SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 17 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 5 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 active voice. The meal was not prepared by us.

(a)We did not preparing the meal.
(b)We did prepare the meal.
(c)We did not prepare the meal.
(d)We had not prepare the meal.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Make the agent the subject: 'by us' becomes 'We', and 'the meal' becomes the object.

The passive verb 'was prepared' is simple past, so the active verb must be simple past too.

A negative simple-past active clause needs 'do' support — 'did not' plus the base verb — because no other auxiliary is left to carry the 'not'.

That gives 'We did not prepare the meal.'

Why the others are wrong

(a)
We did not preparing the meal. — 'Did not preparing' pairs the auxiliary with the wrong verb form: after 'did' the verb takes its base form, 'prepare'. The sentence is ungrammatical even though the meaning is right.
(b)
We did prepare the meal. — This drops the negative. The passive says the meal 'was not prepared', so the active must stay negative. 'Did prepare' is emphatic affirmative and states the opposite of the given sentence.
(d)
We had not prepare the meal. — 'Had' requires the past participle, so at best this would read 'had not prepared' — and even corrected, the past perfect would change the tense of a simple-past passive.

Concept

Passive to active is a three-step mechanical conversion.

Make the agent in the 'by' phrase the subject, put the verb into the active form of the same tense, and turn the old subject into the object.

Tense is preserved, so 'was/were + past participle' becomes the simple past.

Negation is preserved too, and in the simple past active a negative needs 'do' support: 'did not' plus the base verb, since there is no auxiliary of its own for 'not' to attach to.

That is why 'was not prepared' becomes 'did not prepare'.

All four options already begin with 'We', so the item turns entirely on the verb phrase.

Check the tense first, then the negative, then the form that follows the auxiliary.

Key facts

Simple past passive 'was/were + past participle' converts to the simple past active.
A negative simple-past active clause uses 'did not' plus the base verb: did not prepare.
After 'did' the verb never takes '-ing' and never the past participle.

Study next

Voice conversion with modals: must be done → must doVoice change in questions and in imperative sentences'Do' support in negatives and questions in the simple present and simple past

Common traps

Losing the 'not' — option (b) is perfectly grammatical English with the opposite meaning.
Mismatching auxiliary and verb form: 'did not preparing' and 'had not prepare' both break that pairing.

SSC gives the sentence in one voice and four conversions that differ only in the verb phrase.

The same shift opens with the modal version at English Q.1 (9 Sep 2024, 12:30) — 'The homework must be done by you' → 'You must do the homework' — where the modal is simply carried across.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.