English Grammar - Active Voice and Passive Voice

English Grammar
English Grammar - Active Voice and Passive Voice

Change the following from active to passive: Why did the editor overlook the substantial stylistic anomalies?


Options:

  1. Why have the substantial stylistic anomalies been overlooked by the editor?
  2. Why are the substantial stylistic anomalies being overlooked by the editor?
  3. Why did the substantial stylistic anomalies be overlooked by the editor?
  4. Why were the substantial stylistic anomalies overlooked by the editor?

Right Answer: Why were the substantial stylistic anomalies overlooked by the editor?

The given sentence is an interrogative in the simple past tense, formed with the auxiliary 'did' and the base verb 'overlook'. When such a sentence is changed into the passive voice, the object 'the substantial stylistic anomalies' becomes the subject, the verb takes the form 'was' or 'were' with the past participle, and the original subject moves after 'by'. Since the new subject is plural, the correct auxiliary is 'were', giving 'Why were the substantial stylistic anomalies overlooked by the editor?'. Options one and two wrongly shift the tense, and option three is grammatically impossible. Hence option four is correct.

This question is part of English Grammar - Active Voice and Passive Voice, which has 15 practice questions with answers.

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