In the following question, a sentence has been given in Active Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same idea in Passive Voice: "Where were they playing the cricket match?"

Introduction / Context:
This question checks your understanding of passive voice for interrogative sentences in the past continuous tense. The active sentence is "Where were they playing the cricket match?" You must transform it into passive voice while maintaining the same tense, aspect, and question structure.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Active sentence: "Where were they playing the cricket match?"
• Tense and aspect: past continuous (were playing).
• Subject: "they".
• Object: "the cricket match".
• Question word: "Where".

Concept / Approach:
To convert an interrogative from active to passive, you need to keep the question word at the beginning, and change the auxiliary verb and main verb appropriately. The object "the cricket match" becomes the new subject. Past continuous active "were playing" becomes past continuous passive "was being played". Because "the cricket match" is singular, we use "was being". The basic pattern is: Where + was + subject + being played?

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the verb phrase in the active sentence: "were playing". It is past continuous.Step 2: Identify the object that will become the subject: "the cricket match".Step 3: Convert "were playing" to passive for a singular subject: "was being played".Step 4: Place the question word "Where" at the beginning, followed by "was", then "the cricket match", then "being played".Step 5: The resulting sentence is "Where was the cricket match being played?" which matches option D.

Verification / Alternative check:
Check that tense and meaning are preserved. Original: "Where were they playing the cricket match?" asks about the location of the ongoing match at a certain time in the past. Passive: "Where was the cricket match being played?" also asks about the location of that same ongoing match, but focuses on the match instead of "they". The time reference (past) and continuous aspect (being played) remain unchanged, so the transformation is correct.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Option A: "Where was the cricket match played?" changes the tense to simple past and removes the continuous aspect, suggesting a completed event rather than an ongoing one.
• Option B: Uses present perfect passive "has been played", which does not match the original past continuous sense.
• Option C: "Will be played" is future passive, completely changing the time reference.
• Option E: "Is being played" is present continuous passive, again wrong time reference.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes lose the continuous form when converting to passive and mistakenly change "were playing" to "was played". Another typical error is to forget subject verb agreement when the object becomes singular. Always check tense (past, present, future), aspect (simple, continuous, perfect), and number (singular or plural) when forming passive forms, especially in questions with wh words like "where".

Final Answer:
The correct passive voice question is "Where was the cricket match being played?"