Active-Passive voice Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The active form is 'The doctor will have examined a number of patients by 12 o'clock'. The passive 'will have been examined' is the future perfect passive, and the active voice of it is 'will have examined', with the doctor as the subject. Option A uses the simple future, option C the simple past and option D the present perfect, so each changes the tense of the original. The active form keeps the tense 'will have examined' and puts the doctor at the front, while the number of patients becomes the object. The other options change the tense to the plain future, simple past or present perfect and so alter the time of the action.

Answer: D

'I shall be obliged to go' is the passive of 'Circumstances will oblige me to go'. In the passive the object 'me' becomes the subject and the verb takes the form 'be' + past participle: 'I shall be obliged'. The agent 'circumstances' is dropped, as it adds little. The other options change the meaning by making the speaker oblige himself or by describing leaving under circumstances.

Answer: B

The passive is 'I was warned by the Professor to complete my practicals before the stipulated time'. The active sentence is in the simple past, so the passive uses 'was warned' with 'me' as the new subject. Option A uses the past perfect and option D uses it too, so each changes the tense. Option C no longer says the Professor did the warning in a passive form. The sentence is simple past tense in the active voice, 'warned', so the passive keeps the simple past, 'was warned', and the infinitive 'to complete my practicals' stays as it is. The past perfect passive of options A and D wrongly shifts the time of the warning.

Answer: A

The passive of I have often told you to switch off the lights is You have often been told to switch off the lights by me. The present perfect have told becomes have been told and the object you becomes the subject.

The second option scrambles the sentence, the third is not passive, and the fourth uses the past continuous passive were being told, which changes the tense.

Answer: B

The active voice is 'The manager permitted Rajesh to go home a little early.'

In the passive sentence 'Rajesh was permitted by the manager', the doer is the manager. In the active voice the manager becomes the subject and the tense, past, stays the same.

Option A changes the tense to present perfect, C swaps the doer and D uses the future.

To change to the active voice, put the doer, the manager, first, followed by the verb in the same tense and the object. The passive 'was permitted' is the simple past, so the active verb is 'permitted'. The sentence 'The manager permitted Rajesh to go home a little early' says exactly the same thing.

Answer: D

The passive voice is 'A rabbit with a watch was seen going into a hole by Alice.'

The active sentence is in the simple past ('saw'). The passive uses 'was seen' with the object as the new subject and the doer in a 'by' phrase.

Options A and B use present tenses, and C mixes up the objects, saying that a hole was going into a rabbit.

For the passive of a sentence in the simple past, the verb is 'was/were' plus the past participle. The object of the active sentence, 'a rabbit with a watch', becomes the subject, and the doer is introduced by 'by'. Option D follows this exactly and keeps the meaning.

Answer: C

The passive is By whom was this done ?

'Who did this?' asks about the doer. In the passive, the object 'this' becomes the subject, the verb becomes 'was done', and 'who' becomes 'by whom'. Because it is still a question, the auxiliary 'was' comes before the subject, and the sentence ends with a question mark.

Option B has the right words but ends with a full stop, and option A also uses statement order ('this was done'). Option D uses 'by who', where the object form 'whom' is needed after a preposition, and puts the question word at the end.

Answer: A

The passive is I was asked my name by them.

'Ask' takes two objects here: the person asked ('me') and the thing asked ('my name'). In the passive the personal object usually becomes the subject: 'I was asked my name by them'. The tense stays simple past, 'was asked'.

'My name was asked' drops the person asked and the doer and is unnatural, 'My name had been asked' changes the tense to past perfect, and 'My name by them was asked' puts the agent phrase in the wrong place.

Answer: D

The passive form is By whom is this mess being created ?

The active question 'Who is creating this mess?' is in the present continuous. Its passive keeps that tense, using 'is being' plus the past participle 'created'. The subject 'who' becomes the agent 'by whom', placed first, and the object 'this mess' becomes the subject. As a question, the auxiliary 'is' comes before the subject: by whom is this mess being created?

'By whom this mess is being created?' keeps statement word order, so it is not a proper question. 'By whom has this mess been created?' changes the tense to present perfect, and 'Who has been created this mess?' is ungrammatical.

Answer: C

The active voice is The teacher explained the lesson clearly.

In the passive sentence, the lesson is the subject and the teacher the agent, and the verb was explained is in the simple past. In the active voice the agent becomes the subject, the subject becomes the object, and the tense stays the same: explained.

The teacher is explaining the lesson clearly is active but changes the tense to the present continuous. The lesson has been explained clearly by the teacher and The lesson will be explained clearly by teacher are still passive, and each changes the tense as well.