Year 6 SATs Practice - SPaG questions - Active and passive

At the end of Key Stage 2, children in Year 6 complete the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test (GPS). Are your pupils ready?

This Year 6 SPaG Questions pack will support the practise of test style questions that pupils will face in paper 1 of the end of Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test.

These resources can be used alongside our Year 6 Revision Blaster worksheets to support revision in your classroom, in this case, of active and passive tenses, including subject and object.

All our SPAG Questions and Revision Blaster resource packs focus on the content domains from the Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework (National Curriculum tests from 2016).

Content domains covered in this resource:

• G1.9 subject and object
• G4.4 passive and active

This pack includes:

• SPaG Questions PPT slides: noun phrases
• Let’s Practise! 1 and 2 PDF worksheets, (also shown on PPT slides 5 and 6)

What is the subject of a verb?

The subject of a verb is usually the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that names the ‘do-er’ or ‘be-er’. In a statement, it usually comes before the verb.

• Mike ate all the biscuits. (‘Mike’ is the subject)

What is the object of a verb?

The object is a noun, noun phrase or pronoun that usually comes straight after the verb. It shows what the verb is acting upon.

• Mike ate all the biscuits. (‘the biscuits’ is the object as they are being eaten)

What are active and passive verbs?

A verb can be active or passive depending on its relationship to the subject. Most sentences use active verbs. When the verb is active, the subject of the sentence completes the action.

• Mike ate all the biscuits. In this sentence, Mike is eating the biscuits.

When the verb is passive, the subject is having the action done to it. It is used to focus on what is happening rather than who is completing the action and is often used in formal writing.

• The biscuits were eaten by Mike.

In this sentence, the focus is on what was eaten. The subject is the word biscuits and the words were eaten form a passive verb. The object in the original sentence is now the subject (biscuits) and the past tense form of the verb plus the verb be (were eaten). The original subject in the active sentence becomes the object using the preposition by (by Mike). Sometimes this can be removed. (The biscuits were eaten.) 

This resource is part of the KS2 SATs Support collection.
View more from this collection

• SPaG Questions PPT slides: noun phrases
• Let’s Practise! 1 and 2 PDF worksheets, (also shown on PPT slides 5 and 6)
• Teacher notes