Change of voice: choose the correct passive form of the sentence "My friends are going to watch a movie tonight"

Introduction / Context:
This question tests your understanding of active and passive voice in English grammar, particularly with progressive and future like constructions such as "are going to watch". Moving correctly between active and passive forms requires careful handling of tense, aspect, and auxiliary verbs, while preserving the original meaning and time reference of the sentence.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Active voice sentence: "My friends are going to watch a movie tonight."
• Subject in the active sentence: "My friends".
• Object in the active sentence: "a movie".
• Time adverbial: "tonight".
• We must form a grammatically correct passive sentence that keeps the same time reference and meaning.

Concept / Approach:
To form the passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one, and the original subject is introduced with "by". The main verb is converted into a past participle, and the auxiliary structure is adjusted so that the tense and aspect stay the same. For constructions like "be going to + verb", the passive form generally follows the pattern "be going to be + past participle".

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the active structure: "are going to watch" is the verb phrase in the present continuous like future pattern. Step 2: Move the object "a movie" to the subject position in the passive sentence. Step 3: Keep the auxiliary "are going to", and insert "be" before the past participle to maintain the passive structure. Step 4: Change the main verb "watch" to its past participle "watched". Step 5: Add the original subject "my friends" after "by" to show the agent: "by my friends". Step 6: Attach the time expression "tonight" at the end, as in the original sentence. Step 7: The final correct passive sentence is: "A movie is going to be watched by my friends tonight."

Verification / Alternative check:
Check the tense and meaning. The original talks about a planned activity in the near future. The passive form "is going to be watched" correctly preserves the future plan. The subject "a movie" is now in focus, and the agent "my friends" is still mentioned. There is no change in time reference or meaning.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B: "My friends will have watch a movie by tonight." This uses an incorrect verb form ("have watch" instead of "have watched") and is still in active voice, not passive. Option C: "A movie was going to be watched by my friends tonight." The past form "was going to" shifts the time reference and implies a plan in the past, not the current plan expressed in the original sentence. Option D: "My friends will have to watch a movie by tonight." This introduces obligation ("will have to") and changes the meaning completely, and it remains active voice.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates often confuse "going to" future with simple future or perfect future and change the tense inadvertently. Another frequent mistake is forgetting to include "be" before the past participle in passive constructions like "going to be watched". Always keep the tense and time reference identical to the original sentence when converting between active and passive.

Final Answer:
The correct passive form is "A movie is going to be watched by my friends tonight.", which corresponds to option A.