SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 11 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Change the following from active to passive: Did the council approve the comprehensive zoning plan?

(a)Has the comprehensive zoning plan been approved by the council?
(b)Is the comprehensive zoning plan being approved by the council?
(c)Was the comprehensive zoning plan being approved by the council?
(d)Was the comprehensive zoning plan approved by the council?

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The active question is in the simple past: 'Did the council approve...?'

Simple past passive is was/were + past participle. The object, 'the comprehensive zoning plan', becomes the subject, 'approve' becomes approved, and the council moves into a by-phrase.

In a question, was goes before the subject and 'did' drops out → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Has the comprehensive zoning plan been approved by the council? — Has ... been approved is present perfect passive. It is the passive of 'Has the council approved the plan?', not of a question asked with 'did'.
(b)
Is the comprehensive zoning plan being approved by the council? — Is ... being approved is present continuous passive, the passive of 'Is the council approving the plan?'. The tense has moved from past to present.
(c)
Was the comprehensive zoning plan being approved by the council? — Was ... being approved keeps the past but adds the continuous 'being'. That is the passive of 'Was the council approving the plan?', not of 'Did the council approve'.

Concept

A voice change keeps the tense. Only the helping verb changes to carry it: simple past active 'approved' becomes simple past passive was approved.

In a yes/no question, 'did' exists only to build the active question. The passive has its own auxiliary, was or were, so that auxiliary moves before the subject and 'did' disappears.

Match it to the new subject: 'the plan' is singular, so was.

All four options keep 'by the council', so the doer does not separate them. Tense and aspect do, and 'Was ... approved' is the simple past among them.

Key facts

'Did X approve Y?' becomes 'Was Y approved by X?' ('Were' for a plural Y).
Present perfect passive: has/have been + past participle.
Continuous passives add 'being': is/was being + past participle.

Study next

Passive of wh-questions: 'Why did the editor overlook...?' to 'Why were ... overlooked...?'Passive of modal questions: 'Can you compose...?' to 'Can ... be composed by you?'The passive tense table: simple, continuous and perfect, present and past

Common traps

Choosing 'Was ... being approved' because it keeps 'was', without noticing that 'being' makes it past continuous
Choosing 'Has ... been approved' because it sounds formal, though the active is simple past

The same simple-past question frame is asked at 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.13 ('Did the analysts anticipate the sudden market downturn?', keyed 'Was the sudden market downturn anticipated by the analysts?').

A wh-question version is 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.12, keyed 'Why were the substantial stylistic anomalies overlooked by the editor?'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Active and passive voice — all 132 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.