Choose the correct Passive form of the sentence:

"This book will change your life".

Question

Choose the correct Passive form of the sentence: "This book will change your life".

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

Understanding Sentence Voice: Active vs. Passive

Sentences in English grammar can be in either the active voice or the passive voice. Understanding the difference is key to transforming sentences.

Active Voice: The subject of the sentence performs the action. The structure is typically Subject + Verb + Object. Example: "This book will change your life." (Subject: This book, Verb: will change, Object: your life)
Passive Voice: The subject of the sentence receives the action. The structure is typically Object (becomes new subject) + Be verb (in appropriate tense) + Past Participle of the main verb + (Optional) by + Subject (original subject). Example: "Your life will be changed by this book."

Converting Active to Passive: Step-by-Step

To convert the active sentence "This book will change your life" into the passive voice, we follow these steps:

Identify the components:
- Subject: "This book"
- Verb: "will change" (Future Simple Tense)
- Object: "your life"
Move the object to the subject position: The object "your life" becomes the new subject. So, the sentence starts with "Your life".
Change the verb to the passive form: The verb "will change" is in the Future Simple Active tense. The passive form for Future Simple is "will be" + Past Participle of the main verb. The past participle of "change" is "changed". So, the verb becomes "will be changed".
Add the original subject as the agent: The original subject "This book" is introduced using the preposition "by". So, we add "by this book" at the end.
Combine the parts: Putting it all together, we get "Your life will be changed by this book."

Applying the Rule for Future Simple Passive

The general rule for changing a sentence from Future Simple Active to Future Simple Passive is:

Active: Subject + will + Base Verb + Object

Passive: Object + will be + Past Participle + (by + Subject)

Let's apply this to our sentence:

Component	Active ("This book will change your life")	Passive ("Your life will be changed by this book")
Subject	This book	Your life (Original Object)
Verb (Future Simple)	will change	will be changed (will be + Past Participle)
Object	your life	-
Agent	-	by this book (Original Subject)

The structure of the passive sentence clearly follows the rule.

Analyzing the Options

Let's look at the provided options and see which one correctly follows the passive voice rules for the given sentence.

Option 1: "You will change your life." - This sentence uses "You" as the subject and keeps the active verb form "will change". It also changes the subject from "This book" to "You", which is not the correct way to form the passive voice of the original sentence. This is an active sentence.
Option 2: "Book would change you and life." - This option changes the auxiliary verb from "will" to "would", altering the tense/modality. It also structures the sentence differently ("you and life") and does not use the correct passive verb form ("would be changed"). This is not the correct passive form of the original sentence.
Option 3: "Your life will be changed by this book." - The object "your life" is the new subject. The verb is "will be changed", which is the correct Future Simple Passive form of "will change". The original subject "this book" is introduced with "by". This sentence correctly follows the rules for converting the sentence to passive voice.
Option 4: "Life is going to be changed via the book." - This option changes the tense/structure from Future Simple ("will change") to using "is going to be changed", which implies a slightly different nuance of future and uses "via" instead of the standard "by" for the agent. While "is going to be changed" can also express future passive, "will be changed" is the direct passive equivalent of "will change". Also, "via the book" is less standard than "by this book" when referring to the agent. This is not the most direct or standard passive transformation of the original sentence's tense.

Based on the analysis, Option 3 is the correct passive form of the sentence "This book will change your life".

Revision Table: Key Concepts

Concept	Description	Relevance to Passive Voice
Active Voice	Subject performs action.	Original sentence form.
Passive Voice	Subject receives action.	Target sentence form.
Subject	Performer of action (Active). Receiver of action (Passive).	Roles swap during conversion.
Object	Receiver of action (Active). Becomes Subject (Passive).	Crucial part that becomes the new subject.
Verb Tense	Form of the verb indicating time.	Must be maintained (Future Simple) and converted correctly (will > will be + Past Participle).
Past Participle	Third form of the verb (e.g., change > changed).	Essential for passive verb construction.
Agent ("by" phrase)	Original subject in passive voice, introduced by "by".	Indicates who/what performed the action.

Additional Information on Sentence Voice

Understanding active and passive voice helps in varying sentence structure and emphasis in writing.

When to use Passive Voice: Passive voice is often used when the doer of the action (the agent) is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, or when you want to emphasize the action itself or the receiver of the action. For example, "The window was broken" (we don't know or care who broke it). In our example, "Your life will be changed" emphasizes the impact on "your life".
Transitive Verbs: Only sentences with transitive verbs (verbs that take an object) can be changed into the passive voice. An intransitive verb does not have an object.
Clarity: Generally, active voice is preferred in many types of writing because it is more direct and concise. However, passive voice has its specific uses and is perfectly grammatical when used correctly.