Question

Choose the most appropriate passive form for the given sentence:
Why was the police checking all the cars?

• A. Why were all the cars being checked by the police?
• B. Why was police checked all the cars?
• C. Police was checking all the cars.
• D. All the cars were police checked.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Why were all the cars being checked by the police?

In order to convert the given question into passive voice, let's understand the difference between active and passive voice.

Active voice emphasises on the person who does the action, whereas passive voice emphasises on the action itself. For example:

Active: The thief stole my car.

Passive: My car was stolen by the thief.

The object 'My car' comes first and the subject 'the thief' is put after the verb in the passive voice.

The doer in the given question is: 'the police'

The verb in the given question is: 'was checking'

The receiver of the action in the given question is: 'all the cars' (We use 'all the' because it describes the word- 'cars'.)

Remaining clause: 'Why was'

In the passive voice, the receiver becomes the subject. Right after the subject, we place a verb and then the receiver of the action (object) and the remaining clause, if any. We also use 'by' before the object to show that the action was performed by the object.

As 'why' is a question word that asks for a reason, we will not change the position of 'why'.

As the given question in the active voice is in the past continuous tense, we will use 'was/were' and 'being' with the verb in the past participle form to form the sentence in the past continuous tense in the passive voice.

NOTE: Interrogatory sentences remain interrogatory in the passive voice.

Hence, 'Why were all the cars being checked by the police?.'

Thus option B, C and D are incorrect.

CORRECT ANSWER - A - 'Why were all the cars being checked by the police'