Exercise: Voice

Questions for: Active to Passive

"She is watching a TV program."
A:

A TV program is watched by her.

B:

A TV program is being watched by her.

C:

A TV program was being watched by her.

D:

A TV program is being watched by she.

Answer: B

Correct Answer: B

Detailed Explanation:

  • Why B is correct: The original sentence "She is watching a TV program" is in the Present Continuous Tense (Subject + is/am/are + Verb-ing + Object). To transform a Present Continuous active voice sentence into passive voice, the structure is: Object (of active sentence) + is/am/are + being + Past Participle (V3) + by + Subject (of active sentence as object pronoun). Here, "A TV program" is the object, "is" is the auxiliary, "being" signifies the continuous aspect, "watched" is the past participle of "watch," and "by her" indicates the agent.
  • Why A is incorrect: "A TV program is watched by her" is the passive voice for the Simple Present Tense (e.g., "She watches a TV program."). It lacks the "being" required to maintain the continuous aspect of the original sentence.
  • Why C is incorrect: "A TV program was being watched by her" changes the tense from Present Continuous to Past Continuous. The passive voice transformation must retain the original tense of the sentence.
  • Why D is incorrect: "A TV program is being watched by she" has a grammatical error. "She" is a subject pronoun. When used after the preposition "by," an object pronoun is required. The correct object pronoun for "she" is "her."

 

"Anuska helps the poor these days."
A: The poor are helped these days by Anuska.
B: The poor were helped these days by Anuska.
C: The poor is helped these days by Anuska.
D: The poor have been helped these days by Anuska.
Answer: A

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

  • A. The poor are helped these days by Anuska. (Correct)
    The original sentence "Anuska helps the poor these days" is in the Present Simple Active voice. To convert it to Present Simple Passive voice, the object of the active sentence ("the poor") becomes the subject of the passive sentence. The auxiliary verb for Present Simple Passive is "am/is/are" followed by the past participle of the main verb. Since "the poor" refers to a group and functions as a plural subject, "are" is the correct auxiliary verb. "Helped" is the past participle of "help." The original subject ("Anuska") becomes the agent in a "by Anuska" phrase. The time phrase "these days" is retained. Thus, this option correctly follows all rules for transforming Present Simple Active to Present Simple Passive.
  • B. The poor were helped these days by Anuska. (Incorrect)
    This option uses the Past Simple Passive voice ("were helped"). The original sentence "Anuska helps..." uses the Present Simple tense, indicating an action happening habitually or generally in the present. Changing the tense to Past Simple ("were helped") alters the meaning and does not correctly reflect the original sentence's tense.
  • C. The poor is helped these days by Anuska. (Incorrect)
    This option is in the Present Simple Passive voice but contains an error in subject-verb agreement. While "is helped" is a form of Present Simple Passive, "the poor" is treated as a plural subject (meaning 'poor people'). Therefore, the auxiliary verb should be "are" (plural), not "is" (singular).
  • D. The poor have been helped these days by Anuska. (Incorrect)
    This option uses the Present Perfect Passive voice ("have been helped"). The original sentence "Anuska helps..." is in the Present Simple tense. Converting it to Present Perfect Passive changes the tense and aspect, implying an action completed in the past with relevance to the present, which is not conveyed by the original Present Simple sentence.

"She likes reading science books."

A:

Science books are liked to be read by her.

B:

Reading science books are liked by her.

C:

Reading science books is liked by her.

D:

She is liked by reading science books.

Answer: C

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

The original sentence, "She likes reading science books," is in the active voice. To transform it into the passive voice, the direct object of the active sentence, which is the gerund phrase "reading science books," becomes the subject of the passive sentence. The simple present tense verb "likes" is then converted into its passive form "is liked," and the original subject "She" becomes the agent "by her."

  • A. Science books are liked to be read by her. This option incorrectly alters the meaning. The original sentence expresses a liking for the *activity* of reading science books, not a liking for the science books themselves *for the purpose of being read*. It's an awkward and semantically different passive construction.
  • B. Reading science books are liked by her. This option contains a grammatical error in subject-verb agreement. When a gerund phrase like "Reading science books" acts as the subject of a sentence, it is considered a singular entity (referring to a single activity or concept). Therefore, it requires the singular verb "is," not the plural "are."
  • C. Reading science books is liked by her. This is the correct passive transformation. The gerund phrase "Reading science books" correctly serves as the singular subject, and "likes" is properly transformed into "is liked by her" in the passive voice, maintaining the original meaning.
  • D. She is liked by reading science books. This option completely changes the subject and the meaning of the sentence. It implies that "she" is the one being liked, and "reading science books" is the agent performing that liking, which is the inverse of the original statement where "she" is the one who likes the activity.

I plan a new program.

A:

I am planning a new program.

B:

A new program was planned by me.

C:

A new program is planned by me.

D:

A new program is being planned by me.

Answer: C

Correct Answer: C

The original sentence, "I plan a new program," is in the active voice and Simple Present tense. To transform it into the passive voice, the object of the active sentence ("a new program") becomes the subject of the passive sentence, the subject of the active sentence ("I") becomes the agent (introduced by "by me"), and the main verb "plan" is changed to the 'be' verb in the same tense plus the past participle. For Simple Present, this structure is "is/are + past participle."

  • C. A new program is planned by me. This option correctly transforms the active voice sentence in the Simple Present tense into its passive voice equivalent. "A new program" is the new subject, "is" is the 'be' verb for Simple Present singular, and "planned" is the past participle of "plan." "by me" correctly identifies the agent.
  • A. I am planning a new program. This option is incorrect because it remains in the active voice and also changes the tense from Simple Present to Present Continuous. The task is to convert to passive voice while maintaining the original tense.
  • B. A new program was planned by me. This option is incorrect because, while it is in the passive voice, it changes the tense from Simple Present ("plan") to Simple Past ("was planned"). The passive transformation should retain the original tense.
  • D. A new program is being planned by me. This option is incorrect because, while it is in the passive voice, it changes the tense/aspect from Simple Present to Present Continuous Passive ("is being planned"). The original sentence is in the Simple Present, not Present Continuous.

Choose the correct passive voice transformation for the following active sentence: "The city council recently approved the new zoning regulations."

A:

The new zoning regulations were recently approved by the city council.

B:

The new zoning regulations are recently approved by the city council.

C:

The city council approved the new zoning regulations recently.

D:

The new zoning regulations have been recently approved by the city council.

Answer: A

✅ This option correctly transforms the active sentence (past simple) into the passive voice.

The object of the active sentence ("the new zoning regulations") becomes the new subject, the 'to be' verb is used in the appropriate past tense ('were'), and the past participle of the main verb ('approved') is used, followed by the original subject in a 'by' phrase.

❌ This option incorrectly uses the present simple passive ('are approved') instead of the past simple passive, thereby changing the original tense of the sentence.

❌ This option remains in the active voice. While the word order is slightly changed, "the city council" is still performing the action directly, not having the action done to it.

❌ This option incorrectly uses the present perfect passive ('have been approved') instead of the past simple passive, which alters the original tense of the sentence.

Ad Slot (Above Pagination)
Quiz