English MCQs – Page 26 (Q251-260)

The correct answer is 'The project has been completed by them' because the active sentence 'They have completed the project' is in the Present Perfect tense, and its passive form must preserve this tense using the formula has/have been + past participle. The object 'the project' becomes the new subject, while 'they' becomes the agent introduced by 'by'. The distractor options incorrectly shift the tense to Simple Present, Past Perfect, or Simple Past, reinforcing the core passive voice rule that tense must always be carried over exactly from the active sentence.

The correct answer is 'A novel was written by her' because the active sentence 'She wrote a novel' is in the Simple Past tense, and its passive equivalent follows the formula was/were + past participle, giving 'was written'. The object 'a novel' becomes the subject, and 'she' becomes the agent following 'by'. The distractor options wrongly shift to Simple Present, Present Perfect, or use an ungrammatical structure lacking the auxiliary 'was', all violating the fundamental rule that passive tense must exactly mirror the tense of the original active sentence.

The correct answer is 'The work will be finished by him' because the active sentence 'He will finish the work' is in the Simple Future tense, and its passive form follows the fixed structure will + be + past participle, giving 'will be finished'. The distractor options either shift the tense incorrectly to Simple Past or Simple Present, or omit the required auxiliary 'be' after 'will', producing an ungrammatical sentence. The formula 'will be + past participle' is essential and consistent for converting any Simple Future active sentence into its passive form.

The correct answer is 'A bridge is being built by them' because the active sentence 'They are building a bridge' is in the Present Continuous tense, and its passive form follows the structure am/is/are + being + past participle, giving 'is being built'. This 'being' component is essential to signal the ongoing nature of the action in passive voice and is often the piece students omit by mistake. The distractor options either drop 'being' entirely or shift the tense to Simple Past or Present Perfect, both breaking the required tense match with the original active sentence.

The correct answer is 'Her work had been finished by her' because the active sentence 'She had finished her work' is in the Past Perfect tense, and its passive form follows the structure had + been + past participle, giving 'had been finished'. The distractor options incorrectly shift the tense to Present Perfect, Simple Past, or Simple Present, each breaking the essential rule that passive voice must retain the exact tense of the active sentence. Past Perfect passive constructions like this one are less common in everyday speech but frequently tested in formal grammar exams.

The correct answer is 'The students are taught by the teacher' because the active sentence 'The teacher teaches the students' is in the Simple Present tense, and its passive equivalent uses am/is/are + past participle, with 'are' required here since the new subject 'the students' is plural. This highlights an important rule in passive voice: the auxiliary verb must agree in number with the new subject, the former object, not with the original subject. The distractor options fail this agreement rule or omit the auxiliary verb entirely, producing grammatically incomplete sentences.

The correct answer is 'Let the door be opened' because imperative sentences, which give commands, follow a special passive construction using 'Let' + object + 'be' + past participle, rather than the standard passive formula used for statements. This unique pattern applies to all command sentences, such as 'Do the work' becoming 'Let the work be done', and is a distinctly tested category separate from ordinary active-to-passive conversions. The distractor options either scramble the word order incorrectly or produce a simple statement rather than preserving the imperative, commanding tone of the original sentence.

The correct answer is 'By whom was the window broken?' because converting a 'who' question, where 'who' is the subject performing the action, into passive voice requires changing 'who' to 'by whom' and inverting the auxiliary verb and new subject, following the pattern 'By whom + auxiliary + subject + past participle'. This is a distinctly tested passive voice pattern for questions, differing from statement conversions since it also requires proper question word order and auxiliary placement. The distractor options misplace 'by whom', use the wrong tense, or fail to invert the auxiliary and subject correctly.

The correct answer is 'English is spoken all over the world' because when the active sentence's subject is a general, unspecified group like 'people', the passive voice conventionally omits the 'by' agent phrase entirely, since naming the doer adds no useful information. The tense must still match the original Simple Present, giving 'is spoken' rather than a shifted tense. This omission of an obvious or unimportant agent, common with universal statements about facts or general practices, is a frequently tested nuance beyond the basic passive formula in competitive English exams.

The correct answer is 'Food is being cooked by her' because the active sentence 'She is cooking food' is in the Present Continuous tense, requiring the passive structure am/is/are + being + past participle, giving 'is being cooked'. The distractor options either drop the essential 'being' component, which signals an action in progress, or shift the tense incorrectly to Simple Past, Present Perfect, or Simple Present. Remembering that Present Continuous passive always includes 'being' is key to distinguishing it from Simple Present passive forms like 'is cooked'.