Question

Choose the correct passive form of past tense from the options given below:
The flag ___ by the Chief Guest.

• A. was hoist
• B. was hoisted
• C. hoisted
• D. hoisting

Answer 1

The correct option is B was hoisted

A sentence in passive voice focuses on the person or thing that receives an action rather than the person/thing that performs the action.
For example, 'My room was cleaned by me.'
The basic structure of passive voice is:
the appropriate form of the verb 'to be' + past participle
Option B: The given sentence states an event in the past, as the question indicates.
'Was hoisted' is the appropriate structure, formed by the past tense verb 'was' + past participle (hoisted). Hence option B is correct.
Option A: 'Hoist' in 'was hoist' is grammatically incorrect. Since the helping verb 'was' is in the past tense, the past tense form of the main verb 'hoisted' must be used. 'Hoist' is the base verb that does not express the tense. Hence A is incorrect.
Option C: 'Hoisted' is a past participle which requires a helping verb (auxiliary: was) to help determine the tense. Without this helping verb, the sentence sounds incomplete. Hence C is incorrect.
Option D: Similarly, 'hoisting' is not the correct verb form used in this sentence. The word changes from verb form to a gerund form, as it forms a compound noun "The flag hoisting". As a result, the sentence does not contain a verb and isn't a sentence anymore. Hence D is incorrect.