SSC CGL 2025 Tier-II · Paper-I, 19 January 2026 · English Language and Comprehension · Question 5 of 150

We transcribed this text from the pictures of a candidate's response sheet for this paper; the answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. This paper reaches us as a candidate's response sheet saved as pictures, so we transcribed the text from those pictures, and a second reader checked every question against them; where the layout carries meaning, we show the picture too. Each answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick 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. UnlockIAS wrote the solutions.

Select the correct passive form of the given sentence. The burglar destroyed several items in the room. Even the carpet has been torn.

(a)The burglar, being destroyed several items in the room, also carpet has torn.
(b)Several items in the room were destroyed by the burglar. Even the carpet has been torn.
(c)Including the carpet, several items in the room have been torn by the burglar.
(d)Several items destroyed in the room by the burglar. Even the carpet he has torn.

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The first sentence is active: The burglar destroyed several items in the room.

Its object becomes the subject: several items in the room.
Simple past passive = was/were + past participle, and items is plural: were destroyed.
The doer moves into a by-phrase: by the burglar.

The second sentence, Even the carpet has been torn, is already passive, so it stays as it is. That is option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
The burglar, being destroyed several items in the room, also carpet has torn. — The burglar, being destroyed turns the burglar into the thing destroyed. The second half, also carpet has torn, drops the been, so it is not passive either.
(c)
Including the carpet, several items in the room have been torn by the burglar. — have been torn changes the verb and the tense: the burglar destroyed the items, and simple past goes to were destroyed, not a present perfect. It also says the items were torn, when the original tears only the carpet.
(d)
Several items destroyed in the room by the burglar. Even the carpet he has torn. — Several items destroyed in the room has no were, so the first sentence has no finite verb. Even the carpet he has torn is active, with a new subject, he.

Concept

To make an active sentence passive, the object moves to the front, the verb becomes a form of be plus the past participle, and the doer moves into a by-phrase.

The tense is kept: simple past destroyed → were destroyed, present perfect has torn → has been torn.

A sentence that is already passive, like Even the carpet has been torn, has nothing to convert.

Key facts

Simple past passive: was/were + past participle (were destroyed).
Present perfect passive: has/have been + past participle (has been torn).
The be-form agrees with the new subject: several items were, the carpet has been.

Study next

Passive of continuous tenses: is being / was being + past participlePassive with modals: must be delivered, can be composedPassive of questions: Who invited you? → By whom were you invited?

Common traps

Converting a sentence that is already passive, or making it active again.
Dropping the auxiliary (several items destroyed), which leaves no finite verb.
Using was with a plural subject: several items were, not was.

Here two sentences arrive together and just the first needs converting. A single simple-past sentence goes passive at 13 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.8 (Martha made pancakes yesterday → Pancakes were made by Martha yesterday), where Pancakes was made is a wrong option.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Active and passive voice — all 95 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.