Understanding Active and Passive Voice Conversion

The question asks us to convert a sentence from passive voice to active voice. The given sentence is: "A farewell party for me has been organised by my office colleagues."

Let's first understand what active and passive voice mean.

• Active Voice: The subject of the sentence performs the action. The structure is typically Subject + Verb + Object. Example: "Cats chase mice." (Subject: Cats, Verb: chase, Object: mice)
• Passive Voice: The subject of the sentence receives the action. The structure is typically Object + helping verb (usually 'be' in some form) + past participle of the main verb + by + Subject (optional). Example: "Mice are chased by cats." (Subject: Mice, Verb: are chased, Agent: by cats)

Analyzing the Passive Sentence

The given sentence "A farewell party for me has been organised by my office colleagues" is in the passive voice. Let's break it down:

• The subject is "A farewell party for me". This is the thing receiving the action (being organised).
• The verb phrase is "has been organised". This is the passive form. The tense is present perfect (indicated by "has been").
• The agent performing the action is "my office colleagues", introduced by "by". This was the subject in the original active sentence.

The structure matches the passive voice: Subject (receiving action) + verb (passive form) + by + Agent (performing action).

Converting Passive to Active Voice

To convert a passive sentence to active voice, we need to:

1. Identify the agent (the doer of the action). This will become the new subject of the active sentence.
2. Identify the verb and its tense. The tense must remain the same in the active voice. The passive structure "has been organised" tells us the tense is present perfect.
3. Identify the subject of the passive sentence. This will become the object of the active sentence.

Applying these steps to our sentence:

Passive: "A farewell party for me has been organised by my office colleagues."

• Agent (new subject): "my office colleagues"
• Tense: Present Perfect (from "has been organised")
• Passive subject (new object): "A farewell party for me"

The present perfect active voice structure is: Subject + have/has + past participle + Object.

Our new subject is "my office colleagues" (plural), so we use "have". The past participle of "organise" is "organised". The object is "a farewell party for me".

Putting it together, the active sentence is: "My office colleagues have organised a farewell party for me."

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at the provided options and see which one matches our derived active sentence:

1. "My office colleagues are going to organise a farewell party for me." - This uses the future tense ("are going to organise"), not present perfect. Incorrect.
2. "My office colleagues have organised a farewell party for me." - This uses the present perfect tense ("have organised") with "My office colleagues" as the subject and "a farewell party for me" as the object. This matches our conversion.
3. "My office colleagues are organising a farewell party for me." - This uses the present continuous tense ("are organising"), not present perfect. Incorrect.
4. "A farewell party for me is about to be organised by my office colleagues." - This sentence is still in the passive voice ("is about to be organised"). Incorrect.

Based on our analysis, option 2 correctly expresses the given sentence in active voice, maintaining the original tense.

Revision Table: Voice Change Rules

Additional Information: Importance of Voice

Choosing between active and passive voice depends on what you want to emphasize in your sentence.

• Active voice is generally more direct, clear, and concise. It emphasizes the doer of the action. This is often preferred in writing.
• Passive voice is useful when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or when you want to emphasize the action itself or the receiver of the action. For example, "The window was broken" might be used if you don't know who broke it or don't want to say.

When converting voice, it is crucial to maintain the original tense and meaning of the sentence.