Convert the sentence provided below from its passive voice structure to an active voice structure: The possibility of the files being leaked before the official release was not ruled out.

Correct — C.
The passive verb is was not ruled out: past simple, negative, with no agent.

Active voice needs a doer, so the unnamed agent becomes Someone. The past negative passive becomes did not rule out, and the passive subject returns as the object: the possibility that the files were leaked before release.

That is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Officials ruled out the leak before the files were released. — Officials ruled out drops the not. The original says the leak was not ruled out, so this reverses the meaning and invents an agent.
• (b)
  The leak of the files was ruled out before the release. — was ruled out is still passive and loses the negative. It says the leak was dismissed, the opposite of the original.
• (d)
  The release happened before ruling out the leak possibility. — The release happened before changes what the sentence is about. It reports the order of events, not whether anyone ruled out the leak.

Passive to active: find the doer, make it the subject, and keep the tense in active form.

When the passive names no doer, the active supplies a vague one: someone, people or they. Negation and tense survive the change: was not ruled out → did not rule out.

Key facts

• was + not + past participle (passive) → did not + base verb (active).
• No agent in the passive: use someone, people or they as the active subject.
• The passive subject becomes the active object.

Common traps

• Choosing a version that keeps most of the words but loses not
• Picking a named agent such as Officials when the passive names none

No directly related past PYQ was found.