Activity Questions 2.3

Based on the provided sources, the correct tense marker to complete the sentence ‘The letter _______ by Sarah.’, where the active voice is ‘Sarah will post the letter’, is Will be posted.

Here’s the explanation, drawing on the sources:

1. The original active sentence is ‘Sarah will post the letter’. This sentence uses the structure ‘will’ + base verb (‘post’). This structure indicates the future tense.
2. In active sentences, the subject (‘Sarah’) is the doer of the action (‘post’). The object (’the letter’) is what the action is done to.
3. To change an active sentence to the passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence (‘The letter’). The verb is changed to a passive form, and the original subject (the agent) can be included in a ‘by’ phrase (‘by Sarah’).
4. The general structure for the passive voice is a form of the auxiliary verb ‘be’ plus the past participle of the main verb. The tense of the passive verb must match the tense of the active verb.
5. Since the active sentence is in the future tense (‘will post’), the passive form must also be in the future tense. The sources show that the passive structure for verbs using ‘will’ is ‘will be’ + past participle. For example, the active “Somebody will clean the office tomorrow” becomes the passive “The office will be cleaned tomorrow”.
6. The verb ‘post’ is a regular verb. For regular verbs, the past simple and past participle forms are typically created by adding ‘-ed’. Following this pattern (like ‘clean’ -> ‘cleaned’), the past participle of ‘post’ is ‘posted’.
7. Combining the future passive structure (‘will be’ + past participle) with the past participle ‘posted’, we get ‘will be posted’.

Let’s look at the options provided:

• Has been posted: This is the structure for the present perfect passive (has/have + been + past participle). This does not match the future tense of the original active sentence.
• Have been posted: This is also a present perfect passive form, but the subject ‘The letter’ is singular, requiring ‘has’, not ‘have’. Even if the subject were plural, the tense (present perfect) does not match the future tense of the active sentence.
• Will have been posted: This is the structure for the future perfect passive (will + have + been + past participle). This tense is not used in the original active sentence (‘Sarah will post…’).
• Will be posted: This structure correctly matches the future passive form (‘will be’ + past participle) as shown in the sources.

Therefore, the correct way to complete the sentence in the passive voice, matching the future tense of the active voice, is with Will be posted.

Drawing on the information in the sources and our conversation history, the correct option to complete the sentence ‘A candy _______ to John by Sarah.’ is Was bought.

Here’s the explanation based on the provided sources:

1. Analyze the Active Sentence: The active voice sentence is ‘Sarah bought John a candy’.

   • The subject is ‘Sarah’.
   • The verb is ‘bought’, which is the past simple form of the verb ‘buy’.
   • The sentence contains two objects: ‘John’ (the indirect object, the recipient) and ‘a candy’ (the direct object, what was bought).

2. Understand Passive Voice: Passive voice is formed using a form of the auxiliary verb ‘be’ followed by the past participle of the main verb. The tense of the passive verb must match the tense of the active verb. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

3. Passive with Two Objects: When an active sentence has both a direct object (DO) and an indirect object (IO), there are often two possible passive constructions. The provided passive sentence ‘A candy _______ to John by Sarah.’ has ‘A candy’ as the subject. ‘A candy’ was the direct object in the active sentence. The sources show that when the direct object becomes the subject of the passive sentence, the indirect object typically follows the past participle, often preceded by ’to’ or ‘for’. The sentence structure confirms this by including “to John”.

4. Form the Passive Verb:

   • The active sentence is in the past simple tense (‘bought’).
   • The passive verb must also be in the past simple tense.
   • The structure for the past simple passive is ‘was’ or ‘were’ + past participle.
   • The subject of the passive sentence is ‘A candy’, which is singular.
   • The past simple form of ‘be’ for a singular subject is ‘was’.
   • The main verb is ‘buy’, and its past participle is ‘bought’.
   • Combining ‘was’ and ‘bought’ gives the passive verb form ‘was bought’.

5. Evaluate the Options:

   • Was bought: This matches the required structure (‘was’ + past participle) and tense (past simple), agreeing with the singular subject ‘A candy’.
   • Have been posted / Have been bought: These use forms of the present perfect passive (‘have been’ + past participle). The active sentence is past simple, not present perfect.
   • Were bought: This uses the past simple passive structure (‘were’ + past participle), but ‘were’ is used for plural subjects in the past simple. The subject ‘A candy’ is singular, so ‘were’ is incorrect.
   • Was buying / Were buying: These are forms of the past continuous tense (‘was/were’ + -ing). The active sentence uses the past simple tense, not the past continuous.

Therefore, the only option that correctly forms the past simple passive for the singular subject ‘A candy’ is Was bought.

Based on the information in the sources, in a passive sentence, the subject is the Theme of the action performed by the verb.

