Select the correct passive form of the given sentence.They are laying new telephone cables in our colony.

Question

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

Understanding Active and Passive Voice Conversion

Active voice and passive voice are two different ways to structure a sentence. In active voice, the subject performs the action. In passive voice, the action is performed on the subject (which was the object in the active sentence).

The question asks to convert a sentence from active voice to passive voice. The given sentence is: "They are laying new telephone cables in our colony."

Identifying the Sentence Structure and Tense

Let's break down the given sentence:

Subject: They
Verb: are laying
Object: new telephone cables
Adverbial Phrase: in our colony

The verb phrase "are laying" indicates that the sentence is in the Present Continuous Tense (Subject + am/is/are + Verb-ing + Object).

Converting Present Continuous Active to Passive Voice

The general structure for converting a sentence from Present Continuous Active to Passive Voice is:

Active: Subject + am/is/are + Verb-ing + Object + (rest of sentence)

Passive: Object + am/is/are + being + Past Participle of Verb + (by + Subject) + (rest of sentence)

Applying this structure to our sentence:

The object "new telephone cables" becomes the subject of the passive sentence. Since "cables" is plural, we will use "are".
We add "being".
The past participle of the verb "laying" is "laid".
The adverbial phrase "in our colony" remains in its place.
The original subject "They" can be included with "by them", but it is often omitted in passive voice when the doer is general or unknown, as in this case.

Following this structure, the passive form of the sentence should be: "New telephone cables are being laid in our colony."

Analyzing the Options for Correct Passive Form

Let's examine the given options to find the one that matches our derived passive sentence:

Option	Sentence	Analysis	Correctness
1	New telephone cables were being laid in our colony.	Uses "were being laid". This is the passive form for Past Continuous tense. The original sentence is Present Continuous.	Incorrect
2	New telephone cables are being laid in our colony.	Uses "are being laid". This is the passive form for Present Continuous tense (are + being + laid). This matches our derived structure.	Correct
3	New telephone cables were laid in our colony.	Uses "were laid". This is the passive form for Simple Past tense. The original sentence is Present Continuous.	Incorrect
4	New telephone cables will be laid in our colony.	Uses "will be laid". This is the passive form for Simple Future tense. The original sentence is Present Continuous.	Incorrect

Based on the analysis, Option 2 correctly transforms the active sentence "They are laying new telephone cables in our colony" into the passive voice, maintaining the correct tense (Present Continuous).

Revision Table: Voice Conversion Basics

Tense (Active)	Structure (Active)	Structure (Passive)	Example (Active)	Example (Passive)
Simple Present	Subject + Verb(s/es) + Object	Object + am/is/are + Past Participle	She writes a letter.	A letter is written by her.
Present Continuous	Subject + am/is/are + Verb-ing + Object	Object + am/is/are + being + Past Participle	They are laying cables.	Cables are being laid.
Simple Past	Subject + Verb(ed) + Object	Object + was/were + Past Participle	He wrote a letter.	A letter was written by him.
Simple Future	Subject + will + Verb + Object	Object + will + be + Past Participle	She will write a letter.	A letter will be written by her.

Additional Information: Importance of Passive Voice

The passive voice is often used when:

The action is more important than the doer (e.g., "The experiment was conducted").
The doer is unknown or unimportant (e.g., "My wallet was stolen").
You want to avoid mentioning the doer (e.g., "Mistakes were made").
In formal or scientific writing to maintain objectivity.

While the passive voice is useful, overuse can make writing sound awkward or unclear. It's important to choose between active and passive voice depending on what you want to emphasize in the sentence.