Below is a brief exercise in identifying passive voice constructions. Read each sentence below. If you think that it contains a passive voice construction, click YES; if you think that it does not contain a passive voice construction, click NO.
1. The first speedometer was built by Charles Babbage. YES NOYES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
2. Charles Babbage also developed the logical structure of the computers that we use today. YES NO
YES: INCORRECT!
NO: CORRECT.
3. Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were manufactured by skilled spinners and weavers. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
4. In 1767, the first spinning jenny was invented by James Hargreaves. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
5. After that, textiles could be manufactured in great quantities. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
6. In 1793, Eli Whitney built a machine that would clean the seeds out of green cotton. YES NO
YES: INCORRECT!
NO: CORRECT.
7. Unfortunately, Whitney's machine was stolen from his carriage house one night. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
8. While US soldiers were fighting the War of 1812, Eli whitney was mass-producing flawless precision rifles. YES NO
YES: INCORRECT!
NO: CORRECT.
9. Gold was found in California in 1849. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
10. The Pony Express was established in 1860 by three California tycoons. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
11. In 1836, Samuel F.B. Morse assembled his first electromagnetic telegraph machine. YES NO
YES: INCORRECT!
NO: CORRECT.
12. In 1837, a dot-dash system for sending messages by wire was developed by Alfred Vail. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
13. Vail's dot-dash system for sending messages came to be called the 'Morse' Code. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
14. For 150 years, The Du Pont company has produced high-quality dynamite. YES NO
YES: INCORRECT!
NO: CORRECT.
15. To this day, high-quality dynamite is produced by the Du Pont company. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
16. The first census in the United States was conducted in 1790. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
17. The very first electric tabulating machine was devised by Herman Hollerith. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
18. The Hollerith tabulating machine was used by several countries for the purpose of conducting a national census. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
19. In the early 1900s, most of the teletypewriters in the United States were built by American Telegraph and Telephone Company. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
20. The first electronic computer was built by Thomas Flowers in England in 1945. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.
21. Most automobiles in the United States are built by General Motors, Ford Motor Company, or Chrysler Corporation. YES NO
YES: CORRECT!
NO: INCORRECT.