Understanding Passive vs. Active Voice

Sentences can be written in two main voices: active and passive. The voice depends on whether the subject performs the action or receives the action.

• Active Voice: The subject performs the action. (e.g., The cat chased the mouse. Here, 'The cat' is the subject and performs the action 'chased').
• Passive Voice: The subject receives the action. The focus is on the action or the object receiving it. (e.g., The mouse was chased by the cat. Here, 'The mouse' is the subject, but it receives the action 'was chased').

Analyzing the Sentence: The glass was broken

The sentence "The glass was broken" is in the passive voice.

• Subject: The glass (receives the action)
• Verb: was broken (past participle form 'broken' with auxiliary 'was')
• Agent (Doer): Unspecified

In the passive voice, the agent (the person or thing performing the action) is often omitted or placed at the end using a 'by' phrase (e.g., "...by someone"). When the agent is unknown or unimportant, it's common practice to use indefinite pronouns like 'someone', 'someone', 'people', etc., when converting to active voice.

Transforming to Active Voice

To change a passive sentence to active voice, follow these steps:

1. Identify the object of the passive sentence (The glass). This becomes the subject of the active sentence.
2. Identify the verb (was broken). Change it to the corresponding active tense. Since 'was broken' is simple past passive, the active form needs the simple past tense of 'break', which is 'broke'.
3. Add the agent (doer) of the action. Since the agent is not mentioned in the original passive sentence, we need to infer a suitable subject.

Evaluating the Options

Let's examine each option:

• Option 1: No one broke the glass. This is grammatically active, but it changes the meaning. The original sentence implies the glass *was* broken, while this option implies it was *not* broken.
• Option 2: Someone broke the glass. This uses the correct simple past tense ('broke'). It introduces 'Someone' as the subject, which is an appropriate indefinite pronoun when the agent is unknown in the passive construction. This fits the structure: Subject (Someone) + Verb (broke) + Object (the glass).
• Option 3: He broken the glass. This option is grammatically incorrect. The verb 'broken' is the past participle and cannot stand alone in the simple past tense. It should be 'He broke the glass'.
• Option 4: He broke the glass. This is grammatically correct and uses the simple past tense 'broke'. However, it introduces a specific subject ('He') which is not implied by the original passive sentence ('The glass was broken'). While possible, it makes an assumption about the doer.

Conclusion

Option 2, "Someone broke the glass," is the most suitable active voice transformation because it correctly changes the verb tense and uses an indefinite subject ('Someone') to represent the unspecified agent in the original passive sentence.