Mastering Double Passive Constructions
A "double passive" occurs when a passive main verb is followed by a passive infinitive, as seen in the sentence, "The building is scheduled to be demolished." While these complex constructions are excellent for distancing the speaker from an action—especially when reporting rumors or official commands—they can easily become awkward or grammatically incorrect. For example, while "The diamond is believed to have been stolen" is perfectly natural, saying "The diamond was attempted to be found" is grammatically unacceptable.
In this advanced grammar challenge, you will step into the shoes of journalists, whistleblowers, and royal historians to navigate the tricky rules of double passives. You will practice using reporting verbs to express current beliefs about past actions, construct sentences where the subject receives both an order and a punishment, and identify which verbs (such as attempt, begin, or hope) strictly forbid this double passive pattern.
You'll work through 9 questions in a diverse mix of single-choice, multi-choice, drop-down, and drag-and-drop formats.
Try the quiz to check your knowledge!
The correct answers are The encrypted hard drive is scheduled to be wiped at midnight. and The undercover operatives are known to have been compromised.
Double passives work beautifully with verbs of scheduling, knowing, and reporting (scheduled, known).
They do not work with verbs of desire or hope (want, hope, desire). You cannot say something "was wanted to be done" or "was hoped to be done." Instead, you must use an impersonal construction ("It was hoped that they would be rescued") or an active structure ("The director wanted the drive to be wiped").
Help the zoo director proofread the incident report. While "double passives" (a passive main verb followed by a passive infinitive) are sometimes necessary, they are grammatically incorrect with certain verbs like attempt, begin, or hope.
Select the grammatically correct sentence.
The correct answer is The runaway llama was ordered to be tranquilized by the director.
A "double passive" occurs when the main verb and the infinitive are both in the passive voice. While verbs of commanding or expecting (like order, expect, require) can form valid double passives, verbs like attempt, begin, want, and hope cannot.
To fix the incorrect options, you must change the main verb to the active voice (e.g., The zookeepers attempted to catch the runaway llama).
For centuries, the legendary sunken city had been considered to have been swallowed by the sea...
This sentence requires two passive verbs in sequence to convey the correct meaning and timeline.
First, the city had been considered (past perfect passive) by historians over a period of time before the recent sonar scans.
Second, it was considered to have been swallowed (perfect passive infinitive) because the mythical event of being swallowed happened even earlier in the past, and the city was the receiver of this watery fate!
Complete the museum curator's dramatic press release about the missing gemstone. Choose the phrase that correctly uses a double passive construction to show a current belief about a past action.
The cursed diamond _______________ by a notorious syndicate of jewel thieves before the alarm even sounded.
The correct answer is is believed to have been stolen.
This sentence requires a double passive. The first passive (is believed) shows that this is the current consensus of the authorities. The second passive is a perfect passive infinitive (to have been stolen), which indicates that the action happened to the diamond in the past.
The other options incorrectly use active verbs, which would imply the diamond itself has beliefs or was out stealing things!
Complete the eccentric UFOologist's blog post by dragging the correct passive forms into the sentences.
The glowing saucer is rumored to have been spotted hovering over the local dairy farm last night. Consequently, the cows are expected to be abducted any day now!
The glowing saucer is rumored to have been spotted hovering over the local dairy farm last night. Consequently, the cows are expected to be abducted any day now!
A "double passive" occurs when a main verb and its dependent infinitive are both in the passive voice.
In the first sentence, is rumored is the present passive of a reporting verb, followed by the perfect passive infinitive to have been spotted, indicating an action completed in the past.
In the second sentence, are expected is the main passive verb, followed by the simple passive infinitive to be abducted, indicating a future action happening to the subject.
The correct answers are The luxurious yacht is said to be being monitored by the paparazzi. and The controversial photos are alleged to have been leaked by an insider.
Reporting verbs like say and allege easily form double passives, even with complex continuous ("to be being monitored") or perfect ("to have been leaked") passive infinitives.
However, verbs of decision or agreement (like decide, agree, propose) cannot take this structure. "Was agreed to be broadcast" is an invalid double passive. You must use a that-clause instead: "It was agreed that the interview would be broadcast" or "It was decided to postpone the wedding."
