Identify how you will ask everyone if the children were not reading the books in passive voice.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

SSC CGL 2023 Tier-I Official Paper (Held On: 14 Jul 2023 Shift 2)

Answer 1

The correct answer is "Were the books not being read by the children?"

Key Points

The formula for forming negative passive sentences is subject + auxiliary verb “to be” (am/is/are) + negative adverb (not) + past participle of the main verb
Consider the following:
- Option 1 uses the correct passive voice structure but is asking if the books were being read, not if they weren't.
- Option 2 uses the negative form of the passive voice, "not being read' and appropriately asks the question.
  - Thus, it will be the correct passive form to ask everyone if the children were not reading the books.
- Option 3 has a grammatical error with the subject-verb agreement. It should be "books" instead of "book."
- Option 4 is asking the opposite of what the question is asking. It is asking if the children were reading the books.

Hence, the correct answer is option 2.