Question

Which of the sentences below are in passive voice?
1. The robber was beaten up by the police.
2. The police beat up the robber.
3. The robber escaped from the police.
4. The robber was caught by the police.
A. Only 1 above
B. 1, 3 and 4 above
C. 1 and 4 above
D. Only 4 above

Answer 1

Hint: Passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.

Complete answer:
Option A) Only 1 above – is an incorrect answer because only 1 is not the passive voice in the options given. ‘The robber’ is the subject who was ‘beaten up’ i.e. an action was performed on him, beaten up by the police. Thus, this follows the rule of passive voice. Thus, this is the passive voice sentence. This is an incorrect option.
Option B) 1, 3 and 4 above – The sentence 1 is passive voice sentence, line 3 ‘The robber’ is the Subject, who performs the action ‘escaped’. Sentence 3 ‘The robber escaped from the police’ is an active voice not a passive voice. And sentence 4 ‘the robber’ is the Subject who ‘was caught’. I.e. an action was performed on him. Note that in both these sentences, the phrase "by the police" is used. This tells us that the police are the doer of the action. However, sentence 1 and 4 are passive voice and sentence 3 is active voice. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) 1 and 4 above – is the correct answer because as explained above. These two sentences are passive voice sentences. Thus, this is the correct answer.
Option D) Only 4 above – is an incorrect answer because only 4 is not passive voice (there is another option A also). However, in sentence 4 ‘the robber’ is the Subject who ‘was caught’. I.e. an action was performed on him. Note that in both these sentences, the phrase "by the police" is used. This tells us that the police are the doer of the action. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

1 and 4 above (option C) – are in passive voice.

Note:
Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb and passive voice means that a subject is an act of a verb’s action. Active voice rule: Formula: Subject + to be (is, am, are) + present participle + object (for example: I will clean the house every Saturday).
Passive voice rules: Formula: S + to be (is, am, are) + being + past participle + by object (for example: The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday).
However, in the above options; Option A and D will not be considered as the correct answer because option C (it includes both the options A and D). So, we will not consider them individually when both the options are given together.