Passive: Continuous Tenses Practice Tests with A2 Grammar Rules & Examples

Passive: Continuous Tenses

In English, we usually say who does something. For example: "The chef is cooking the meal." But sometimes, we want to talk about what is happening to something, not who is doing it. We use the passive continuous to do this.

Look at these two sentences:

• Active: The workers are building a new school. (We focus on the workers.)
• Passive: A new school is being built. (We focus on the school.)

The passive continuous tells us that something is happening to a person or thing right now (or was happening in the past). The person or thing receives the action — it does not do the action.

In this lesson, we will look at two continuous passive tenses:

• Present Continuous Passive — something is being done now
• Past Continuous Passive — something was being done at a time in the past

Understanding "Active" and "Passive"

Before we look at the rules, let's understand what active and passive mean.

Imagine you are watching a kitchen:

• Active: The chef is cooking the pasta. — The chef does the action.
• Passive: The pasta is being cooked. — The pasta receives the action.

In the passive, the thing that receives the action (the pasta) becomes the most important part of the sentence. We put it at the beginning.

We often use the passive when:

• We do not know who does the action.
• It is not important who does the action.
• We want to focus on what is happening to something.

Present Continuous Passive

We use the Present Continuous Passive to say that something is being done right now, at this moment.

A Simple Story

Maria walks past a building site. She sees workers and machines. She says:

"A new hospital is being built in my town."

She does not know all the workers' names. She only cares about the hospital. So she uses the passive.

How to Form the Present Continuous Passive

Subject + am/is/are + being + past participle

Let's look at each part:

• am / is / are — this is the verb "to be" in the present tense
• being — this shows the action is happening right now (continuous)
• past participle — this is the third form of the verb (e.g. cook → cooked, build → built, write → written)

Note: The "past participle" is the form of the verb we use in passive sentences. For regular verbs, it ends in -ed. For irregular verbs, it has a special form (e.g. write → written, make → made, build → built).

Present Continuous Passive: Forms Table

Subject	am / is / are	being	Past Participle	Full Example
I	am	being	helped	I am being helped.
He / She / It	is	being	tested	She is being tested.
You / We / They	are	being	trained	They are being trained.
The car	is	being	repaired	The car is being repaired.
The letters	are	being	written	The letters are being written.

More Present Continuous Passive Examples

• The report is being prepared. (Someone is preparing it now.)
• New roads are being built in the city.
• The windows are being cleaned at the moment.
• Dinner is being cooked right now.
• I am being interviewed for a job today.

Negative Form: Present Continuous Passive

To make a negative sentence, add not after am / is / are:

Subject + am/is/are + not + being + past participle

• The problem is not being fixed.
• The children are not being supervised.
• I am not being ignored.

Question Form: Present Continuous Passive

To make a question, put am / is / are at the beginning:

Am/Is/Are + subject + being + past participle?

• Is the car being repaired?
• Are the students being tested?
• Am I being recorded?

Past Continuous Passive

We use the Past Continuous Passive to say that something was being done at a specific moment in the past. The action was in progress at that time.

A Simple Story

Tom arrived home at 6 o'clock yesterday. He saw paint and workers everywhere. He said:

"When I arrived home, my house was being painted."

The painting was happening at that moment in the past (when he arrived). So we use the past continuous passive.

How to Form the Past Continuous Passive

Subject + was/were + being + past participle

• was / were — this is the verb "to be" in the past tense
• being — this shows the action was in progress (continuous)
• past participle — the third form of the verb

Past Continuous Passive: Forms Table

Subject	was / were	being	Past Participle	Full Example
I	was	being	watched	I was being watched.
He / She / It	was	being	treated	He was being treated at the hospital.
You / We / They	were	being	followed	We were being followed.
The bridge	was	being	repaired	The bridge was being repaired.
The papers	were	being	checked	The papers were being checked.

More Past Continuous Passive Examples

• The road was being repaired when the accident happened.
• New houses were being built in the village last year.
• The children were being looked after while their parents were at work.
• At midnight, the stolen car was being driven across the border.
• The machines were being tested when the power went off.