Here’s the explanation from the sources:

1. In active sentences, the subject is typically the agent or the doer of the action.
2. When an active sentence is transformed into a passive sentence, the verb changes to a passive form (a form of ‘be’ or ‘get’ + the past participle).
3. Because of this transformation, the original subject (the agent) is often suppressed or moved into a ‘by’ phrase.
4. The position of the grammatical subject in the passive sentence becomes vacant.
5. This vacant subject position is typically filled by the direct object from the original active sentence.
6. The sources distinguish between the grammatical subject and the logical or thematic subject.
7. In a passive sentence, the noun in the subject position is the grammatical subject, but it is not the logical subject.
8. The thematic or logical role of the entity that occupies the grammatical subject position in a passive sentence is often the Theme. The Theme is defined as the entity “that is acted upon”.

For example, in the sentence “A novel was written by Deepa”:

• ‘A novel’ is the grammatical subject.
• ‘Deepa’ is the agent (the doer), appearing in a ‘by’ phrase.
• The logical or thematic role of ‘a novel’ is the Theme, as it is the entity that was acted upon by the writing.

Therefore, the subject of a passive sentence is the Theme from a thematic perspective, although it holds the position of the grammatical subject.

Drawing on the information in the sources, in a situation where the identity of the actor/agent is unknown, Passive voice is preferred.

Here’s why, according to the sources:

• In active sentences, the subject is typically the agent or the doer of the action.
• In passive constructions, however, the information about the doer or the agent is often missing, suppressed, or maybe not expressed. The agent moves out of the subject position.
• One specific function of the passive voice is to suppress the agency, conceal the information about the agent.
• The sources explicitly state that passives are used “when the actor of the action is not known”.
• Examples provided include:
  • “My book was stolen, my watch was stolen, I have no idea who stole it”.
  • “Some rare artefacts were stolen from the museum, but who stole it? No idea, we do this”.

Therefore, when the person or thing performing the action is unknown, the passive voice allows you to describe the action and its outcome without needing to state who did it.

Based on the information provided in the sources and our conversation history, the correct passive voice conversion of the sentence “Anil takes the pen from Kani.” is:

The pen is taken from Kani by Anil.

Here’s the breakdown based on the sources:

1. Identify the original sentence elements: The active sentence is “Anil takes the pen from Kani.”

   • The subject is ‘Anil’, who is the agent or doer of the action.
   • The verb is ’takes’, which is in the present simple tense. The sources note that ’take’ is an irregular verb, and its past participle is ’taken’. The ’s’ ending on ’takes’ shows agreement with the third-person singular subject ‘Anil’.
   • The direct object is ’the pen’. This is the entity that is acted upon. Thematically, it’s the Theme.
   • ‘from Kani’ is a prepositional phrase indicating the source.

2. Rules for forming the passive voice:

   • The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So, ’the pen’ becomes the new subject.
   • The passive verb is formed using the auxiliary verb ‘be’ and the past participle of the main verb.
   • The tense of the passive verb must match the tense of the active verb. The active verb is present simple (’takes’).
   • The present simple passive uses ‘am’, ‘is’, or ‘are’ + the past participle.
   • The past participle of ’take’ is ’taken’.
   • Since the new subject ‘The pen’ is singular, the correct form of ‘be’ is ‘is’. Thus, the passive verb is ‘is taken’.
   • The original agent (‘Anil’) can be included in a ‘by’ phrase.
   • Other phrases from the active sentence are typically retained.

3. Construct the passive sentence: Following these rules, the structure is: Subject (original DO) + passive verb (form of ‘be’ + past participle) + other phrases + by phrase (original agent).

   • ‘The pen’ + ‘is taken’ + ‘from Kani’ + ‘by Anil’.

4. Evaluate the options:

   • A. The pen takes from Kani. - This sentence is in the active voice. ‘Takes’ is an active verb form, not a passive one (be + past participle). It incorrectly presents ’the pen’ as the agent.
   • B. Anil is taken the pen from Kani. - This sentence attempts a passive structure (‘is taken’) but keeps the original subject (‘Anil’) as the grammatical subject. In passive voice, the original object becomes the subject. Also, the meaning is reversed; ‘Anil’ is the one doing the taking in the original sentence, not being taken.
   • C. Kani is taking the pen from Anil. - This sentence is in the active voice, using the present continuous tense (‘is taking’). The original sentence is in the present simple tense (’takes’), so the tense is incorrect. It also changes the roles; in the original, ‘Kani’ is the source, not the agent doing the ’taking’.
   • D. The pen is taken from Kani by Anil. - This sentence correctly identifies ‘The pen’ (the original direct object) as the subject. It uses the correct present simple passive verb form ‘is taken’. It includes the original agent (‘Anil’) in a ‘by’ phrase and retains the phrase ‘from Kani’. This structure aligns with the rules for forming passive voice presented in the sources.

Therefore, option D is the correct conversion.