Drag the correct verb phrases to complete the whistleblower's dramatic email.
The incriminating financial records were ordered to be destroyed just hours before the auditors arrived. Now, the former CEO is reported to have been arrested while trying to flee to a tropical island.
The incriminating financial records were ordered to be destroyed just hours before the auditors arrived. Now, the former CEO is reported to have been arrested while trying to flee to a tropical island.
In the first sentence, the records did not issue an order or destroy anything themselves; they received the action. Therefore, both verbs must be passive: were ordered (main verb) and to be destroyed (infinitive).
In the second sentence, the CEO is the subject of the passive reporting verb is reported. Because the arrest already happened, we use the perfect passive infinitive to have been arrested. Using the active "to have arrested" would incorrectly imply the CEO arrested someone else!
The correct answers are The stolen painting is thought to have been destroyed by the thieves. and The mastermind is expected to be sentenced tomorrow morning.
In C2-level English, "double passives" (a passive verb followed by a passive infinitive) are perfectly acceptable with reporting verbs or verbs of expectation (like thought, expected, believed, said).
However, verbs of effort, attempt, or beginning (like try, attempt, begin) create grammatically unacceptable double passives. Instead of "was tried to be recovered," we must use an active infinitive ("They tried to recover...") or a noun phrase ("An attempt was made to recover...").
Complete the royal historian's dramatic account of the rebellion. Choose the correct verb phrase to show that the knight was the recipient of both the command and the punishment.
To serve as a warning to other traitors, the captured knight _______________ at dawn.
The correct answer is was commanded to be executed.
This is a classic double passive. The knight receives the command (was commanded — simple past passive) and is also the one receiving the punishment (to be executed — passive infinitive).
If we used "was commanded to execute," it would mean the knight was ordered to kill someone else. If we used "commanded to be executed," the sentence would be missing its main auxiliary verb ("was") or it would imply the knight gave the command himself.
Complex sentence
A complex sentence combines an independent clause with at least one dependent (subordinate) clause: I missed the bus because I overslept. The dependent clause adds extra information — usually about time, reason, condition, or which thing is meant — but can't stand alone. It's introduced by a subordinating conjunction (because, although, if, when, while) or a relative pronoun (who, which, that).
Mastering complex sentences is the move from simple, choppy writing to prose that links ideas. It's also where comma decisions get interesting — placement depends on which clause comes first.
Indirect speech
Indirect speech (also called reported speech) is how you tell someone what another person said without quoting their exact words. "I like apples" → He said that he liked apples. The signature move is backshift: tenses move one step into the past when the reporting verb (said, told, thought) is itself in the past — present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could.
Pronouns and time expressions also shift to fit the new perspective: "I'll see you tomorrow" → She said she'd see me the next day. Mastering this is essential for B1+ communication, especially in writing.
Infinitive
The infinitive is the basic, unmarked form of a verb, used when no tense or subject agreement is needed. English has two flavours: the to-infinitive (to swim, to read) and the bare infinitive (swim, read). The to-infinitive follows verbs like want, decide, hope, plan (I want to swim); the bare infinitive follows modal verbs (I can swim) and certain causative verbs (Let him go).
Knowing which form to use after which verb is one of the trickiest distinctions in English — closely tied to the parallel choice of gerund (-ing form). I want to swim but I enjoy swimming aren't interchangeable.
Participle
A participle is a verb form that doubles as an adjective or adverb. English has two: the present participle ending in -ing (running, sitting) and the past participle (broken, gone, written). Both build tenses (is running, has gone), but they also stand alone modifying nouns (the broken window) or verbs (Exhausted, we fell asleep).
Participles look like simple parts of speech but pull double duty — most learner errors come from confusing the present participle with the gerund (also -ing but acting as a noun) or the past participle with the past tense.
Past tense
The past tense is how English talks about events finished before now. It comes in four flavours: simple past (I walked) for completed events, past progressive (I was walking) for actions ongoing at a past time, past perfect (I had walked) for events before another past event, and past perfect progressive (I had been walking) for ongoing events leading up to a past point.
Choosing the right one is what makes past narratives clear instead of murky. When I arrived, she ate dinner is technically grammatical but means something different than had eaten (already done) or was eating (in progress when you arrived).
