Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses…
2019
Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the given
sentence in passive voice.
Why haven’t they allowed you to go?
- A.
Why you were not allowed to go?
- B.
Why were you not allowed to go?
- C.
Why you haven’t been allowed to go?
- D.
Why haven’t you been allowed to go?
Attempted by 70 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Correct sentence: Why haven’t you been allowed to go?
Explanation:
Passive transformation: The object "you" in the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence.
Tense and structure: Keep the present perfect tense. The passive uses have/has + been + past participle (have + been + allowed). The negative contraction appears on the auxiliary: haven’t + subject + been + allowed.
Question word order: For a question, invert the auxiliary and the subject: "Why haven’t you been allowed to go?"
Why the other alternatives are wrong:
"Why you were not allowed to go?" — Incorrect word order for a question and it uses past simple rather than the original present perfect.
"Why were you not allowed to go?" — Grammatically correct in past simple, but it changes the tense from present perfect to past simple.
"Why you haven’t been allowed to go?" — Incorrect question word order; the auxiliary must precede the subject (haven’t you...).
Final answer: Why haven’t you been allowed to go?
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