Understanding Voice in English Grammar

Sentences in English can be expressed in two voices: active voice and passive voice. The choice of voice changes the focus of the sentence.

• Active Voice: The subject performs the action. The focus is on the doer of the action.
• Passive Voice: The action is performed on the subject. The focus is on the action itself or the receiver of the action. The doer is often mentioned using 'by' or omitted if not important.

Analysing the Given Sentence

The given sentence is: "My mother is watching a new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar."

Let's break down the sentence elements:

• Subject: My mother (the person doing the watching)
• Verb: is watching (the action being performed)
• Object: a new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar (the thing being watched)

The structure "Subject + is/am/are + Verb(-ing) + Object" indicates that the sentence is in the Present Continuous Tense and is in the Active Voice.

Converting Present Continuous Active to Passive Voice

The general rule for changing a sentence from Present Continuous Active to Passive Voice is:

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

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

Step-by-Step Voice Transformation

Let's apply the rule to our sentence: "My mother is watching a new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar."

1. Identify the Object: The object is "a new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar". This will become the subject of the passive sentence.
2. Choose the correct form of 'to be' (is/am/are) based on the new subject (the original object) and the tense (Present Continuous): Since "a new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar" is singular, we use "is".
3. Add "being": For the continuous tense passive voice, we add "being" after the 'to be' verb. So, "is being".
4. Change the main verb to its Past Participle form: The main verb is "watching" (from "watch"). The past participle of "watch" is "watched".
5. Add "by" followed by the original subject: The original subject is "my mother". So, we add "by my mother".

Putting it all together, the passive sentence is: "A new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar is being watched by my mother."

Evaluating the Options

Let's compare our derived passive sentence with the given options:

• Option 1: A new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar is being watched by my mother. - This matches our derived sentence. It correctly uses the Present Continuous passive structure (is being watched).
• Option 2: A new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar was being watched by my mother. - This uses "was being watched," which is the Past Continuous passive form. This does not match the original sentence's tense (Present Continuous).
• Option 3: A new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar is watched by my mother. - This uses "is watched," which is the Present Simple passive form. This does not match the original sentence's tense (Present Continuous).
• Option 4: A new serial about the life of Dr. Ambedkar will be watched by my mother. - This uses "will be watched," which is the Simple Future passive form. This does not match the original sentence's tense (Present Continuous).

Therefore, Option 1 is the correct passive form of the given sentence.

Revision Table: Active vs. Passive Voice

Additional Information: Why Use Passive Voice?

While active voice is generally preferred for clarity and directness, passive voice is useful in certain situations:

• When the doer of the action is unknown or unimportant (e.g., "The window was broken.").
• When you want to emphasize the action or the receiver of the action rather than the doer (e.g., "Dr. Ambedkar's life is being depicted in a new serial.").
• In formal writing or scientific reports, where objectivity is key and the focus is on processes or results rather than the people performing them.

In this specific question about voice change, the task is simply to transform the given active sentence into its grammatically correct passive equivalent, maintaining the original tense (Present Continuous).