12.2 English Grammar II — Voice, Narration, Conditionals & Transformation
Key Takeaways
- To make a sentence passive, move the object to subject position, change the verb to be plus the past participle in the same tense, and add by plus the agent if needed.
- Reported speech normally triggers a tense backshift, a pronoun shift and a time-word shift, so "I am busy now" becomes "he was busy then".
- In the second conditional, were is used with all subjects — "if I were you, I would apply".
- A universal truth does not backshift in reported speech, so "the sun rises in the east" remains in the present tense after "he said that".
- A question tag takes the opposite polarity to the main clause and repeats its auxiliary, so "she has verified it" takes "hasn't she?".
Active and Passive Voice
In active voice the subject acts; in passive the subject receives the action. To convert:
- Move the object to subject position.
- Change the verb to be + past participle, matching the original tense.
- Add by + agent if the doer matters.
| Active (tense) | Passive form |
|---|---|
| Simple present: "The VAO writes the report." | "The report is written by the VAO." |
| Simple past: "The VAO wrote the report." | "The report was written by the VAO." |
| Present perfect: "The VAO has written the report." | "The report has been written by the VAO." |
| Future: "The VAO will write the report." | "The report will be written by the VAO." |
Prefer passive when the action or result matters more than the doer — in instructions, official reports, and rules: "The application must be submitted by 31 March."
Direct and Indirect Speech
Reported speech changes the speaker's words. The reporting verb (said, told, asked) triggers a tense backshift (present → past), pronoun shift, and time-word shift.
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| She said, "I am busy now." | She said that she was busy then. |
| He said, "I have finished." | He said that he had finished. |
| "We will visit tomorrow," he said. | He said they would visit the next day. |
Pronoun shifts: I → he/she, we → they, my → his/her. Time/place shifts: now → then, today → that day, tomorrow → the next day, here → there. For questions, use the reporting verb "asked" and change the word order: "Where do you live?" → He asked where I lived.
Conditionals
| Type | If-clause | Main clause | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero | If you heat ice, | it melts. | Universal truths |
| First | If it rains, | I will stay home. | Real future possibility |
| Second | If I were you, | I would apply. | Unreal present hypothetical |
| Third | If I had studied, | I would have passed. | Unreal past regret |
In the second conditional, use "were" for all subjects: "If she were the collector, she would revise the policy."
Passive Voice — The Cases Beyond the Basic Pattern
| Type | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Two objects | The Tahsildar gave him a copy. | He was given a copy by the Tahsildar. / A copy was given to him by the Tahsildar. |
| Imperative | Submit the application. | Let the application be submitted. |
| Question | Did the VAO verify the boundary? | Was the boundary verified by the VAO? |
| Modal | You must submit the form. | The form must be submitted by you. |
| Infinitive | I want to complete the report. | I want the report to be completed. |
| Intransitive verb | He slept early. | No passive is possible — an intransitive verb has no object |
When the passive is preferred: when the doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious, and in official writing where the action matters more than the actor. This is why circulars read "the application shall be filed" rather than "you shall file the application".
Reported Speech — The Complete Rule Set
Tense backshift (when the reporting verb is in the past):
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| Simple present → | Simple past |
| Present continuous → | Past continuous |
| Present perfect → | Past perfect |
| Simple past → | Past perfect |
| will → | would |
| can → | could |
| may → | might |
| must → | had to / must |
Pronoun shift: I → he/she; we → they; you → he/she/they (as the sense requires); my → his/her; our → their.
Time and place shift: now → then; today → that day; tomorrow → the next day; yesterday → the previous day; last night → the previous night; next week → the following week; here → there; this → that; these → those; ago → before.
Sentence type changes the reporting verb and structure:
| Type | Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | He said, "I am ready." | He said that he was ready. |
| Wh- question | She asked, "Where do you live?" | She asked where I lived. (no did, no question mark) |
| Yes/no question | He asked, "Are you coming?" | He asked whether/if I was coming. |
| Command | He said, "Close the file." | He ordered/told me to close the file. |
| Request | She said, "Please help me." | She requested me to help her. |
| Exclamation | He said, "What a beautiful village!" | He exclaimed that it was a very beautiful village. |
| Wish / prayer | She said, "May you succeed!" | She wished that I might succeed. |
Exceptions where the tense does NOT backshift: a universal truth ("He said that the sun rises in the east"), a habitual fact, a statement still true at the time of reporting, and a sentence with a past-perfect verb already. Also, if the reporting verb is in the present tense ("He says that he is busy"), there is no backshift at all.
Degrees of Comparison and Their Transformations
| Degree | Sentence |
|---|---|
| Positive | No other officer in the taluk is as diligent as she is. |
| Comparative | She is more diligent than any other officer in the taluk. |
| Superlative | She is the most diligent officer in the taluk. |
The three sentences mean the same thing, and the exam asks you to convert between them. Two rules: with the comparative use than any other; with the positive use no other … as … as.
Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences
| Type | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | One independent clause | Having verified the boundary, he filed the report. |
| Compound | Two independent clauses joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, for, yet) | He verified the boundary and he filed the report. |
| Complex | One independent plus one or more subordinate clauses | After he had verified the boundary, he filed the report. |
Conversion is a standard question. Simple to complex: expand a phrase into a clause with a subordinating conjunction. Compound to complex: replace the co-ordinating conjunction with a subordinating one. Complex to simple: reduce the subordinate clause to a participial or prepositional phrase.
Question Tags and Other Short Forms
The tag takes the opposite polarity to the main clause and repeats its auxiliary with a pronoun subject.
| Statement | Tag |
|---|---|
| She has verified the record, | hasn't she? |
| He didn't attend the Gram Sabha, | did he? |
| You are the Village Administrative Officer, | aren't you? |
| Let us begin, | shall we? |
| Open the file, | will you? |
| I am late, | aren't I? |
| Nobody came, | did they? (words like nobody, hardly, never, seldom are treated as negative) |
Exam Angle for Section 12.2
Transformation questions are mechanical, which makes them the most reliably scorable part of the English section. Drill four sets: the passive conversion table by tense, the backshift table with its four exceptions, the four conditionals, and the question-tag polarity rule. Then remember the two facts examiners most often bait: "if I were" for all subjects in the second conditional, and no backshift for a universal truth.
Convert to indirect speech: He said, "The sun rises in the east."
Which question tag correctly completes: "Nobody attended the Gram Sabha, ___"
Change to the passive voice: "Submit the application before 31 March."