Change the following sentence into the Active form. It was widely considered that the ancient ruins were believed to have been constructed by a previously unknown civilization.
People widely considered that a previously unknown civilization had constructed the ancient ruins.
The given sentence is in the passive voice and even contains a double passive: 'It was widely considered that...' and 'were believed to have been constructed by...'.
To make a sentence active, we identify the real doer of the action (the agent) and make it the subject, then use an active verb form. Here the doer of the constructing is 'a previously unknown civilization'.
The impersonal passive 'It was widely considered' is best rewritten with a general subject such as 'People', giving 'People widely considered that...'.
The inner passive 'the ancient ruins were believed to have been constructed by a previously unknown civilization' becomes active as 'a previously unknown civilization had constructed the ancient ruins', where the civilization is the subject and 'the ancient ruins' is the object.
Combining these, the fully active sentence is: 'People widely considered that a previously unknown civilization had constructed the ancient ruins.', which is Option 3.
Option 1 keeps 'believed to have constructed', which is clumsy and changes meaning. Option 2 retains the passive 'was believed to have constructed'. Option 4 remains passive and adds a tag, so it is not fully active.
Hence the correct active form is People widely considered that a previously unknown civilization had constructed the ancient ruins.
Similar Questions
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Important Questions from Active and Passive Voice
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