A sentence has been given in the Active Voice. Choose the option that best expresses the same sentence in the Passive Voice: “Lily was making a fort.”

Introduction / Context:
This question tests your understanding of voice change, specifically from Active to Passive Voice in the past continuous tense. The given active sentence “Lily was making a fort” describes an action in progress in the past. When we convert such a sentence into the passive, we must preserve both the tense and the continuous nature of the action.

Given Data / Assumptions:
Active sentence: “Lily was making a fort.”
Subject: “Lily”
Verb: “was making” (past continuous)
Object: “a fort”
We must transform this into a passive structure where “a fort” becomes the subject, and the agent “Lily” appears in a by phrase if necessary.

Concept / Approach:
To change from active to passive, we move the object to the subject position, use the appropriate form of “to be” plus the past participle of the main verb, and introduce the original subject with “by” if we wish to mention it. For the past continuous tense, the passive structure is “was/were being + past participle.” The main verb here is “make,” whose past participle is “made.” Therefore, the correct passive form is “A fort was being made by Lily.” This keeps the sense of an ongoing action in the past and properly changes the focus from doer to receiver of the action.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the tense: “was making” indicates past continuous. Step 2: Move the object “a fort” to the beginning of the sentence to become the new subject. Step 3: Use the auxiliary verb “was” for singular subject “a fort,” add “being” to express the continuous aspect, and use the past participle “made.” Step 4: Add the agent with “by Lily” at the end. Step 5: The resulting passive sentence is: “A fort was being made by Lily.”

Verification / Alternative check:
We can verify by converting back to active voice. Starting from “A fort was being made by Lily,” we move “Lily” back to the subject position and “a fort” to the object position, keeping the tense: “Lily was making a fort.” This confirms that the original meaning is preserved. Any option that changes the tense (for example, simple past) or drops the continuous aspect would be incorrect.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
“Lily made a fort.” changes the tense to simple past and remains in active voice, so it does not answer the requirement of a passive transformation.
“A fort made by Lily.” is a phrase, not a complete sentence; it lacks the auxiliary verb “was” or “was being.”
“A fort got made by Lily.” uses an informal “got” passive and shifts away from the clear past continuous structure, making it unsuitable for formal exam contexts.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes forget to include “being” when converting continuous tenses into the passive, resulting in sentences like “A fort was made by Lily,” which belongs to simple past, not past continuous. Others may overuse “got” and produce colloquial structures that are not appropriate for examinations. Always remember the pattern: past continuous active “was/were + verb ing” becomes passive “was/were being + past participle.”

Final Answer:
The correct passive form is “A fort was being made by Lily.”