Active to Passive Voice Conversion: Simple Present Tense

The question asks us to transform a sentence from active voice to passive voice. The given sentence is:

"The tour guide always answers the visitors' questions."

This sentence is in the Simple Present Tense because the verb "answers" is in its base form + 's', and it describes a habitual action (indicated by "always").

Understanding Active and Passive Voice

• Active Voice: The subject performs the action. Structure: Subject + Verb + Object. Example: The tour guide answers the questions.
• Passive Voice: The action is performed on the subject. Structure: Object (becomes Subject) + Be verb (according to tense and new subject) + Past Participle (V3) + (optional) by + Subject (becomes Object). Example: The questions are answered by the tour guide.

Steps for Converting Simple Present Active to Passive

The general formula for converting a Simple Present active sentence to passive is:

\( \text{Object (from active)} + \text{is/am/are} + \text{Past Participle (V3)} + (\text{by Subject (from active)}) \)

In the given sentence:

• Subject: The tour guide
• Verb: answers (V1 + s)
• Object: the visitors' questions
• Adverb of Frequency: always

Applying the conversion rules:

1. The object "the visitors' questions" becomes the new subject. Since "questions" is plural, the 'be' verb in the Simple Present tense will be "are".
2. The main verb "answers" needs to be changed to its past participle form, which is "answered".
3. The original subject "the tour guide" is introduced with "by", becoming "by the tour guide".
4. The adverb "always" typically goes between the auxiliary verb ('are') and the main verb ('answered') in the passive voice.

Putting it together, the structure is: New Subject + are + always + answered + by the tour guide.

This gives us the passive sentence: "The visitors' questions are always answered by the tour guide."

Analyzing the Given Options

Let's examine each option based on our understanding of the passive voice conversion rules:

• Option 1: "The visitors' question was always answered by the tour guide."
  • Incorrect. The original object is plural ("questions"), but the new subject is singular ("question"). Also, "was answered" is Past Simple passive, not Simple Present passive.
• Option 2: "The visitors' questions are answered by the tour guide always."
  • Incorrect. While the tense and subject-verb agreement are correct, the placement of the adverb "always" at the end is not the standard or preferred position.
• Option 3: "The visitors' questions are always answered by the tour guide."
  • Correct. This option correctly identifies "the visitors' questions" as the subject, uses the correct 'be' verb "are" for the Simple Present plural subject, uses the correct past participle "answered", places the adverb "always" correctly between the auxiliary and main verb, and includes "by the tour guide".
• Option 4: "The visitors' questions are answered always by the tour guide."
  • Incorrect. The placement of the adverb "always" is incorrect. It should be between "are" and "answered".

Therefore, option 3 correctly expresses the given sentence in the passive voice.

Revision Table: Active-Passive Voice Rules

Additional Information: Using Passive Voice

While active voice is generally preferred for clarity and directness, passive voice is useful in several situations:

• When the action is more important than the doer of the action. Example: The window was broken. (The focus is on the broken window, not who broke it).
• When the doer of the action is unknown, obvious, or not important. Example: The road is being repaired. (We don't know or care who is repairing it, just that it's happening).
• In formal or scientific writing, to maintain objectivity. Example: The experiment was conducted at 20 degrees Celsius. (Focus on the process, not the experimenter).
• When you want to avoid mentioning the doer of the action. Example: Mistakes were made.

In the given sentence, while active voice is perfectly fine, converting it to passive voice shifts the focus from the tour guide to the visitors' questions.