Passive Voice Transformation

The original sentence is in the active voice: "They have discussed the issue already." We need to convert this into the passive voice.

Active Sentence Analysis

The sentence "They have discussed the issue already" is structured in the Present Perfect Tense.

• Subject: They
• Auxiliary Verb: have
• Main Verb (Past Participle): discussed
• Object: the issue
• Adverb: already

Passive Voice Rules: Present Perfect Tense

To convert a sentence from the active voice (Present Perfect Tense) to the passive voice, we follow this structure:

Active: $Subject + have/has + Past Participle + Object$

Passive: $Object + have/has + been + Past Participle + (by Subject)$

Applying the Rule

Let's apply this rule to the given sentence:

1. Identify the object of the active sentence: the issue. This becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. Since "the issue" is singular, we use the auxiliary verb has.
3. Add the auxiliary verb been.
4. Use the past participle of the main verb: discussed.
5. Include the adverb already.
6. Optionally, add the agent (the subject of the active sentence) preceded by "by": by them.

Putting it together, we get: "The issue has been discussed already by them."

Evaluating the Options

Let's examine each option:

• Option 1: "The issue was discussed by them." - This uses the Past Simple passive ("was discussed"), which is the incorrect tense.
• Option 2: "The issue has been discussed already by them." - This correctly follows the Present Perfect passive structure (Object + has + been + Past Participle + by Agent).
• Option 3: "The issue discusses by them." - This uses the wrong verb form ("discusses") and is grammatically incorrect for passive voice.
• Option 4: "The issue had been discussed." - This uses the Past Perfect passive ("had been discussed"), which is the incorrect tense.