Continuous Passives

Let's take a look at how to make continuous passive sentences.

First of all, let's look an example active sentence:

'The workers are painting the bridge.'

In the above sentence:

The workers are the subject.
are painting is the present continuous verb.
the bridge is the object.

To make a present continuous passive sentence the object (the bridge) comes first:

'The bridge is being painted.'

This is how the present continuous passive is formed:

Object (The bridge) + 'to be' verb (is) + being + past participle (painted)

In passive sentences the subject is not always needed; however, if you want to include it the sentence becomes:

'The bridge is being painted by the workers.'

We can change this sentence into the past continuous passive like this:

Active - 'The workers were painting the bridge.'
Past Continuous Passive - 'The bridge was being painted by the workers.'

Let's take a look at some more examples:

Present Continuous Passive  - 'My car is being fixed.'
Past Continuous Passive  - 'My car was being fixed.'

Present Continuous Passive - 'The meeting is being held in my office.'
Past Continuous Passive - 'The meeting was being held in my office.'

State Verbs

• When you called, the students ___ being taken to school.
  
  were
  are
  is
  was
  
  
• Flowers are ___ grown in her garden.
  
  being
  be
  is
  been
  
  
• The report is being ___ by Frank.
  
  wrote
  write
  written
  
  
• ___ the hotel being refurbished next week?
  
  Are
  Have
  Is
  Has
  
  
• Passengers are being ___ from the airport.
  
  flew
  flown
  fly
  flight
  
  
• The prisoners ___ being released tomorrow.
  
  are
  was
  were
  is
  
  
• Shoes are being ___ in the market.
  
  buy
  bought
  buys