active or passive above the verbs in the following sentences as appropriate. If the sentence is
passive, confirm your answer by underlining the verb be and the past participle.
passive
We should have been warned of the risk before we started.
1. Mrs. Johnston was appointed to the district court.
2. The present was wrapped in bright red paper.