A sentence has been given in Active/Passive Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active Voice.
By whom was this window broken? Five packets of milk were delivered by the milkman.

Question

A sentence has been given in Active/Passive Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active Voice.

By whom was this window broken? Five packets of milk were delivered by the milkman.

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

Understanding Active and Passive Voice Conversion

Converting sentences between Active and Passive Voice involves changing the focus of the sentence and rearranging the grammatical structure. The core meaning remains the same, but the emphasis shifts. In Active Voice, the subject performs the action. In Passive Voice, the subject receives the action, and the doer (agent) is often introduced by 'by' or sometimes omitted if unknown or unimportant.

We are given two sentences, both in the Passive Voice, and asked to convert them to the Active Voice.

Sentence 1: "By whom was this window broken?"

This is an interrogative sentence in the Passive Voice. Let's analyze its structure:

Passive Subject: "this window"
Passive Verb: "was broken" (Simple Past Passive)
Agent: "By whom" (the unknown doer)

To convert this to Active Voice, we need to make the agent ("whom") the subject and change the verb to Simple Past Active. The interrogative word "By whom" in Passive Voice becomes "Who" in Active Voice when asking about the subject.

Active Subject: "Who" (representing the unknown agent)
Active Verb: The Simple Past form of "break" is "broke".
Active Object: "this window" (which was the subject in Passive Voice)

So, the Active Voice equivalent is "Who broke this window?".

Sentence 2: "Five packets of milk were delivered by the milkman."

This is a declarative sentence in the Passive Voice. Let's analyze its structure:

Passive Subject: "Five packets of milk"
Passive Verb: "were delivered" (Simple Past Passive)
Agent: "the milkman" (introduced by 'by')

To convert this to Active Voice, we make the agent ("the milkman") the subject and change the verb to Simple Past Active. The original Passive Subject ("Five packets of milk") becomes the object.

Active Subject: "The milkman" (the agent)
Active Verb: The Simple Past form of "deliver" is "delivered".
Active Object: "five packets of milk" (which was the subject in Passive Voice)

So, the Active Voice equivalent is "The milkman delivered five packets of milk."

Comparing Conversions with Options

Now, let's look at the provided options and see which one contains both correctly converted sentences in Active Voice.

Option	Sentence 1 (Active)	Sentence 2 (Active)	Analysis
1	Who broke this window?	The milkman delivered five packets of milk.	Correct Simple Past Active conversion for both.
2	Who had broke this window?	The milkman had delivered five packets of milk.	Uses Past Perfect Tense (had broken/had delivered), incorrect tense.
3	Whom was break this window?	The milkman will deliver five packets of milk.	Incorrect grammar in Sentence 1, uses Simple Future Tense (will deliver) in Sentence 2, incorrect tense.
4	Who is breaking this window?	The milkman is delivering five packets of milk.	Uses Present Continuous Tense (is breaking/is delivering), incorrect tense.

Based on the analysis, Option 1 provides the correct Simple Past Active conversions for both Passive Voice sentences.

Revision Table: Key Voice Conversion Rules

Tense	Active Voice Structure	Passive Voice Structure	Example (Active to Passive)
Simple Past	Subject + Verb (Past Form) + Object	Object + was/were + Verb (Past Participle) + by + Subject	He broke the glass. → The glass was broken by him.
Simple Past (Interrogative)	Did + Subject + Verb (Base Form) + Object? or Who/What + Verb (Past Form) + Object?	Was/Were + Object + Verb (Past Participle) + by + Subject? or By whom/What + was/were + Object + Verb (Past Participle)?	Did he break the glass? → Was the glass broken by him? Who broke the glass? → By whom was the glass broken?

Additional Information on Voice Conversion

Voice conversion is a common topic in English grammar that focuses on how the action of a verb is expressed in relation to its subject. Understanding the different tenses and how auxiliary verbs change in the Passive Voice is crucial for accurate conversion. The agent (the doer of the action) is introduced by the preposition 'by' in the Passive Voice but becomes the subject in the Active Voice. Sometimes, the agent is not mentioned in the Passive Voice, especially if it's unknown, obvious, or unimportant. In such cases, when converting to Active Voice, we might use a general subject like 'someone', 'somebody', or infer the subject from context.

For example:

Passive: The rule was announced. (Agent unknown or unimportant)
Active: Someone announced the rule.

However, in the sentences provided in the question, the agents are either explicitly mentioned ("the milkman") or implied by the question structure ("By whom"), allowing for a direct conversion to Active Voice with a specific or interrogative subject.