Phrase
In grammar, a phrase is a group of words (sometimes a single word) that functions as a single unit in a sentence — but doesn't include a subject + verb pair the way a clause does. Common types: noun phrase (the old red car), verb phrase (has been running), prepositional phrase (on the table), adjective phrase (incredibly tired), adverb phrase (very quickly).
Phrases are the building blocks between individual words and full clauses. Recognising them helps you see how sentences hold together — and where you can break, expand, or rearrange them without losing meaning.
Sentence
A sentence is the largest grammatical unit in writing — one or more clauses expressing a complete thought, ending with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. English sentences come in four structural types: simple (one independent clause), compound (two or more independent clauses joined), complex (independent + dependent clause), and compound-complex (multiple independent + dependent clauses).
Mastering sentence types is what lets you vary rhythm in writing. All-simple sentences read as choppy; all-complex sentences read as dense. Mixing them is what makes prose breathe.
Verb
A verb is a word that expresses an action, a state, or an occurrence — the engine of every English sentence. Most verbs have five forms: base (go), -s form (goes), past tense (went), past participle (gone), and -ing form (going). The verb be is the major exception with eight forms; modal verbs like can and must have fewer.
Verbs carry tense (when), aspect (how it unfolds), mood (the speaker's attitude), and voice (active vs passive). Mastering them is foundational — virtually every other grammar topic depends on getting verbs right.
Passive voice
The passive voice flips a sentence so the object of the action becomes the subject, and the original doer either disappears or moves to a by-phrase: The chef cooked the meal (active) → The meal was cooked by the chef (passive). Formed with be + past participle (was cooked, is being written, had been seen), and works across all tenses.
Use the passive when the action matters more than the doer (The report was filed), when the doer is unknown or obvious (My car was stolen), or to soften criticism (Mistakes were made). Overusing it makes prose feel evasive — careful writers reach for the active voice by default.
Verb tense
Verb tense is the verb form that signals when the action happens. English has three time references — past, present, and future — combined with three aspects (simple, progressive, perfect, plus perfect progressive) to give twelve standard tense forms in total.
Each tense form carries specific meaning beyond just "when". I worked (simple past) and I have worked (present perfect) both refer to past action, but only the second connects that action to the present. Picking the right tense is what makes English narratives clear; the wrong one makes meaning subtly drift.
Perfect tense
The perfect aspect marks an action as complete relative to a point in time. It's formed with have + past participle: I have eaten (present perfect), She had finished (past perfect), They will have arrived (future perfect). The perfect doesn't just say when — it says the action's completion is relevant to the time of reference.
The trickiest English-specific use is the present perfect: I have lived in Paris connects the past to now (you may still live there), while I lived in Paris doesn't. This connection is one of the biggest jumps for learners whose native language doesn't make the same distinction.
Simple tense
The simple aspect is the unmarked verb form — no progressive -ing, no have + past participle. I go, I went, I will go are simple; I am going, I have gone, I had gone are not. The simple aspect typically marks a single completed action (Brutus killed Caesar), a repeated/habitual action (I go to school every day), or a permanent state (We live in Dallas).
The simple aspect is the foundation everything else builds on. Once it's automatic, switching into progressive (ongoing) or perfect (completed-relative-to-now) becomes a small adjustment rather than a fresh decision.
C2 | Proficiency
C2 is the highest level in the CEFR framework — the proficiency stage, where your English is nearly indistinguishable from a well-educated native speaker's. C2 users handle irony, understatement, and idiomatic range across any register, and they reformulate ideas under pressure without losing fluency.
C2 is less about learning new grammar and more about mastering the flexible, context-sensitive use of everything you already know. Most learners never reach C2 — and most don't need to. Knowing the level helps you set realistic goals: B2 or C1 is plenty for almost any practical purpose.
Difficulty: Hard
The Hard difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at upper-intermediate to advanced learners — typically B2 and above. Expect interacting rules, edge cases, distractors that look right at first glance, and contexts where the surface meaning and the grammatical answer don't match.
Filter by Hard when you're past the basics and want material that genuinely tests your understanding. These questions catch the gaps your textbook didn't — register-sensitive choices, exception cases, mixed conditionals, the difference between would have been and had been.