Fill in: is / are, was / were, have / has been.

Here are the answers: 1. Sally told me her wedding dress **was** designed by Vera Wang. 2. Before the clothes shop closed, eighty people **were** employed there. 3. On the first day of our holiday, we **were** taken on a wonderful tour of the city by our guide. 4. Jeans **are** worn by both men and women nowadays. 5. Coffee **is** grown in Brazil. 6. Documentaries on marine life **have been** shown on TV for many years. 7. Hamlet and Macbeth **was** written by William Shakespeare. 8. The injured man **was** taken to hospital half an hour ago. 9. Jenny is excited because she **has been** offered a new job. **Explanation:** This exercise focuses on the correct usage of the verb 'to be' in the passive voice. The passive voice is formed using a form of 'to be' (is, are, was, were, have been, has been) + past participle of the main verb. We need to use singular verb forms with singular subjects, and plural forms with plural subjects. Time markers (e.g. 'yesterday' or 'nowadays') help determine the tense (past, present, present perfect). 1. Past simple passive (was designed). The verb agrees with 'dress' and is past tense since it happened earlier. 2. Past simple passive (were employed). The verb agrees with the plural subject ‘people’, past tense because shop closed in the past. 3. Past simple passive (were taken). The verb agrees with ‘we’ and is past tense because it is about the holiday. 4. Present simple passive (are worn). The verb agrees with plural subject ‘jeans’ and is in present tense because it is a general statement. 5. Present simple passive (is grown). The verb agrees with singular subject ‘coffee’ and is in present tense because it is a general statement. 6. Present perfect passive (have been shown). 'Documentaries' are plural, and present perfect tense is used because duration is implied. 7. Past simple passive (was written). The verb agrees with singular subject ‘Hamlet and Macbeth’ as a collective and it is past tense. 8. Past simple passive (was taken). The verb agrees with singular subject ‘man’ and it is past tense. 9. Present perfect passive (has been offered). Singular subject ‘she’ so ‘has’ is used with present perfect because an action is already completed.