SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 24 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 12 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 10 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. We have to say little in this matter.

(a)In this matter, little is to be said.
(b)Little has to be said in this matter.
(c)In this matter, little must be said.
(d)Little had to be said in this matter.

Answer

Why

Correct — B. In the active sentence the object is little, so little becomes the subject of the passive.

The semi-modal have to is carried across unchanged in tense and meaning. Only the agreement moves: 'little' is singular, so have to becomes has to, and the main verb becomes be + said.

That yields 'Little has to be said in this matter' — option (b). The agent 'by us' is dropped because it adds nothing.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
In this matter, little is to be said. — 'Is to be said' swaps obligation for arrangement: is to states what is scheduled or ordered, while 'have to' states what must be done.
(c)
In this matter, little must be said. — Must is a different modal from have to. A voice change may rearrange the sentence, not substitute one modal for another.
(d)
Little had to be said in this matter. — Had to shifts the sentence into the past. The active is present, and the passive has to keep that tense.

Concept

Changing voice moves the object into the subject slot and rebuilds the verb as be + past participle, keeping the original tense and modality.

With a semi-modal such as have to, the modal is carried across and the participle sits after be: 'have to say' becomes have to be said. The new subject then decides the agreement, and 'little' is treated as singular, giving has to be said.

The by-agent is dropped when the doer is vague or unimportant, which is why 'by us' does not appear in the key.

'Little' here is a quantifier used as a noun, meaning 'not much'. Because it is singular, the verb has to change form even though nothing else in the sentence does — that one letter is what separates the key from a near-identical wrong option.

Key facts

Passive of a semi-modal takes the shape have / has / had to + be + past participle.
The verb agrees with the new subject, so a singular passive subject takes has to.
A voice change may not alter tense, modality or meaning — only the arrangement of the sentence.

Study next

Passive forms of modals and semi-modals: must, should, have to, ought to, be going toPassives of sentences with two objects, where either object can become the subjectWhen the by-agent is kept and when it is dropped

Common traps

Replacing 'have to' with 'must' because both express obligation.
Keeping the plural 'have' after the new singular subject 'little'.

Voice change runs in both directions in this English block: Q.7 gives a passive sentence and asks for the active, while this item goes the other way. A modal passive of the same shape appears at 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.5 ('He must deliver pizza.').

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.