Question

Choose the most suitable passive voice conversions of the given sentences :
Mrs. Smith looks after her children very well.

• A. Her children looked very well by Mrs. Smith.
• B. Her children are looked very well by Mrs. Smith.
• C. Her children are looked after very well by Mrs. Smith.
• D. None of these

Answer 1

The correct option is C Her children are looked after very well by Mrs. Smith.

A sentence is in active voice when the subject is the doer of the action.
A sentence is in passive voice when the new subject (object in active voice) is the receiver of that action.
The object in the active voice now takes the place of the subject, and vice versa. (subject + verb + object, where the subject and object swap places)
The structure of the given sentence is: Subject (Mrs. Smith) + verb (looks after) + object (her children) + adverb of manner (very well).
When this is changed to passive voice, the correct structure must be:
New subject (Her children) + verb (are looked after) + adverb (very well) + by + new object (Mrs. Smith).
The preposition 'by' is essential in passive voice, so that the meaning of the sentence does not change, the original subject 'Mrs. Smith' still performs the action. Also, 'looks after' is changed to 'are looked after', as the voice changes.
Option C: The structure mentioned above can be seen in C, hence it's the correct option.
Option A is incorrect because the words 'are' and 'after' are missing. As the voice changes, an auxiliary (helping) verb like 'are' must be added to the main verb 'looks after'.
Option B is incorrect as the preposition 'after' is missing. (The verb in the given sentence is a phrasal verb 'looked after', formed with a verb 'looks' and a preposition 'after')
Option D is incorrect as the answer lies in C.