Convert the sentence provided below from its passive voice structure to an active voice structure: The evidence was presumed to have been fabricated before being presented in court.
- (a)It is presumed that someone had fabricated the evidence before presenting it in court.
- (b)The court presumed the evidence to be fabricated.
- (c)The evidence had been fabricated, the court presumed.
- (d)Fabrication of evidence was presumed to occur.
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The sentence names no doer for any of its passive forms: was presumed, to have been fabricated, being presented.
With no doer given, the key keeps an impersonal 'It is presumed that' and gives the fabricating a stand-in subject: someone had fabricated the evidence.
The past perfect keeps the fabricating earlier, as the perfect infinitive did, and 'before being presented' becomes 'before presenting it' → option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)The court presumed the evidence to be fabricated. — The court presumed names a presumer the original never mentions. It also turns 'to have been fabricated' into 'to be fabricated' and drops 'before being presented in court'.
- (c)The evidence had been fabricated, the court presumed. — Had been fabricated is still passive — the evidence remains the subject of the fabricating — and 'the court presumed' again invents who did the presuming.
- (d)Fabrication of evidence was presumed to occur. — Was presumed is still passive, and 'fabrication' turns the verb into a noun. 'To occur' also loses the sense that the fabricating was done before the evidence reached court.
Concept
In passive to active, the doer of the action becomes the subject. When the passive names no doer — no 'by' phrase — there is no one to promote, so an indefinite subject such as someone or they stands in.
A perfect infinitive (to have been fabricated) marks an action earlier than the main verb. After a past main verb, that earlier action takes the past perfect: 'It was presumed that someone had fabricated…'.
Option (a) is not a flawless conversion. The original is past — was presumed — while (a) opens in the present, 'It is presumed'.
A strict rewrite reads 'It was presumed that someone had fabricated the evidence before presenting it in court.' Option (a) is still the conversion that makes the fabricating active without inventing a presumer, and the key marks it.
Key facts
- A passive sentence with no 'by' phrase names no doer, so the active version takes a stand-in subject such as someone.
- A perfect infinitive (to have been fabricated) places the action before the time of the main verb.
- 'It is presumed that …' is itself an impersonal passive frame: it names no one who presumes.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing (b) or (c) because they sound active — 'the court presumed' names a presumer the original never mentions.
- Missing that (c) keeps 'had been fabricated' and (d) keeps 'was presumed' — both still passive.
The same '…to have been [verb]ed' frame is set at 20 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.19 (funds believed to have been misallocated) and 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.14 (land believed to have been acquired).
Both name the doer, so their keys promote it: 'The company is believed to have acquired the land illegally'. The 20 Sep key also moves were believed to are believed.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.