Choose the passive voice form of the following sentence: "They are painting the house."
Answers:
To transform the present continuous sentence into passive voice, use the auxiliary verb "is being" and the past participle "painted." The subject becomes "the house," and the verb "to paint" changes to "is being painted."
Passive voice
If your writing has been called "weak" or "evasive" — Mistakes were made, It was decided that... — you've hit the passive voice's main pitfall. Used deliberately, the passive is precise and useful: it foregrounds the action when the doer doesn't matter. Used by default, it makes prose feel like nobody's responsible for anything.
The passive voice is formed with be + past participle and turns the object into the subject: The chef cooked the meal → The meal was cooked (by the chef). Useful when the action matters more than the doer; overused, it makes writing feel evasive.
Progressive tense
If you've ever paused over I work in London vs I'm working in London and not been sure which to pick — you've hit the simple/progressive distinction. The first means it's your usual job; the second means it's temporary, going on right now. Native speakers reach for this distinction constantly without thinking; learners have to make it deliberate.
The progressive aspect marks ongoing action at a time of reference, formed with be + -ing: I am working, She was reading, They will be travelling. Marks temporary or in-progress events. Stative verbs (know, believe, own) don't normally take it.
Present tense
If you've ever told someone I am living here for ten years (should be have lived or have been living) — you've hit the present perfect's main puzzle. English insists that "started in the past, still true now" lives in the present perfect, not the simple present. Internalise that one rule and a whole class of common errors disappears.
The present tense in English has four forms: simple present (I work) for habits and general truths; present progressive (I am working) for now or temporary; present perfect (I have worked) for past with present relevance; present perfect progressive (I have been working) for ongoing duration up to now.
Verb
If grammar feels overwhelming, the fix is almost always to focus on verbs first. They carry the action, the time, the mood, and the voice — a single verb form decides whether your sentence reads as past or present, fact or hypothetical, active or passive. Get verbs solid and the rest of grammar suddenly looks much smaller.
A verb expresses action, state, or occurrence — the engine of every English sentence. Most verbs have five forms (base, -s, past tense, past participle, -ing); be has eight; modal verbs have fewer. Verbs carry tense, aspect, mood, and voice.
B1 | Intermediate
If you can hold a conversation about your weekend, explain why you're late, and follow a short news story without panicking — but still feel lost in fast or technical English — you're probably operating at B1. Knowing this matters: study material at the wrong level either bores you or burns you out, and B1 is the typical target for travel, casual work, and most everyday social English.
B1 is the intermediate level in the CEFR framework, where you handle everyday English independently and start combining ideas with complex sentences, passive voice, and modal verbs.
Difficulty: Easy
If a textbook leaves you confused, sometimes the issue isn't the topic — it's that the practice material is layered with extra complications. Filtering by Easy strips that away. You get one rule at a time, in plain everyday language, with no trick questions. It's how you make a shaky foundation solid before stacking more on top.
The Easy difficulty tag marks beginner-level questions and challenges — typically A1 or early A2. Single-rule focus, short sentences, common vocabulary, one clear correct answer.