SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 2 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. Rohit did not slap Kunal.

(a)Kunal was not slapped by Rohit.
(b)Kunal had not been slapped by Rohit.
(c)Kunal was not being slapped by Rohit.
(d)Kunal has not been slapped by Rohit.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The active verb is did not slap, which is do-support plus the bare verb — that is the simple past, not a perfect and not a continuous.

The passive of the simple past is was/were + past participle. The object becomes the subject and the old subject goes into the by-phrase.

Kunal is singular, so the form is was not slapped by Rohit — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Kunal had not been slapped by Rohit. — Had not been slapped is past perfect passive. It translates 'Rohit had not slapped Kunal', a tense the printed sentence does not use.
(c)
Kunal was not being slapped by Rohit. — Was not being slapped is past continuous passive, the passive of 'Rohit was not slapping Kunal'. The given active is not continuous.
(d)
Kunal has not been slapped by Rohit. — Has not been slapped is present perfect passive, matching 'Rohit has not slapped Kunal'. The active 'did not slap' is plainly past.

Concept

Changing voice moves the participants and keeps the tense. The object becomes the subject, the verb becomes be + past participle in the same tense, and the original subject follows by.

Negatives are where candidates slip. In 'did not slap' the past tense lives in did, while 'slap' stays in its base form — so the passive takes was, not any perfect form.

The negative then attaches to the new auxiliary: was not slapped.

All four options are well-formed English sentences. Three are wrong only because they render a different tense, which is what the item is really testing.

Key facts

Simple past active becomes was/were + past participle in the passive.
In 'did not slap', did carries the tense and the main verb stays bare.
The by-phrase keeps the original subject, here by Rohit.

Study next

Passive of the past continuous and the past perfect, and how each maps back to its activePassive of questions, where the auxiliary has to move to the front

Common traps

Choosing a perfect or continuous passive because it sounds more formal
Letting the new subject take the old subject's number, and writing 'were' for a singular Kunal

The negative-passive shell recurs almost word for word: 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.18 turns 'Inayat did not greet her' into 'She was not greeted by Inayat'.

For the contrast, 18 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.11 gives a past continuous active and keys the continuous passive, 'was not being taught'. The same paper asks an interrogative passive at English Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.