Negative Form: Past Continuous Passive

To make a negative sentence, add not after was / were:

Subject + was/were + not + being + past participle

• The question was not being answered.
• The students were not being supervised properly.
• I was not being listened to.

Question Form: Past Continuous Passive

To make a question, put was / were at the beginning:

Was/Were + subject + being + past participle?

• Was the food being prepared?
• Were the workers being paid?
• Was she being helped?

Adding "by" to Show Who Does the Action

Sometimes we want to say who is doing (or was doing) the action. We use by to do this.

Subject + am/is/are/was/were + being + past participle + by + person/thing

• The house is being painted by a professional team.
• The letter is being written by the manager.
• The road was being repaired by the council.
• The children were being taught by a new teacher.

Remember: We only add "by + person/thing" when it gives important or useful information. If it is not important or obvious, we leave it out.

Active to Passive: How to Change a Sentence

Follow these three steps to change an active sentence to a passive sentence:

Step 1: Find the object of the active sentence. This becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Step 2: Use am/is/are/was/were + being with the correct form.
Step 3: Add the past participle of the main verb.

Example 1 — Present Continuous

Active: The mechanic is fixing the car.
→ Object = the car (this becomes the subject)
→ Verb = fixing → past participle = fixed
Passive: The car is being fixed (by the mechanic).

Example 2 — Past Continuous

Active: Workers were building a new road.
→ Object = a new road (this becomes the subject)
→ Verb = building → past participle = built
Passive: A new road was being built (by workers).

Active to Passive Comparison Table

Tense	Active Sentence	Passive Sentence
Present Continuous	They are cleaning the office.	The office is being cleaned.
Present Continuous	She is making a cake.	A cake is being made.
Present Continuous	The doctor is examining him.	He is being examined.
Past Continuous	They were repairing the bridge.	The bridge was being repaired.
Past Continuous	She was teaching the students.	The students were being taught.
Past Continuous	They were following me.	I was being followed.

Important Differences: Present Continuous vs Past Continuous Passive

Feature	Present Continuous Passive	Past Continuous Passive
Time	Happening now / at this moment	Was happening at a moment in the past
Form	am/is/are + being + past participle	was/were + being + past participle
Time words	now, at the moment, currently, today	when, while, at that time, yesterday, at 6 o'clock
Example	The bridge is being repaired now.	The bridge was being repaired when I passed.

Common Mistakes

❌ The car is been repaired.
✅ The car is being repaired. (Use "being", not "been", after is/am/are.)

❌ The letters are being write by the manager.
✅ The letters are being written by the manager. (Use the past participle "written", not the base form "write".)

❌ The house was being paint when I arrived.
✅ The house was being painted when I arrived. (Regular verbs need -ed: paint → painted.)

❌ A new road were being built.
✅ A new road was being built. ("A new road" is singular, so use "was", not "were".)

❌ The students are being test right now.
✅ The students are being tested right now. (Don't forget to add -ed for regular verbs.)

❌ Were the bridge being repaired?
✅ Was the bridge being repaired? ("The bridge" is singular, so use "was".)

❌ The cake is being make by my mother.
✅ The cake is being made by my mother. (The past participle of "make" is "made", not "make".)

Useful Irregular Past Participles to Remember

Many common verbs have irregular past participles. Here are some you will often see in passive sentences:

Base Form	Past Participle	Passive Example
build	built	A school is being built.
make	made	The dress is being made.
write	written	The report is being written.
teach	taught	The class was being taught.
drive	driven	The car was being driven.
take	taken	The photos are being taken.
give	given	Prizes are being given.
repair	repaired	The phone is being repaired. (regular)

Passive Continuous Tenses: Quick Summary

Here is a quick review of the passive continuous tenses:

• We use the passive when we want to focus on what happens to something, not on who does the action.
• The Present Continuous Passive = am/is/are + being + past participle — for things happening now.
• The Past Continuous Passive = was/were + being + past participle — for things that were in progress at a moment in the past.
• Add not after am/is/are/was/were to make negatives.
• Put am/is/are/was/were at the start of the sentence to make questions.
• Use by when you want to say who does the action.
• Always use the past participle — be careful with irregular verbs!

Now practise passive continuous tenses in the exercises below.