Passive Voice Questions Exercises

Forming questions in the passive voice follows a clear pattern: move the helper verb before the subject. For yes/no questions, place the helper verb (is, are, was, were, has, have, will, or a modal) at the start: "Was the letter sent?" For wh-questions, start with the question word followed by the helper verb: "When was the letter sent?"

Special attention is needed for "who" and "what" questions. When asking about the agent (the doer), use "by whom" in formal English or "who ... by" in everyday speech: "Who was this painting done by?" or "By whom was this painting done?" When "who" or "what" is the subject, the passive question looks like a statement: "What was found at the scene?" In all tenses, the rule stays the same — move the first helper verb before the subject. Questions in the passive voice appear regularly in Cambridge B1 and B2 exams, both in sentence transformation tasks and in listening comprehension. Practising them builds confidence for written and spoken English.