The present passive for B1 Preliminary: explain how a dish is made and write a recipe card

The present passive: is / are + past participle

Use the passive when what happens to a thing matters more than who does it: the reader wants to know what happens to the rice, not who stirs it. Use is with one thing or an uncountable noun, are with plurals. Recipes can also give orders (“Cut the cabbage.”), but to explain how a dish is made, the passive sounds natural.

• Positive: “The peppers are filled with rice.”
• Negative: “The fish isn’t fried. It’s grilled.”
• Question: “How is kimchi made?”
• Irregular participles: cut → cut, put → put, make → made, keep → kept, leave → left

Hear it: how a family dish is made

Two students talk about kimchi, a spicy Korean cabbage dish. Find the seven passive verbs. “By my grandfather” is there because the person matters; in the last line, two verbs share one is.

Amounts: a few, a little, plenty of, none

The amount word must match the noun: English separates things you can count (eggs, onions) from things you can’t (salt, oil, milk).

• “a few” + plural noun: “a few onions”, “a few spoonfuls of sugar”
• “a little” + uncountable noun: “a little salt”
• “plenty of” (more than enough) + either: “plenty of garlic”, “plenty of eggs”
• “none” stands alone, “no” goes before a noun: “How much sugar is left?” “None.”
• Articles: “a bowl” first, then “the bowl”; no article for things in general: “Kimchi is made from cabbage.”

Cooking verbs and the three -ed sounds

Useful verbs: boil (in water), fry (in oil), roast and bake (in the oven), grill, stir, slice, mash (press until soft) and pour. The -ed ending has three sounds:

• /t/ after sounds like k, s, p, sh, ch and f: mixed, sliced, baked
• /d/ after most other sounds: served, poured, boiled
• /ɪd/, an extra syllable, after t or d: added, roasted

Write an 80-word recipe card

A recipe card isn’t a B1 Preliminary task, but it trains accurate grammar and clear order. Give the name, the ingredients with amounts and the method, with four passive verbs, three amount words and four order words. Our model has about 80 words; write about your own family’s dish.

• “Banana pancakes (for two people)” → name
• “Ingredients: two ripe bananas, two eggs, a few spoonfuls of flour, a little milk, a little butter, plenty of honey.” → ingredients with amounts
• “Method: First, the bananas are mashed with a fork. Then the eggs, flour and milk are added, and everything is mixed well.” → order words, three passives
• “After that, a little butter is heated in a pan, and small spoonfuls of the mixture are cooked for two minutes on each side.” → two more passives
• “Finally, the pancakes are served with plenty of honey on top.” → last step

Where this helps in B1 Preliminary

Food words like fresh, spicy and herbs also help in Speaking Part 2, when you describe a photo for about a minute.

Reading Part 6 is an open cloze: a short text with six gaps, one word in each. Many gaps need exactly these small words. Try these:

• “The peppers ___ filled with rice and lamb.” → are
• “You only need a ___ salt.” → little
• “Use plenty ___ fresh herbs.” → of

Typical mistakes and how to fix them

Check your card for these:

• “The cabbage cut into pieces.” → “The cabbage is cut into pieces.”
• “Salt is add first.” → “Salt is added first.”
• “The onions is fried.” → “The onions are fried.”
• “The cabbage is cutted.” → “The cabbage is cut.”
• “Add a few salt.” → “Add a little salt.”

A 15-minute practice routine

Three times a week is enough:

• 3 minutes: pick a family dish and list the ingredients with amounts.
• 6 minutes: write four or five passive steps with order words.
• 3 minutes: check is / are, the participles and a few / a little.
• 3 minutes: explain the dish aloud in 30 seconds and record it.

Your next step

Next, try Reading matching and a Writing Part 2 article (links below), and the past passive: “This cake was first made by my grandmother.”