WrongThe water is filter in the second stage.
RightThe water is filtered in the second stage.
Not «is filter» but «is filtered» — the participle is compulsory.
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Grammar
The passive
Needed for Task 1 processes and formal register — but overusing it costs clarity.
Why this moves your band
In a process the agent is unknown, so the passive is natural. In Task 2 a wall of passives weighs the text down and hurts Coherence.
The rule
- 1Use the passive when the doer is unknown or unimportant: «The beans are dried for two days».
- 2The formula never changes: be + past participle.
- 3If the active says the same thing, use the active.
Wrong and right
WrongThe bridge was build in 1890.
RightThe bridge was built in 1890.
A wrong participle (build → built) is the most common passive error.
WrongIt is believed by many people that the policy will be failed.
RightMany people believe that the policy will fail.
«fail» is intransitive, so it has no passive.
Check after writing
- Does every passive have «be» plus a past participle?
- Is the process description in the present passive?
- Has the whole text turned passive?
Practice
Pick one answer for each question — the right answer and the rule appear straight away. Nothing is saved.
1.The tea leaves by hand before they are dried.
2.The first university in the city in 1920.
3.In the final stage, the bottles and sent to shops.
4.Which sentence is better in an essay?
5.The results of the survey next month.
6.English as a second language in many countries.
Test your grammar in an essay
Write an essay and the AI grades it on Grammatical Range and Accuracy too, showing which mistake keeps coming back.