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Question

Difficulty: HardActive and Passive Voice Transformation

Which of the following options represents the correct passive transformation of the active sentence below?

"The navy admiral ought to have called off the amphibious operation long before the enemy detected the fleet."

  1. The amphibious operation ought to have been called off by the navy admiral long before the fleet was detected by the enemy.Answer
  2. B
    The amphibious operation ought to have been called by the navy admiral long before the fleet was detected by the enemy.
  3. C
    The amphibious operation ought to had been called off by the navy admiral long before the fleet was detected by the enemy.
  4. D
    The amphibious operation ought to have being called off by the navy admiral long before the fleet was detected by the enemy.

Answer

The amphibious operation ought to have been called off by the navy admiral long before the fleet was detected by the enemy.
The correct passive transformation accurately converts the active modal perfect structure 'ought to have called off' into 'ought to have been called off' without omitting the essential particle 'off'. It also correctly converts the subordinate clause 'the enemy detected the fleet' into the passive 'the fleet was detected by the enemy'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary active verb phrase and object in the main clause.
Verb phrase: 'ought to have called off' (modal perfect phrasal verb); Object: 'the amphibious operation'.
The object of the active sentence must become the subject of the passive sentence.
2
Apply passive transformation rules to the modal perfect phrasal verb phrase.
Active 'ought to have called off' becomes passive 'ought to have been called off'.
Modal perfect passive requires the structure: Modal + to + have + been + past participle + particle.
3
Transform the dependent temporal clause ('before the enemy detected the fleet').
'before the fleet was detected by the enemy'
The simple past active verb 'detected' converts to simple past passive 'was detected'.

Key Concept

Passive Transformation of Modal Perfect Phrasal Verbs
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Active and Passive Voice Transformation

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