Understanding Passive Voice Transformation

The question asks us to select the most appropriate passive form of the given sentence:

Original Sentence (Active Voice): How much monthly rent did you pay for the house?

This sentence is in the Simple Past tense (indicated by 'did pay'). To convert an active voice sentence in the Simple Past tense into the passive voice, we follow a specific structure.

Converting Simple Past Active to Passive Voice

The general structure for Simple Past passive voice is:

Subject + was/were + Past Participle of the verb + (by + Agent)

When converting a question, the structure is adjusted. For a 'Wh-' question like this one, the structure is:

Wh- word(s) + was/were + Subject (from object) + Past Participle of the verb + rest of the sentence?

Analyzing the Original Sentence

• The 'Wh-' word is: "How much monthly rent" (this is the object in the active voice).
• The helping verb for the tense is: "did" (indicating Simple Past).
• The main verb is: "pay".
• The subject in the active voice is: "you".

Applying the Passive Voice Rules

1. Identify the object in the active sentence: "How much monthly rent". This becomes the subject in the passive sentence.

2. Determine the correct form of 'to be' in the Simple Past tense for the new subject. "How much monthly rent" is treated as singular, so we use "was".

3. Use the past participle of the main verb 'pay', which is 'paid'.

4. Structure the question in passive voice:

Wh- word(s) → "How much monthly rent"

Helping verb (from 'to be') → "was"

Subject (from object) → (How much monthly rent is already the subject here)

Past Participle → "paid"

Rest of the sentence → "for the house?"

Combining these gives: "How much monthly rent was paid for the house?"

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at the given options and compare them to our derived passive form:

• Option 1: How much monthly rent was paid for the house?
  • This matches our derived passive sentence. It uses the correct structure (Wh- word + was + past participle) for a Simple Past passive question.
• Option 2: How much monthly rent is being paid for the house?
  • This uses the present continuous passive structure ("is being paid"). The original sentence is in Simple Past, so this tense is incorrect.
• Option 3: How much monthly rent was being paid for the house?
  • This uses the past continuous passive structure ("was being paid"). The original sentence is in Simple Past, so this tense is incorrect.
• Option 4: How much monthly rent is paid for the house?
  • This uses the simple present passive structure ("is paid"). The original sentence is in Simple Past, so this tense is incorrect.

Based on the analysis, Option 1 is the only grammatically correct passive transformation of the given Simple Past active voice question.

Conclusion on Passive Voice Conversion

Converting sentences from active to passive voice requires careful attention to the original tense. For the Simple Past active question "How much monthly rent did you pay for the house?", the correct passive form maintains the question structure and uses 'was' + past participle ('paid') appropriate for the Simple Past tense.

Revision Table: Passive Voice

Additional Information on Active and Passive Voice

Active voice emphasizes the doer of the action. Passive voice emphasizes the action itself or the recipient of the action. The original subject (the doer) can be included in the passive sentence using "by + agent", but it is often omitted if the agent is unknown, obvious, or unimportant. In the question "How much monthly rent was paid for the house?", the original subject "you" is omitted, which is common in passive voice when the focus is not on who paid but how much was paid.

Understanding voice transformation is crucial for varying sentence structure and emphasizing different parts of a sentence in English grammar.