Question:

Choose the correct passive voice form of the sentence.
"People speak English all over the world".

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Always match the tense of the auxiliary verb in the passive voice with the tense of the main verb in the active voice.
Here, the simple present tense “speak” must translate to the simple present passive “is spoken”.
Updated On: May 27, 2026
  • English has spoken all over the world.
  • English is spoken all over the world.
  • English was spoken all over the world.
  • English speaks all over the world.
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation


Step 1: Understanding the Question:

This question requires us to convert an active voice sentence into its correct passive voice equivalent.
The active sentence is: “People speak English all over the world.”
We need to identify the subject, verb, and object of the active sentence to perform the structural transformation.

Step 2: Detailed Explanation:

1. Let us first identify the key components of the active sentence:
- Subject: “People”
- Verb: “speak” (which is in the simple present tense)
- Object: “English”
- Adverbial phrase: “all over the world”
2. The rules for changing active voice to passive voice are:
- The object of the active voice sentence (“English”) becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence.
- The main verb changes to the form: “be + past participle (V3)” of the verb.
- Since the active verb “speak” is in the simple present tense, the corresponding form of “to be” must also be simple present (is/am/are) depending on the new singular subject.
- The new subject “English” is singular, so we use “is”.
- The past participle (V3) of “speak” is “spoken”.
- The active subject “People” is general and redundant in passive construction, so it is naturally omitted (we do not need to write “by people”).
3. Reconstructing the sentence gives us: “English” (subject) + “is spoken” (verb) + “all over the world” (adverbial phrase).
4. Let us analyze option (A): “English has spoken all over the world.”
This uses the present perfect form “has spoken”, which is grammatically incorrect because it lacks the passive auxiliary verb “been” and changes the original simple present tense.
5. Let us analyze option (B): “English is spoken all over the world.”
This correctly employs the simple present passive structure “is spoken”, accurately reflecting the tense and meaning of the active sentence.
6. Let us analyze option (C): “English was spoken all over the world.”
This uses the past tense auxiliary “was”, which changes the time frame of the sentence from present to past, making it grammatically incorrect.
7. Let us analyze option (D): “English speaks all over the world.”
This maintains the active voice and implies that the language “English” itself has the capacity to talk, which is logically incorrect.

Step 3: Final Answer:

Therefore, the correct option is (B).
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