Question

Change the following statement into active voice.
Before festivals the shops are thronged with men, women and children making various purchases.
A. During festivals people throng the shops.
B. Men, women and children throng the shops before festivals making various purchases.
C. Men, women and children make purchases during festivals.
D. The shops are thronged by people making purchases.

Answer 1

Hint: An active voice is the one in which the subject is the doer of the action by the verb. Example: Monkeys like bananas. Here, the subject ‘monkey’ is the doer of the action of the verb ‘like’. A passive voice is discussed in the hint. An active voice is used to convey a clear and a strong tone. Whereas a passive voice is subtler and weaker. A passive voice is used when we intend to highlight something. Example: The squirrel was chased by the cats. Here, we highlight ‘squirrel’. If the highlight was ‘cats’ we would write it as “The cats chased the squirrel”, which is an active voice.
An Active voice follows the structure subject +verb + object. Whereas a passive voice follows the structure object +verb+preposition + subject.

Complete answer:
Let us analyse each option individually in detail to figure out the correct answer.
During festivals people throng the shops:- This sentence does not abide by the structure of the active voice. Therefore, this is not the correct option.
Men, women and children throng the shops before festivals making various purchases:- In this sentence, the subject which is ‘men, women and children’ is the doer of the action of the verb ‘throng’ which is rightly followed by the object ‘shops’. Therefore, this is the correct option.
Men, women and children make purchases during festivals:- This sentence does not abide by the structure of the active voice. Therefore, this is not the correct option.
The shops are thronged by people making purchases:- This sentence does not abide by the structure of the active voice. Therefore, this is not the correct option.

Hence, the correct answer is option B.

Note:Passive voice is a form of verb in which the subject is the receiver of the action by the verb. Example: In the sentence, “Monkeys like banana”, The passive form would be “Banana is liked by monkeys”.