Active to Passive Voice Transformation Explained

This question requires converting a sentence from active voice to passive voice. Let's break down the process.

Understanding the Active Sentence

The original sentence is:

The king who the people loved built the castle five centuries ago

• Subject: The king (described by the clause "who the people loved")
• Verb: built (Simple Past Tense)
• Object: the castle
• Adverbial Phrase (Time): five centuries ago

The relative clause "who the people loved" itself has an active structure: "the people loved [the king]".

Steps for Active to Passive Conversion

To change a sentence from active to passive voice, follow these general rules:

1. Object becomes Subject: The direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. Verb Transformation: The main verb changes to its past participle form. It is preceded by the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were, been, being). The tense of "to be" should match the tense of the original active verb.
3. Subject becomes Object of 'by': The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the preposition "by" in the passive sentence.
4. Retain Other Elements: Adverbials and other phrases usually stay in similar positions, often at the end.

Applying the Rules to the Sentence

1. Identify Object: The object is the castle. This becomes the new subject.
2. Transform Verb: The verb is built (simple past). The passive form requires "was/were + past participle". Since "the castle" is singular, we use was. The past participle of "build" is "built". So, the verb becomes was built.
3. Identify Subject: The subject is The king who the people loved. This becomes the object of "by".
4. Handle the Relative Clause: The clause "who the people loved" needs to be converted to passive within the context of the main sentence structure. The active form "the people loved [the king]" becomes "the king was loved by the people" when referring to the king.
5. Combine Elements: Putting it all together: The castle (new subject) + was built (passive verb) + five centuries ago (adverbial) + by the king who was loved by the people (object of 'by' with the transformed clause).

Therefore, the passive sentence is: The castle was built five centuries ago by the king who was loved by the people.

Analyzing the Options

• Option 1: The castle was built five centuries ago by the king who was loved by the people - This correctly transforms the main sentence and the relative clause into the passive voice.
• Option 2: The castle was built five centuries ago by the king who loved the people - This incorrectly changes the meaning of the relative clause. It suggests the king loved the people, not the other way around.
• Option 3: The castle built five centuries ago by the king loved by the people - This sentence is grammatically incomplete. It lacks the auxiliary verb (like "was") needed for the passive construction of the main verb "built".
• Option 4: The castle was built five centuries ago by the people who were loved by the king - This swaps the roles of the king and the people, changing the original meaning entirely.

Conclusion

Option 1 is the only choice that accurately converts the original active voice sentence into the passive voice while preserving the original meaning and grammatical structure.