Year 6 · SPaG · Autumn: Active and passive
Year 6 using the passive worksheet and PowerPoint
To change a sentence from active to passive, and from passive to active, and to leave out the agent when it is not needed.
Changing the voice
To change an active sentence to the passive: make the object the new subject, use a form of be and the past participle, and move the old subject after by. Keep the same tense.
| active | The baker made the cake. |
|---|---|
| passive | The cake was made by the baker. |
| no agent | The cake was made. (use this when who did it does not matter) |
Examples
- The farmer has opened the gate. → The gate has been opened by the farmer.
Key words
- object
- the thing the action is done to
- passive
- the subject has the action done to it
- agent
- who or what does the action
- tense
- when the action happens: keep it the same
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write a short news report (five sentences) about something that was lost and found. Use at least three passive sentences, and leave out the agent in one of them.
Pupil target: I can change a sentence between the active and the passive.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the using the passive PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 23 of 72 in the Year 6 SPaG scheme, in the Autumn term, block “Active and passive”. It is taught before the SATs grammar test in May.
Other lessons in this block
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