Passive Voice - Identifying

Guided Practice

Below is a brief exercise in identifying passive voice constructions. Read each sentence below. If you think that it contains a passive voice construction, click YES; if you think that it does not contain a passive voice construction, click NO.

  1. The first speedometer was built by Charles Babbage. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  2. Charles Babbage also developed the logical structure of the computers that we use today. YES NO

    YES: INCORRECT.

    NO: CORRECT!

  3. Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were manufactured by skilled spinners and weavers. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  4. In 1767, the first spinning jenny was invented by James Hargreaves. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  5. After that, textiles could be manufactured in great quantities. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  6. In 1793, Eli Whitney built a machine that would clean the seeds out of green cotton. YES NO

    YES: INCORRECT.

    NO: CORRECT!

  7. Unfortunately, Whitney's machine was stolen from his carriage house one night. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  8. While US soldiers were fighting the War of 1812, Eli whitney was mass-producing flawless precision rifles. YES NO

    YES: INCORRECT.

    NO: CORRECT!

  9. Gold was found in California in 1849. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  10. The Pony Express was established in 1860 by three California tycoons. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  11. In 1836, Samuel F.B. Morse assembled his first electromagnetic telegraph machine. YES NO

    YES: INCORRECT.

    NO: CORRECT!

  12. In 1837, a dot-dash system for sending messages by wire was developed by Alfred Vail. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  13. Vail's dot-dash system for sending messages came to be called the 'Morse' Code. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  14. For 150 years, The Du Pont company has produced high-quality dynamite. YES NO

    YES: INCORRECT.

    NO: CORRECT!

  15. To this day, high-quality dynamite is produced by the Du Pont company. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  16. The first census in the United States was conducted in 1790. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  17. The very first electric tabulating machine was devised by Herman Hollerith. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  18. The Hollerith tabulating machine was used by several countries for the purpose of conducting a national census. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  19. In the early 1900s, most of the teletypewriters in the United States were built by American Telegraph and Telephone Company. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  20. The first electronic computer was built by Thomas Flowers in England in 1945. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

  21. Most automobiles in the United States are built by General Motors, Ford Motor Company, or Chrysler Corporation. YES NO

    YES: CORRECT!

    NO: INCORRECT.

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