The Passive Voice in TOEIC®: The Simple Method to Stop Making Mistakes

The passive voice allows you to emphasize the action or the person undergoing it, rather than the person performing it.

On the TOEIC®, it appears in 60% to 70% of Part 5 questions that test verb conjugations.

The basic structure is simple: BE + past participle. The main trap? Confusing the past participle with an adjective, or choosing the wrong form of BE based on the required tense.

Why the Passive Voice is Everywhere on the TOEIC®

The TOEIC® assesses your ability to understand professional English. In this context, the passive voice is often used to maintain neutrality and objectivity.

Here are some typical situations where you will encounter the passive voice:

• Announcement emails (The meeting has been rescheduled)
• Company regulations (Employees are required to...)
• Process descriptions (The report will be reviewed by...)
• Incident reports (The issue was resolved yesterday)

In Part 5, questions test your ability to identify the correct form of BE according to the verb tense.

In Parts 6 and 7, they check whether you understand who is performing the action and who is being affected by it, even when the agent is not mentioned.

Among the candidates we coach, the majority of errors stem from confusion regarding tenses, not a misunderstanding of the passive voice itself. For example, many choose "was sent" when the context requires "has been sent" because of a time marker like "recently".

The 5 Passive Structures You Absolutely Must Know

Here is a table summarizing the most common passive forms on the TOEIC®:

These 5 forms cover about 90% of the passive questions in Part 5.

Special Case: The Passive Voice with Modals

Modals (can, must, should, may, etc.) combine with BE in the infinitive, never with a conjugated form.

• "All employees must be notified before the event."
• "The documents can be downloaded from the portal."

Warning: Candidates often write "must been" or "can been". It is always "modal + BE", never "modal + BEEN".

Part 5 Passive Traps (and How to Avoid Them)

Trap 1: Confusing Past Participle with Adjective

Some past participles look like adjectives. The difference? The passive voice describes an action received, while the adjective describes a state.

• "The door is locked." (passive: someone locked the door)
• "The door is blue." (adjective: permanent state)

On the TOEIC®, this trap appears mostly with verbs like: interested, excited, concerned, located, situated.

Trap 2: Forgetting BY When the Agent is Mentioned

To specify who performs the action in the passive voice, you use BY.

• "The proposal was approved by the board."

But be careful: in 80% of passive sentences on the TOEIC®, the agent is NOT mentioned. This is normal and intentional.

• "The meeting has been postponed." (it doesn't say who postponed it)

Trap 3: Choosing the Wrong Verb Tense

The tense of the passive voice must match the temporal context of the sentence. Here is a table to help you decide:

This table is your mental checklist for Part 5. If you see "recently" in the sentence, look for a form using "has/have been + past participle".

Active or Passive? The Method to Choose

On the TOEIC®, some questions ask you to choose between active and passive voice. Here is how to decide in 3 seconds.

Step 1: Identify the subject of the sentence

If the subject performs the action, choose active. If the subject undergoes the action, choose passive.

Example:

• "The manager ______ the report yesterday."

--> The manager performs the action → active → "sent"

• "The report ______ by the manager yesterday."

--> The report undergoes the action → passive → "was sent"

Step 2: Check if there is a Direct Object

If the sentence has a DO (something or someone receiving the action), you can potentially use the passive voice.

• "The team completed the project."

--> DO = the project → passive possible → "The project was completed by the team."

• "The meeting occurred yesterday."

--> no DO → no passive possible

Furthermore, those who progress fastest have understood that on the TOEIC®, the passive voice is a reflex of professional neutrality, not a grammatical complexity. They no longer ask themselves, "Should I use the passive voice?" but rather, "Is the subject performing or receiving the action?"

Anti-Mistake Checklist for Part 5

Here is your 4-step mental routine to stop making errors:

1. Read the entire sentence (not just the blank)

Time cues are often after the verb. If you only read the beginning, you risk choosing the wrong tense.

2. Identify the subject and ask yourself: does it perform or undergo the action?

Subject = actor → active / Subject = receiver → passive

3. Look for the time cue and choose the right BE

Cue → tense → form of BE (is/was/has been/will be/modal + be)

4. Verify that the past participle is correct

Especially for irregular verbs (written, not writed / chosen, not choosed).

The 5 Errors Never to Make Again

Here is a table of errors we see repeatedly among candidates, with the correction and the associated TOEIC® trap:

Candidates who master the passive voice well are not those who know all the rules by heart. They are the ones who have automated the detection of cues: subject + tense + context.

Ready to Practice?

The passive voice is one of the most tested topics on the TOEIC®, and also one where you can progress the fastest once you understand the logic. The essential thing is to practice with real questions that exactly replicate the test traps.

On Flow Exam, you can practice directly on the Active/Passive Voice theme in Part 5, with thousands of questions in the same format as the official TOEIC® ones. So, if you struggle with this topic, you will never make the same mistakes again.

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