SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 15 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the option that expresses the given sentence in passive voice. They are building a new hospital in the city.

(a)A new hospital will be built in the city by them.
(b)A new hospital was built in the city by them.
(c)A new hospital is being built in the city by them.
(d)A new hospital has been built in the city by them.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The active verb is are building, present continuous. The passive of a continuous tense is is/are being + past participle, so "are building" becomes "is being built".

The object "a new hospital" becomes the subject, and it is singular, so the auxiliary is is, not are.

The aspect has to survive the change: the work is going on now, neither finished nor promised — "A new hospital is being built in the city by them", option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
A new hospital will be built in the city by them. — Will be built is the future passive. The active sentence reports work already under way, so moving it into the future changes what is being claimed.
(b)
A new hospital was built in the city by them. — Was built is the simple past passive and reports a finished job. "They are building" has not finished.
(d)
A new hospital has been built in the city by them. — Has been built is the present perfect passive, which puts a completed hospital in front of you. The active is continuous, so the hospital is still going up.

Concept

Every passive is be + past participle, and the form of "be" carries the tense and aspect of the original verb.

For the continuous that means an extra word: are building becomes is being built, and the "being" is what keeps the action in progress. Drop it and you get "is built", a plain present that describes a habit rather than a site with cranes on it.

Here every wrong option is a correctly formed passive in the wrong tense, so the item is decided entirely by reading the tense of the active verb first.

Because all four options are grammatical English, ear alone will not separate them. Fix the tense of the active verb before you look down the list, and the choice becomes mechanical.

Key facts

Present continuous passive is "is/are being + past participle".
The passive preserves the tense and aspect of the active verb — only the voice changes.
The auxiliary agrees with the promoted object: a hospital is being built, hospitals are being built.

Study next

Past continuous passive, "was being built", and why "will be being built" is avoidedPassives of modal verbs, such as "must be delivered"When the by-phrase can be dropped from a passive without loss

Common traps

Writing "is built" and losing the continuous aspect along with "being".
Choosing the perfect "has been built" because it sounds more formal and more final.
Changing the tense to whatever reads best rather than keeping the tense of the active verb.

SSC keeps the sentence and changes only the voice, so the tense of the active verb decides the answer before the options are read. The same present continuous is converted at 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.11 ("They are organising a concert for charity"), and English Q.11 of this paper runs the present perfect.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.