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Question

Difficulty: MediumActive and Passive Voice Transformation

In standard English grammar, how is the active sentence below correctly expressed in the passive voice?

'The senate committee has handed down a stern query to the permanent secretary regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.'

  1. A stern query has been handed down to the permanent secretary by the senate committee regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.Answer
  2. B
    A stern query have been handed down to the permanent secretary by the senate committee regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.
  3. C
    A stern query has been handed to the permanent secretary by the senate committee regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.
  4. D
    A stern query had been handed down to the permanent secretary by the senate committee regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.

Answer

The correct passive transformation is 'A stern query has been handed down to the permanent secretary by the senate committee regarding the unbudgeted expenditure.'
The sentence starting with 'A stern query has been handed down...' accurately shifts the direct object to the subject position, correctly uses the present perfect passive auxiliary structure ('has been'), retains the subject-verb concord with the singular noun 'query', and preserves the complete phrasal verb particle 'down'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the subject, active verb phrase, direct object, and prepositional particle of the active sentence.
Subject = 'The senate committee', Active Verb Phrase = 'has handed down', Direct Object = 'a stern query'.
The direct object of the active sentence must become the grammatical subject of the passive sentence.
2
Form the passive verb construction matching the tense and aspect of the original sentence.
Present perfect active ('has handed down') becomes present perfect passive ('has been handed down').
Tense, aspect, and phrasal particles must remain invariant during passive voice transformation.
3
Verify subject-verb agreement (concord) between the new subject and auxiliary verb.
The singular subject 'A stern query' agrees with the singular auxiliary 'has'.
The verb must agree in number with the actual head noun of the subject phrase.

Key Concept

Passive Voice Transformation of Phrasal Verbs in Present Perfect Tense
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Topics

Active and Passive Voice Transformation

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