In the following question on voice, the sentence is given in Active voice. Choose the option that best expresses the same idea in Passive voice: "The Marathas surrendered their fort to the Mughals after the war."

Introduction / Context:
Questions on Active and Passive voice test a learner's ability to change the focus of a sentence from the doer of an action to the receiver of the action or object, while keeping the meaning, tense, and time expressions intact. Here the sentence describes an important historical event involving the Marathas and the Mughals. The candidate must identify the option that correctly converts the Active voice sentence into its Passive voice equivalent.

Given Data / Assumptions:
The original sentence is: The Marathas surrendered their fort to the Mughals after the war. The subject is The Marathas, the verb is surrendered, and the object is their fort. The indirect object or beneficiary of the action is the Mughals. The time expression after the war appears at the end. The tense is simple past. In Passive voice, the object their fort must become the subject, and the agent the Marathas can appear in a by phrase if needed.

Concept / Approach:
To change from Active to Passive in the simple past, we use the form was or were plus the past participle of the main verb. The object of the original sentence becomes the subject in the Passive sentence. The agent can be introduced with by if it is important to mention. Time expressions and prepositional phrases should remain unchanged or nearly unchanged in meaning. Also, the Passive version should not introduce any extra compulsion or change of event sequence which was not present in the original sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify subject, verb, and object in the Active sentence: subject The Marathas, verb surrendered, object their fort, and receiver to the Mughals.
Step 2: Move the object their fort into the subject position in the Passive sentence.
Step 3: Put the verb in Passive form: was surrendered, because fort is singular and the tense is simple past.
Step 4: Introduce the original subject with by, giving by the Marathas.
Step 5: Keep the phrase to the Mughals after the agent, and keep after the war at the end of the sentence.
Step 6: Combine all parts to get: Their fort was surrendered by the Marathas to the Mughals after the war.

Verification / Alternative check:
Compare the meaning of both versions. Both show that the Marathas were the ones who surrendered and that the fort changed hands in favour of the Mughals after the war. The tense, the participants, and the sequence of events remain the same. The only difference is the focus: the Passive sentence focuses on their fort rather than on the Marathas. This confirms that the transformation preserves the original idea correctly.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A introduces the phrase had to surrender, which adds compulsion or obligation and changes the meaning. Option B suggests that the Mughals took the fort after the war, which shifts focus and structure rather than giving a direct Passive transformation. Option D repeats the original Active voice sentence with a small change in word order and so is not a transformation at all. Option E is a loose paraphrase that describes the result but does not maintain the clear grammatical relationship needed in an exam question on voice.

Common Pitfalls:
Students often forget to keep the tense correct when forming Passive sentences, accidentally using is surrendered instead of was surrendered for a past action. Others omit the agent or include extra meaning that was not in the original sentence. Many learners also choose a paraphrase that looks similar but is not a strict Active to Passive conversion. When answering such items, first identify subject, verb, object, and tense, and then mechanically apply the Passive pattern while keeping all other information unchanged.

Final Answer:
The correct Passive voice sentence is Their fort was surrendered by the Marathas to the Mughals after the war.