Choose the best passive completion for each sentence.
1The former director is understood ............... the company before the internal inquiry began.
Wrong!
The departure preceded the inquiry, so the passive reporting structure takes the perfect infinitive "to have left".
2............... three times by the panel, the proposal was eventually withdrawn.
Wrong!
The three rejections were completed before the withdrawal, requiring the perfect passive participle "Having been rejected".
3Several witnesses now claim ............... to sign statements during closed interviews last May.
Wrong!
The pressure allegedly occurred during interviews last May, so anterior passive meaning requires "to have been pressured".
4Only after the raw data had been independently verified ............... for publication.
Wrong!
A fronted phrase beginning with "Only after" triggers subject–auxiliary inversion, giving "was the article accepted".
5Although the press release had not yet been drafted, she objected to ............... as its sole author, since the work had been collective.
Wrong!
Because the release had not yet been drafted, the proposed future treatment is expressed by "being credited".
6For the system to be certified today, all electronic records must be shown ............... continuously throughout the preceding seven years.
Wrong!
The seven-year retention period precedes certification today, so the perfect passive infinitive "to have been retained" is required.
7The documents ............... before last month's hearing; their late release has now triggered an appeal.
Wrong!
The hearing is already over, and the appeal concerns an unmet earlier obligation, so "should have been disclosed" is required.
8............... before the chemical leak was detected, the night shift would have evacuated in time.
Wrong!
The unreal condition concerns a completed past event, so the inverted third conditional requires "Had the warning been issued".
9According to the report issued today, there ............... several attempts to alter the minutes before they were circulated.
Wrong!
The alleged attempts occurred before the minutes were circulated, requiring the existential reporting form "are said to have been".
10At noon tomorrow, when the count will still be in progress, the final ballots are expected ..............., with certification scheduled after 2 p.m.
Wrong!
The count will still be in progress at noon, so the progressive passive infinitive "to be being counted" expresses the ongoing process.
11The files are no longer on the server and appear ............... during last night's outage.
Wrong!
The apparent deletion occurred during last night's outage, so the perfect passive infinitive "to have been deleted" marks anteriority.
12The board's binding directive requires that all allegations ............... before any public statement is made.
Wrong!
After the mandative verb "requires," formal English uses the passive subjunctive "be investigated".
Exercise complete
0 out of 12
correct answers
Answers
- The former director is understood to have left the company before the internal inquiry began.
- Having been rejected three times by the panel, the proposal was eventually withdrawn.
- Several witnesses now claim to have been pressured to sign statements during closed interviews last May.
- Only after the raw data had been independently verified was the article accepted for publication.
- Although the press release had not yet been drafted, she objected to being credited as its sole author, since the work had been collective.
- For the system to be certified today, all electronic records must be shown to have been retained continuously throughout the preceding seven years.
- The documents should have been disclosed before last month’s hearing; their late release has now triggered an appeal.
- Had the warning been issued before the chemical leak was detected, the night shift would have evacuated in time.
- According to the report issued today, there are said to have been several attempts to alter the minutes before they were circulated.
- At noon tomorrow, when the count will still be in progress, the final ballots are expected to be being counted, with certification scheduled after 2 p.m.
- The files are no longer on the server and appear to have been deleted during last night’s outage.
- The board’s binding directive requires that all allegations be investigated before any public statement is made.