Voice of Interrogative Sentences

Interrogative sentences are commonly grouped into  Question Word beginning ( QW.)  and   Auxiliary beginning ( AB) or   ‘Yes’ or  ‘No’  Questions.

Let’s study the two types in,

PRESENT TENSE

Simple present tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW + do/does + S + V + O ?

Eg : How do you write stories ?

Passive Voice: QW + is/am/are+ O +  V3 + by + S ?

Eg:  How are stories written by you ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice:  Do/does  + S + V + O ?

Eg: Does George blame his wife ?

Passive Voice:  is/am/are + O + V3 + by + S ?

Eg:  Is his wife blamed by George ?

Present continuous tense

Question word beginning

Active Voice:   QW. + is/am/are + S + V+ing + O ?

Eg:  Why is Tom making this box ?

Passive Voice:   QW. + is/am/are + O + being + V3 + by +  S ?

Eg: Why is this box being made by Tom  ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice:  is/am/are + S + V+ing + O ?

Eg: Are they playing Cricket ?

Passive Voice:  is/am/are + O + being + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: Is Cricket being played by them ?

Present perfect tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + has/have + S + V3 + O ?

Eg:  How have they written the exam ?

Passive Voice:   QW. + has/have + O + been + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: How has the exam been written by them ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice:  Has/have + S + V3 + O ?

eg: Has Tom explained the matter ?

Passive Voice: Has/have + O + been + V3 + by + S ?

eg: Has the matter been explained by Tom ?

Present perfect continuous tense has no passive voice.

PAST TENSE

Simple past tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + did + S + V + O ?

Eg:  When did Robert give the letter ?

Passive Voice: QW. + was/were + O + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: When was the letter given by Robert?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice:  Did + S + V + O ?

Eg: Did John explain the matter ?

Passive Voice :   was/were + O + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: Was the matter explained  by John ?

Past continuous tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + was/were + S + V+ing + O ?

Eg: How  was Mary conducting the programme ?

Passive Voice:   QW. + was/were + O + being + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: How was the programme being conducted by Mary ?

Auxiliary  beginning

Active Voice:  was/were + S + V+ing + O ?

Eg: Were the students studying grammar ?

Passive Voice : was/were + O + being  + V3 + by + S ?

Eg:  Was grammar being studied by the students?

Past perfect tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + had + S + V3 + O ?

Eg: Why had Thomas called you ?

Passive Voice:  QW + had + O + been + V3 + by +  S ?

Eg:  Why  had you been called by Thomas ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice:  Had + S + V3 + O?

Eg: Had the people attacked their enemies ?

Passive Voice:  Had + O + been + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: Had their enemies attacked by the people?

FUTURE TENSE

Simple future tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + will/shall + S + V + O?

Eg: When will Teena call us?

Passive Voice :  QW. + will/ shall + O  + be  + V3 + by + S?

Eg: When shall we be called by Teena ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice :   Will/shall + S  + V + O ?

Eg:  Shall we meet them today ?

Passive Voice:  will/shall  + O + be  +  V3 + by + S ?

Eg: Will they be met today by us ?

Future continuous tense

Question Word beginning

Active Voice:  QW. + will/shall + S + be + V+ing + O ?

Eg: When will he be writing the novel?

Passive Voice: QW. + will/shall +  O + be + being + V3 + by + S ?

Eg:  When will the novel be being written by him ?

Auxiliary beginning

Active Voice :  will/shall + S + be + V + ing + O ?

Eg:  Shall we be discussing the matters ?

Passive Voice:  will/shall + O + be + being + V3 + by + S ?

Eg: Will the matters  be being discussed by us?

Passive Voices of  ‘Future perfect’ and  ‘Future perfect continuous’  tenses are  not usually used.

Points to remember.

Interrogative sentences are grouped into  ‘Question word ( QW.) beginning’  and  ‘Auxiliary (Aux ) beginning’.   When the  ‘QW’ is avoided,   its  pattern   becomes  that of  ‘Auxiliary beginning Interrogative sentence’,  as we see  in the above   patterns   in different tenses.

Eg: Why  do you make it ?

When the question word  ‘why’ is avoided, the sentence becomes  ‘an auxiliary beginning interrogative sentence’  as,

Do you make it ?

The  question word  ‘Who’  stands  for  the  ‘subject’ of an interrogative sentence.   So the general pattern of the voices of the sentence are as shown below.

Active Voice:  Who + Aux+V + O ?

Eg:   Who wrote the letter ?

While being changed into Passive Voice,  the sentence starts with the question word  ‘ By whom’  as shown in the pattern below.

Passive Voice: By whom + Aux + O + V3 ?

Eg: By  whom was the letter written?

The question word   ‘What/ (Which + noun)’    stands for the  ‘object’ of an interrogative sentence. The general pattern of the  voices of the sentence are as shown below,

Active Voice: What/ (Which + noun) + Aux + S + V?

Eg:  What did he say ?

Which shirt did Tom give ?

Passive Voice: What/ (Which + noun) + Aux + V3 + by + S ?

 Eg: What was said by him ?

 Which shirt was given by Tom ?