Transforming Active to Passive Voice: Simple Past Questions

Understanding how to change a sentence from active voice to passive voice is an important part of English grammar. This question asks for the correct passive form of the simple past tense question: "Did he do his mission?"

Analyzing the Active Sentence

The original sentence "Did he do his mission?" is in the active voice and simple past tense. Its structure for a question is:

• Auxiliary Verb (Did)
• Subject (he)
• Main Verb (base form: do)
• Object (his mission)

The action (doing) is performed by the subject (he) on the object (his mission).

Rules for Simple Past Passive Voice Questions

To transform a simple past active voice question into the passive voice, we follow these steps:

1. Identify the object of the active sentence. This becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. Use the simple past form of the verb 'to be' (was or were) as the auxiliary verb. Use 'was' if the new subject (original object) is singular, and 'were' if it is plural. Since it's a question, the auxiliary verb comes at the beginning.
3. Use the past participle form of the main verb from the active sentence.
4. Include 'by' followed by the original subject (now the agent) if it's important to mention who did the action.

The general structure for a simple past passive voice question is:

Was/Were + Object (as new subject) + Past Participle + by + Subject (as agent)?

Applying the Rules to "Did he do his mission?"

• Original Object: "his mission" (singular)
• Auxiliary Verb ('to be' in simple past, matching the new subject): "Was" (because "his mission" is singular)
• Past Participle of 'do': "done"
• Original Subject: "he" (becomes "by him")

Putting it together in the passive question structure:

Was + his mission + done + by + him?

So, the correct passive voice sentence is: "Was his mission done by him?"

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at the provided options based on our understanding of the correct transformation:

• Option 1: Was his mission done by him?
  This option matches the structure and verb forms we derived. It uses 'Was' (correct for a singular subject 'his mission'), the past participle 'done', and includes 'by him'. This is the correct passive form.
• Option 2: Was his mission do by him?
  This option uses the base form of the verb 'do' instead of the past participle 'done'. The passive voice requires the past participle. Therefore, this is incorrect.
• Option 3: Was his mission being done by him?
  This option uses 'being done', which is the structure for the past continuous passive voice (e.g., "Was his mission being done when you arrived?"). The original sentence is in the simple past, not past continuous. Therefore, this is incorrect.
• Option 4: Had his mission been done by him?
  This option uses 'Had been done', which is the structure for the past perfect passive voice (e.g., "Had his mission been done before the deadline?"). The original sentence is in the simple past, not past perfect. Therefore, this is incorrect.

Based on the analysis, only option 1 correctly follows the rules for transforming a simple past active voice question into the passive voice.

Revision Table: Active vs. Passive Voice in Simple Past

Additional Information on Voice in English Grammar

Voice is a grammatical term used to describe the relationship between the verb and the subject of a sentence. There are two main types of voice in English: active voice and passive voice.

• Active Voice: In the active voice, the subject performs the action. The focus is on the doer of the action. Example: "The student wrote the essay." (Subject 'student' performs the action 'wrote').
• Passive Voice: In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. The focus is often on the action itself or the receiver of the action, rather than the doer. The doer is often omitted or included in a 'by' phrase. Example: "The essay was written by the student." (Subject 'essay' receives the action 'was written').

We use the passive voice when:

• The doer of the action is unknown.
• The doer of the action is not important.
• We want to emphasize the action or the object receiving the action.

Changing voice involves rearranging the sentence elements and changing the form of the verb. It's essential to match the tense of the passive sentence to the tense of the active sentence.