HKDSE English｜The Passive Voice and Reporting Structures Lesson-Prep Guide (for tutors)｜Six tenses, a three-step conversion, by-phrase decisions and impersonal report openers

2026-11-03

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary English

Students can produce The book was written by him, but the tense slips the moment the sentence moves, and every report opens with We did. The passive stays a copied pattern instead of a checkable operation. This lesson uses one six-tense table and a three-step conversion to make it an action students can audit.

Objectives — Students can: (1) convert an active sentence in three steps (front the object, replace the verb with be plus past participle, decide on the by-phrase) and keep be correct across 6 tenses (present, past, present perfect, past perfect, future, modal); (2) decide when to drop the by-phrase, namely when the agent is unknown, unimportant or deliberately unnamed, keeping it in only 4 of 10 model sentences; (3) rewrite first-person narration with impersonal reporting openers (It is believed that, The data shows that) across 12 practice sentences, 2 per tense.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Past participles	What is the past participle of write?	written
Be-forms	What is the be-form in the present perfect?	have been
Transitive verbs	Can happen be made passive?	No, it has no object
Agreement	The results ___ (be) published, which form?	are, because the subject is plural

02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0–8 min	Three steps	Front the object, be plus p.p., decide by	Action first, label later
8–18 min	Six tenses	6 be-forms, participle fixed	Be carries the tense
18–30 min	The by-phrase	Keep 4 of 10	Unknown or unimportant means drop
30–42 min	The intransitive trap	happen, occur, arrive take no passive	No object, no passive
42–52 min	Impersonal openers	It is believed that	Reports do not say I
52–60 min	Mixed conversion and exit	12 sentences, 2 per tense	Be must match the tense

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Replace the formula with three moves

Make students perform three moves rather than recite a formula: move the object to the front, replace the verb with be plus past participle using the same tense, then ask whether the agent matters and delete the by-phrase if it does not. Each move can be checked, so when be is missing you can point at step two instead of telling them to memorise it again.

Ask: after converting, which word now carries the tense? (Be, not the participle)

Scene 2: Put the six tenses on one table

6 tenses change only be: is written, was written, has been written, had been written, will be written, can be written. The participle never changes. Nearly every error is a missing or misplaced be, as in will written or has wrote. Fill the table once, then have students point at the be cell every time they convert.

Ask: what is wrong with will written as against will be written? (Be is missing; a participle cannot carry tense alone)

Scene 3: Close with the reporting context

Reports and news do not say what we did, they say what the evidence shows. That makes the passive and the impersonal opener two sides of one habit: The survey was conducted in May, It is believed that. Only 4 of the 10 models keep a by-phrase, because readers want the result, not the actor. Students should leave able to write a report opener with no we in it.

Ask: why do reports prefer The data shows to We found? (The evidence is the point, not the author)

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Conversion	Someone stole the documents last night.	Three steps: front the object, was stolen, drop an unknown agent	The documents were stolen last night.
Tense control	They have cancelled the flight.	Be takes the present perfect, have been, participle unchanged	The flight has been cancelled.
Judge the passive	The accident happened at noon.	Happen is intransitive and has no object	No passive is possible
Reporting rewrite	We believe that the policy works.	Use an impersonal opener	It is believed that the policy works.

Sanity check (teach this): A passive needs be plus a past participle, and either one missing is an error; be carries the tense of the original and the participle carries none; only transitive verbs convert, so happen, occur, arrive and appear never do; the by-phrase survives in only 4 of 10 models and must be dropped when the agent is unknown or unimportant; agreement follows the new subject, not the old object; the present perfect passive is has or have been plus p.p., never has plus p.p.; modals take be plus p.p., never can written; impersonal openers such as It is said, believed or reported that take a normal finite clause after them; the 12-sentence drill must cover all 6 tenses, 2 each, or the be-forms go untested.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Convert: They will announce the results tomorrow.	The results will be announced tomorrow.	Will be plus p.p.; the agent is unimportant
Convert: Someone has broken the window.	The window has been broken.	Present perfect passive is has been plus p.p.
Judge: can The train arrived at six. be made passive?	No, arrive is intransitive	No object means no passive

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Dropping be	A student writes The letter sent yesterday.	Tutor line: “Sent is a participle and cannot hold the tense on its own. Give it be to stand on.”
Using the past simple instead of the participle	A student writes The letter was wrote.	Tutor line: “After was comes the participle. Wrote is past simple and they cannot share the slot.”
Keeping a meaningless by-phrase	A student writes The window was broken by someone.	Tutor line: “If you cannot name the someone, by someone says nothing. Delete it and it reads like a report.”
Making an intransitive verb passive	A student writes The accident was happened.	Tutor line: “Happen has no object, so there is nothing to front. That sentence has no passive at all.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Secondary English chapter index — Review the tense chapters and copy the six be-forms
S5 English: the four conditionals — Convert practice item 3 there into the passive
S4 English: tenses and voice — Use its exercises to check be and participle pairings

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Which word carries the tense in a passive?	The be-form	Answering the participle means tense is unclear
Can happen be made passive?	No, it is intransitive	Answering yes means transitivity is missing
When is the by-phrase dropped?	When the agent is unknown, unimportant or unnamed	Always keeping it means purpose is untaught

09 Tutor FAQ

Which year group?

S5 English, for writing and grammar lessons; S4 can start with the present and past.

How many patterns must be memorised?

The 6 be-forms only; the rest follows from the three steps.

Is there practice?

Three items with answers here, plus a suggested 12-sentence self-drill for homework.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.