Convert the sentence provided below from its passive voice structure to an active voice structure: The land is believed to have been acquired illegally by the company through forged documents.

Correct — A. The sentence has two verbs. The reporting verb is believed names no believer, and the key leaves it as it is.

The voice change happens in the infinitive:
to have been acquired → to have acquired
by the company → The company as subject
the land → object of acquired

The perfect infinitive keeps the order of events, acquiring before believing → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  The company acquired the land illegally, as believed. — acquired now states the act as fact, with the belief shrunk to a tag, as believed. The original reports a belief about the act, and that frame is lost.
• (c)
  Someone believed the company acquired land illegally. — believed is past, but the original belief is present: is believed. Someone adds a believer the original never names, and "the" before land is dropped.
• (d)
  The company had acquired land using forged documents. — had acquired states the act as plain fact and drops both the belief and the word illegally. Keeping the forged documents does not make up for those losses.

Verbs such as believe, say, think, know and report have a personal passive: Subject + is believed + to-infinitive.

To turn the reported action active, keep that frame and turn the infinitive round: X is believed to have been acquired by Y → Y is believed to have acquired X.

A perfect infinitive (to have + past participle) places the action before the time of the main verb.

Key facts

• Personal passive with a reporting verb: He is said to be rich. The land is believed to have been acquired.
• The same report can use the it-frame: It is believed that the company acquired the land illegally.
• A perfect infinitive (to have acquired) refers to a time before the main verb.

Common traps

• Rejecting (a) because is believed is still passive, when the sentence names no believer who could become the subject
• Choosing (d) because it keeps the forged documents, although it turns a belief into a fact
• Changing is believed to believed, which moves the belief into the past

No directly related past PYQ was found.