Reading-English?

Question

7. Which sentence uses the passive voice?

A. The rain continued until dawn.
B. John searched for a job.
C. The tree was planted by Mary .
D. Lies destroy friendship .

D-Is not correct.

Again, This is NOT my work. I am helping a friend with her English work. Also she does not have the internet. She is from Germany and she’s having a hard time understanding English. With your comments it is helping her to understand English, and also how to use it later. Plus I don’t want to get the wrong answer in showing her. That’s why I am asking for some extra help. Is that a crime?

Example:
It's -- is the contraction of IT IS
Its -- is the possessive -- belonging to it

by free_your_fancy

Answer 1

B is passive

It should be Mary planted the tree.

Answer 2

In sentences using active voice, the subject of the sentence is the "doer" of the verb, and the direct object recieves the action. In passive voice, this order is reversed. The subject receives the action of the verb. So the sentence in passive voice is C. The tree is the subject, but it does not plant Mary. Mary is the doer, not the reciever, because it is the tree being planted.
To find the subject of a sentence, locate the verb- or "doing word". Then ask who or what "did" it. The answer to the question is the subject of the sentence. To find the direct object, ask "who or what got done to"- who recieved the action of the verb. If the subject is the doer, then you are in active voice. If the subject is the reciever, then it's passive voice.

Regarding the It's and Its, you have the contraction correct. But the word its is a plural form of it- meaning you are discussing more than one it. The correct possessive form is (its') with the apostrophe coming after the -s. Normally you would be correct in showing possession of a singular noun with an 's, but in the case of it, we write it with the apostrophe afterwards to avoid confusing it with the contraction form of it is. Good luck helping your friend master English. I never had any luck learning German, and my mother is German- so it certainly isn't genetic. English isn't really any easier to learn, so I'm glad I learned to speak it from birth.

Answer 3

C is passive. In order to be active, the subject would have to do something, like "Mary planted the tree."

If you want more information, check out these websites found with a Google search for websites with the words "passive active voice examples" in the title:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=allintitle%3A+passive+active+voice+examples&btnG=Search

Answer 4

Everybody is correct about the C.

The comment about its' is totally incorrect. It is a common error, which apparently some people have been taught [passive voice again] as correct, but it's not correct.

Answer 5

C is the correct answer

Answer 6

Pick "C"