In this Active and Passive voice question, select the passive form that best expresses the meaning of the sentence 'She teaches us English.'

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: We are taught English by her.

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
This grammar question tests your ability to convert a sentence from Active voice to Passive voice while keeping the tense and meaning intact. The active sentence 'She teaches us English.' is in the simple present tense and describes a habitual action. You must choose the passive form that correctly expresses the same information, with appropriate changes in structure and auxiliary verbs.


Given Data / Assumptions:
- Active sentence: 'She teaches us English.'
- Subject: 'She'.
- Verb: 'teaches' (simple present).
- Indirect object: 'us'.
- Direct object: 'English'.
- Four passive alternatives are provided, only one of which matches the correct tense and form.


Concept / Approach:
When converting from active to passive, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. In this case, you can choose either 'English' or 'we/us' as the new subject, but the most natural school-exam pattern is 'We are taught English by her.' For the simple present tense, the passive form uses 'am/is/are + past participle'. Also, pronouns change case: 'us' becomes 'we' when used as the subject in the passive structure.


Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the objects: 'English' (direct object) and 'us' (indirect object). Step 2: Decide to make 'us' (changed to 'we') the subject of the passive, producing a more natural sentence: 'We ... English ... by her'. Step 3: Keep the tense simple present in the passive by using 'are' (first person plural) plus the past participle 'taught'. Step 4: Assemble the passive sentence: 'We are taught English by her.' Step 5: Compare this sentence with the given options and select the one that exactly matches this structure.


Verification / Alternative check:
Option (b) reads 'We are taught English by her.' This matches the required form: subject 'we' (from 'us'), auxiliary 'are' for present simple passive, past participle 'taught', object 'English' and agent 'by her'. Option (a) uses 'is being taught', which is present continuous passive, not simple present. Option (c) uses 'have been taught', which is present perfect passive, and 'have' does not agree with 'English'. Option (d) uses 'had been taught', which is past perfect passive, again changing the tense and meaning.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option (a) 'English is being taught to us by her.' changes the tense from simple present to present continuous, suggesting an action happening right now rather than a regular habit. Option (c) 'English have been taught to us by her.' is grammatically incorrect ('English has been taught' would be the correct verb agreement) and also changes the tense. Option (d) 'We had been taught English by her.' shifts to past perfect, suggesting the teaching happened before another past event, which is not conveyed in the original sentence.


Common Pitfalls:
A typical mistake is to ignore the tense of the original sentence and choose an option that 'sounds' passive without checking the auxiliary verb. Another common error is mixing up the roles of 'we' and 'us', resulting in incorrect case in the passive sentence. To avoid these problems, always identify the tense first and then construct the passive with the correct form of 'be' plus the past participle, while also adjusting pronouns appropriately.


Final Answer:
The correct passive voice form is 'We are taught English by her.'

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