LEARN · PART 5

Passive Voice on TOEIC

Passive voice constructions appear in Parts 5, 6, and 7 of every TOEIC test, frequently in business contexts where the actor is unknown or unimportant. The grammar is mechanical but the test catches takers who default to active voice when the surrounding text requires passive.

Rules

Passive structure: be + past participle. 'The report was approved' is passive; 'They approved the report' is active.
Past participles of irregular verbs are heavily tested: written (not 'wroten'), sent (not 'sended'), taken (not 'taked'), given (not 'gived').
Modal + passive is a frequent Part 5 pattern: 'The proposal must be submitted by Friday', 'Receipts should be retained for tax purposes'.
Continuous passive ('is being repaired') and perfect passive ('has been completed') appear in Part 6 where surrounding tense determines the correct form.

Examples

"The annual report will be released next quarter."

Future passive: will + be + past participle. 'Will release' would require an explicit subject doing the releasing.

"All expense reports must be signed by a manager before submission."

Modal passive: must + be + signed. A common Part 5 distractor here is 'must sign' — wrong because the subject (reports) doesn't perform the action.

"The proposal has been reviewed by three executives."

Perfect passive: has + been + reviewed. The 'by' phrase identifies who performed the action — typical TOEIC business-context structure.

What TOEIC specifically tests

Confusing 'be' verbs in passive constructions when the surrounding tense changes. 'The package is delivered' (simple present passive) versus 'The package is being delivered' (present continuous passive) versus 'The package has been delivered' (present perfect passive) — TOEIC Part 6 selects the correct one based on the surrounding sentences.
Using active voice when the subject doesn't perform the action. 'The report wrote' is wrong; 'The report was written' is correct. Test takers under time pressure miss this in long sentences where the subject is far from the verb.
Forgetting the past participle for irregular verbs. 'The contract was signed' (correct), 'The contract was sign' (wrong), 'The contract was signing' (wrong, continuous active form).

Common questions

When does TOEIC use passive voice?

TOEIC uses passive voice frequently in business-context sentences where the actor is unknown, unimportant, or to be de-emphasized. 'The report was approved' is more typical than 'The committee approved the report' when the focus is on the report's status. Parts 5, 6, and 7 all include passive-voice items.

What's the most common passive-voice mistake on TOEIC?

The most common error is choosing active voice when the subject doesn't perform the action — for example, choosing 'The contract sign' instead of 'The contract was signed' when the subject is the contract, not the signer. The distractor sounds natural at first glance but is grammatically wrong.

Is passive voice always wrong in English?

No. Passive voice is common and grammatically correct in business writing, especially when the actor is unknown ('The package was delivered') or unimportant ('The meeting was postponed'). TOEIC tests both passive and active forms because both appear in real business communication.

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