Module: | Interrogative & Imperative Sentences
Q40: Consider the following statements regarding sentence transformations:
1. The active sentence "The beautiful rose smells sweet" converts to the passive voice as "The beautiful rose is sweet when it is smelt."
2. The active sentence "This cheap medicine tastes bitter" converts to the passive voice as "This cheap medicine is bitter when it is tasted."
3. The active sentence "Those green mangoes tasted sour" converts to the passive voice as "Those green mangoes were sour when they are tasted."
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
2. The active sentence "This cheap medicine tastes bitter" converts to the passive voice as "This cheap medicine is bitter when it is tasted."
3. The active sentence "Those green mangoes tasted sour" converts to the passive voice as "Those green mangoes were sour when they are tasted."
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
✅ Correct Answer: A
🎯 Quick Answer:
Statements 1 and 2 perfectly capture the Quasi-Passive conversion formula. Statement 3 contains a subtle tense mismatch.These are verbs like smell, taste, or feel that are active in form but passive in meaning.
They describe the state or quality of the subject.
Structural Breakdown: The standard formula for Quasi-Passive conversion is: "Subject + is/are/was/were + Adjective + when + Pronoun + is/are/was/were + V3". Statements 1 and 2 follow this perfectly in the present tense.
Historical/Related Context: Quasi-passive conversions are considered the most anomalous rules in English grammar testing.
The "rose smells sweet" example is universally taught in Indian competitive exam coaching as the definitive prototype for this rule.
Causal Reasoning: Statement 3 is incorrect due to a failure to maintain tense consistency across the two clauses.
The first verb is past tense ("tasted"), requiring the first clause to be "were sour". Consequently, the second clause must also be past tense.
The correct transformation is "Those green mangoes were sour when they were tasted."