Question

Below is given sentence in active/passive voice. Out of the four alternative suggested, select one which best expresses the same sentence in passive/active voice:
"The waiter filled the glasses with water."

• A. The glasses filled with water by the waiter.
• B. The glasses were filled with water by the waiter.
• C. The waiter was filled the glasses with water.
• D. The water were filled in the glasses by waiter.

Hint:

Always double-check your subject-verb agreement immediately after moving the object. Even though the original subject (*the waiter*) is singular, the new passive subject (the glasses) is plural, which strictly demands the plural auxiliary verb were. Active: $S + V_2 + O \rightarrow$ Passive: $O_{\text{plural}} + \text{\textbf{were}} + V_3 + \text{by } S$

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Concept: Voice conversion requires shifting the focus from the agent performing the action to the entity receiving the action. To convert a sentence from Active Voice to Passive Voice, we follow these core structural rules:

• Locate the active subject ($S$), principal verb ($V$), and direct object ($O$).

• Swap positions so that the active object ($O$) becomes the new passive subject.

• Introduce the appropriate helping verb depending on the tense. For the Simple Past Tense ($V_2$), the auxiliary verbs used are: \[ \text{\textbf{was}} \quad (\text{for singular subjects}) \quad \text{or} \quad \text{\textbf{were}} \quad (\text{for plural subjects}) \]

• Change the main verb into its past participle form ($V_3$).

• Position the original active subject at the end, introduced by the preposition 'by'.

Step 1: Analyze the syntactic elements of the active sentence.
Let us examine the sentence: "The waiter filled the glasses with water."

• Subject ($S$): The waiter (Singular agent)

• Verb ($V$): filled (Simple Past Tense form, $V_2$)

• Direct Object ($O$): the glasses (Plural recipient)

• Prepositional Phrase: with water (Adverbial modifier)

Step 2: Apply the passive transformation template.
Let us construct the passive layout step-by-step:

• The plural object 'The glasses' shifts to the front as our new subject.

• Since the new subject is plural and the original tense is Simple Past, we select the auxiliary verb 'were'.

• The past participle ($V_3$) of 'filled' is also 'filled'.

• Combine the predicate elements with the modifier: 'were filled with water'.

• Add the original subject as an agent clause: 'by the waiter'.
Combining these parts yields: "The glasses were filled with water by the waiter."

Step 3: Evaluate the incorrect options for clarity.
Let us inspect why the other alternatives fail:

• (A) *The glasses filled...* lacks the mandatory passive auxiliary verb 'were', changing the meaning to imply the glasses performed the action of filling.

• (C) *The waiter was filled...* incorrectly turns the waiter into the recipient who was filled with water.

• (D) *The water were filled...* uses the plural auxiliary verb 'were' with 'water', which is an uncountable singular noun, violating subject-verb agreement.
Hence, option (B) is the only structurally perfect fit.