Question

Change the following statement into passive voice.
We waste much time on trifles.
a) Much time was wasted on trifles.
b) Much time will be wasted on trifles.
c) Much time is wasted by us on trifles.
d) Much time is wasted on trifles.

Answer 1

Hint: In active voice, the subject performs the action, however, in the passive voice, the subject is placed at the end of the sentence. It is not outrightly visible, nor is it a command.

Complete answer:
 Let us first understand what active and passive voices are.
Active voice means that the given sentence has a subject that performs its verb. In short, this means that the subject is visible or is present in the sentence. For example, in the given question, the sentence ‘The reporter was interviewing the political leaders’, tells us that there is a subject being spoken to.

Passive voice means that a subject is in place of an object, i.e. a recipient of a verb’s action. This means that the subject is not outrightly seen. It is usually there but is considered invisible. At the end of a passive voice sentence, to make the subject seen, you just add ‘by someone’. This becomes the default subject.

In order to convert the active voice into passive voice, all you need to do is change the
order of the parts of speech. So, the ‘subject + verb + object’ in active voice changes to
‘object + verb + (subject)’ in the passive voice.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options-
a) Much time was wasted on trifles. - This sentence is also in the passive voice, however, it is grammatically inconsistent as the tense does not match the given question. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) Much time will be wasted on trifles. - This sentence is also in the passive voice, however, it is grammatically inconsistent as the tense does not match the given question. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) Much time is wasted by us on trifles. - This sentence is in the passive voice, and the tense and verb match the subject. This is the required answer.
d) Much time is wasted on trifles. - This sentence is also in the passive voice, however, it is grammatically inconsistent as the tense does not match the given question. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
Understand the concepts of active and passive voice. It is easier to understand it with the given examples. Then, go through the given options and see which ones best fit the description of passive voice. Choose the correct option accordingly.