Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: The furniture will be made by the carpenters in one month.
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This item checks your understanding of how to change an English sentence from active voice to passive voice while keeping the meaning, time reference, and emphasis the same. The original sentence says that the carpenters will need one month to make the furniture. The correct option must show the same future plan, only expressed in passive voice, where the furniture becomes the focus of the sentence.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- Original sentence: "The carpenters will take one month to make the furniture."
- Subject in the active sentence: "the carpenters".
- Object in the active sentence: "the furniture".
- The verb phrase is a future plan formed with "will take" plus the action "to make the furniture".
- We need a passive version that keeps the same time reference and meaning, and that remains natural in standard English usage.
Concept / Approach:
In active voice, the subject performs the action. In passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the grammatical subject, and the original subject is moved into a phrase with the preposition "by". For sentences with "will" in the future, the passive pattern is usually "will be" plus the past participle of the main verb. Here, the main action is "make", so the passive verb phrase must contain "will be made". The phrase "in one month" expresses the time needed, and it should stay in the sentence without changing the meaning.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the subject, verb, and object in the active sentence. Subject: the carpenters. Object: the furniture. Main action: make.
Step 2: Move the object "the furniture" to the subject position in the passive sentence.
Step 3: Form the passive verb phrase for the future plan using "will be made".
Step 4: Keep the time expression "in one month" to show the same duration as "will take one month".
Step 5: Add the agent phrase "by the carpenters" to show who performs the action, and compare the result with the options.
Verification / Alternative check:
The resulting sentence "The furniture will be made by the carpenters in one month." clearly keeps the same meaning as the original. The tense remains a future plan, the focus is now on "the furniture", and the phrase "by the carpenters" correctly introduces the agent. The duration "in one month" is a natural way to rewrite "will take one month" without changing the sense. This confirms that the chosen option is the best passive voice transformation.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Some options keep the sentence in active voice or introduce unnatural structures such as "will take the carpenters" in the subject position, which no longer matches standard passive voice rules. Other choices change the tense or mix present and future time, which does not match the original planning sense. A few options use awkward or incorrect patterns like "is taken" for a future situation, which is grammatically weak or misleading in this context. Because of these issues, they cannot be accepted as accurate passive versions of the given sentence.
Common Pitfalls:
Learners often forget to keep the same tense when they change active voice to passive voice. Another common mistake is to keep the original subject in front and add "by" somewhere, which does not create a real passive structure. Many students also misuse time expressions when they move words around, which subtly alters the duration or timing of the action. It is important to check that the passive sentence still answers the same questions: who does the action, what is done, and when it happens.
Final Answer:
The correct passive voice sentence is "The furniture will be made by the carpenters in one month."
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