Question

Change the given sentence as a simple sentence:

It is reported that many people are homeless after the floods. [Advanced]

• A. Many people were reported to be homeless after the floods.
• B. After the floods many people were reported to be homeless.
• C. It is reported about many people are homeless after the floods.
• D. Many people are reported to be homeless after the floods.
  

Answer 1

The correct option is D Many people are reported to be homeless after the floods.

First of all, let's see what kind of sentence the given statement is. It consists of two parts:

1. It is reported
2. That many people are homeless after the floods

Each of them is clauses as they contain a subject and a predicate of their own. Also, The phrase 'It is reported' makes sense by itself and hence is a complete sentence and can be referred to as the main clause. On the other hand 'that many people are homeless after the floods' does not make a complete sense in itself, therefore, it is the dependent clause. So, a sentence having an independent as well as a dependent clause is called a complex sentence. Also, note that the clause 'that many people are homeless after the floods' is an object of the verb 'reported'. Hence, it is a noun clause (as it answers what is being reported).
Now, in order to change the given sentence into simple sentence, we should see to it that the sentence has only one subject and one predicate. This is fulfilled by option D as 'many people' is the subject and 'are reported to be homeless after the floods' is the predicate. Also here 'many people' acts as a noun clause as it tells what is happening to them.

Options A and B are incorrect as they use the past tense, whereas the given statement is in the present tense (It is reported...). Option C is grammatically incorrect as there is an error in sentence formation because the use of about is grammatically incorrect.