Understanding Active and Passive Voice Transformation

The question asks us to convert a sentence from active voice to passive voice. The original sentence is: "The lifeguard rescued Molly and her family."

In the active voice, the subject performs the action. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. To transform a sentence from active to passive voice, we typically follow these steps:

1. Identify the subject, verb, and object in the active sentence.
2. Make the object of the active sentence the subject of the passive sentence.
3. Use the appropriate form of the verb "to be" corresponding to the tense of the active verb and the new subject.
4. Use the past participle of the main verb.
5. (Optional) Add "by" followed by the original subject (which becomes the agent).

Analyzing the Active Sentence: "The lifeguard rescued Molly and her family."

• Subject: The lifeguard
• Verb: rescued (This is in the Simple Past tense)
• Object: Molly and her family

The tense of the verb in the active sentence is Simple Past ("rescued"). Therefore, when converting to passive voice, we need to use the Simple Past passive structure, which is:

\(\text{New Subject} + \text{was/were} + \text{Past Participle of Main Verb} + (\text{by} + \text{Original Subject})\)

Transforming to Passive Voice

Let's apply the steps to "The lifeguard rescued Molly and her family."

1. The object is "Molly and her family". This group will become the new subject in the passive sentence.
2. The new subject "Molly and her family" is plural.
3. The tense is Simple Past, and the new subject is plural, so we use "were" (the plural past form of "to be").
4. The past participle of "rescued" is "rescued".
5. The original subject is "The lifeguard". We add "by a lifeguard" or "by the lifeguard". The options use "a lifeguard", so we will use that form for comparison.

Putting it together, the passive sentence should be: "Molly and her family were rescued by a lifeguard."

Evaluating the Options

Let's examine each provided option:

• Option 1: "Molly and her family were rescued by a lifeguard."
  • New subject: "Molly and her family" (plural) - Correct.
  • Verb "to be": "were" (Simple Past, plural) - Correct.
  • Past Participle: "rescued" - Correct.
  • Agent: "by a lifeguard" - Correct.
  • This option matches the correct Simple Past passive structure.
• Option 2: "Molly and her family were being rescued by a lifeguard."
  • This uses the Past Continuous passive structure (\(\text{was/were being} + \text{Past Participle}\)). This would be the passive form of a Past Continuous active sentence like "The lifeguard was rescuing Molly and her family." Since the original sentence is Simple Past, this option is incorrect.
• Option 3: "Molly and her family is rescued by a lifeguard."
  • This uses the Present Simple passive structure (\(\text{is/am/are} + \text{Past Participle}\)). This would be the passive form of a Present Simple active sentence like "The lifeguard rescues Molly and her family." Also, "Molly and her family" is plural, so the correct form of "to be" would be "are", not "is". This option is incorrect.
• Option 4: "Molly and her family was rescued by a lifeguard."
  • This uses the Simple Past passive structure, but the form of "to be" is "was". "was" is used with singular subjects in the Simple Past passive. Since "Molly and her family" is a plural subject, the correct form should be "were". This option is incorrect.

Based on the analysis, only Option 1 correctly transforms the given Simple Past active sentence into the Simple Past passive voice.

Revision Table: Active vs. Passive Voice Structure (Simple Past)

Additional Information on Voice Change

Changing the voice of a sentence allows us to shift the focus. Active voice is generally more direct and energetic, while passive voice can be useful when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, or when we want to emphasize the action or the receiver of the action.

Key points about voice change:

• Only transitive verbs (verbs that take an object) can be changed into the passive voice.
• The tense of the verb remains the same during the transformation; only the form changes (using "to be" + past participle).
• The agent ("by + original subject") can often be omitted in the passive voice if it is general (e.g., "people," "someone," "they") or unimportant. However, in this specific question, the agent ("by a lifeguard") is included in the correct option.

Mastering active and passive voice transformation is important for varying sentence structure and controlling emphasis in writing.