Understanding Passive Voice Transformation for 'Who' Questions

The question asks us to convert a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice. The original sentence is "Who has taken away my pen?". This is an interrogative sentence (a question) in the present perfect tense, active voice.

In the active voice, the subject performs the action. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. The original subject (the person who took the pen) is unknown, asked about by "Who". When converting a 'Who' question from active to passive voice, 'Who' is usually changed to 'By whom'.

The structure of the active sentence is: Who + has/have + past participle (V3) + object?

The object in the sentence is "my pen". This object will become the subject in the passive voice sentence.

The tense is present perfect (indicated by "has taken"). The structure for present perfect passive is: Subject (new) + has/have + been + past participle (V3).

Converting the Sentence to Passive Voice

Let's apply the rules to transform "Who has taken away my pen?" into the passive voice:

1. Identify the object: The object is "my pen". This will become the subject in the passive sentence.
2. Identify the tense: The tense is present perfect ("has taken").
3. Determine the passive structure for present perfect: Subject + has/have + been + V3.
4. Since it's a 'Who' question, it starts with 'By whom' in the passive voice.
5. Place the new subject ("my pen") after the auxiliary verb. "My pen" is singular, so we use "has".
6. Add "been" after "has".
7. Add the past participle of the verb "taken" (which is already "taken").
8. Add the remaining part of the sentence ("away").
9. End with a question mark.

Following these steps, the passive sentence structure for a 'Who' question in the present perfect is: By whom + has/have + new subject + been + past participle (V3) + ...?

Applying this structure to "Who has taken away my pen?":

By whom + has + my pen + been + taken + away?

This gives us the sentence: "By whom has my pen been taken away?"

Analyzing the Options for Passive Voice

Let's examine the given options to find the correct passive transformation:

• Option 1: By whom has my pen been taken away?

  This option follows the correct passive voice structure for a 'Who' question in the present perfect tense: 'By whom' + 'has' (agreeing with 'my pen') + 'been' + 'taken' (V3) + 'away'. The tense is correctly maintained as present perfect.

• Option 2: By whom had my pen been taken away?

  This option uses "had been taken", which is the past perfect passive tense. The original sentence is in the present perfect tense ("has taken"), so this option changes the tense. This is incorrect.

• Option 3: By whom is my pen taken away?

  This option uses "is taken", which is the simple present passive tense. The original sentence is in the present perfect tense ("has taken"), so this option changes the tense. This is incorrect.

• Option 4: By whom was my pen taken away?

  This option uses "was taken", which is the simple past passive tense. The original sentence is in the present perfect tense ("has taken"), so this option changes the tense. This is incorrect.

Based on the analysis, only Option 1 correctly transforms the sentence into the passive voice while maintaining the original tense (present perfect).

Revision Table: Active vs. Passive for 'Who' Questions (Present Perfect)

Additional Information on Sentence Transformation

Converting sentences between active and passive voice is a common grammar exercise. It's important to remember that only sentences with a transitive verb (a verb that takes an object) can be changed into the passive voice. The passive voice is often used when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, or when you want to emphasize the action or the recipient of the action.

Here are a few points to remember about passive voice transformation:

• The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
• The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the preposition 'by' in the passive sentence (or is omitted if unknown/unimportant).
• The main verb in the active voice is converted into the past participle (V3) and is preceded by a form of the verb 'to be' (be, is, am, are, was, were, been, being).
• The tense of the verb must remain the same in both active and passive voices. This is a crucial point to check when converting sentences.
• For questions starting with 'Who', the passive form typically begins with 'By whom'.

Mastering passive voice transformation requires understanding the verb forms for each tense.