Rewrite Sentence to Passive Voice: Understanding the Transformation

The task is to convert the given active voice sentence, "The school gave him many prizes," into its passive voice equivalent. This involves changing the sentence structure while retaining the original meaning.

Analyzing the Active Voice Sentence

The original sentence is:

Subject: The school

Verb: gave (Simple Past Tense of 'to give')

Indirect Object: him

Direct Object: many prizes

The sentence is in the Simple Past Tense.

Understanding Passive Voice Rules

To change a sentence from active to passive voice, we follow these general steps:

• The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
• The main verb is changed to its past participle form.
• An auxiliary verb (like 'be') is added before the past participle. The tense of the auxiliary verb matches the tense of the original active verb.
• The original subject becomes the object of the preposition 'by' (the agent).

For a sentence with two objects (direct and indirect), like the one given, either object can become the subject of the passive sentence.

• Option 1 (Indirect Object as Subject): The indirect object ('him') becomes the subject ('He'). The structure becomes: Subject + was/were + Past Participle + Direct Object + by + Agent.
• Option 2 (Direct Object as Subject): The direct object ('many prizes') becomes the subject ('Many prizes'). The structure becomes: Subject + was/were + Past Participle + to + Indirect Object + by + Agent.

Since the original sentence is in the Simple Past Tense, the passive structure requires 'was' or 'were' (depending on the new subject) followed by the past participle ('given').

Evaluating the Options

Let's examine each option:

• Option 1: He is given many prizes by the school
  • Tense Mismatch: Uses 'is given', which is the Present Simple Passive. The original sentence is in the Simple Past Tense. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
• Option 2: He has given many prizes by the school
  • Incorrect Structure/Tense: 'has given' is the Present Perfect Active or could imply a different passive structure ('has been given'). In this context, it incorrectly suggests 'He' is the giver or uses the wrong passive form. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
• Option 3: He was given many prizes by the school
  • Correct Tense and Structure: Uses 'was given', which is the correct Simple Past Passive form. 'He' (from the indirect object 'him') is the subject, 'many prizes' is the remaining object, and 'by the school' is the agent. This matches Option 1 for passive transformation (indirect object as subject). This option correctly converts the sentence.
• Option 4: He had given many prizes by the school
  • Incorrect Structure/Tense: 'had given' is the Past Perfect Active or implies a different passive structure ('had been given'). Similar to option 2, it's structurally incorrect for this passive conversion. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Conclusion

The sentence "The school gave him many prizes" is in the Simple Past Tense. The passive voice requires the structure 'Subject + was/were + Past Participle'. Option 3, "He was given many prizes by the school," correctly applies this rule using the indirect object ('him') as the subject, maintaining the Simple Past Tense.