Answer:
The two sentences that are in the passive voice are:
B) The bestselling author’s new book was read by Cole.
D) A new species of frog has been identified in Brazil’s rain forest.
Explanation:
In the Passive Voice, the subject of the sentence is not the one who's doing the action, but the one receiving it. Thus, the structure emphasizes the action itself, not the person or animal etc. doing it. The Passive Voice always presents a form of the verb be and the past participle of the main verb. It also includes auxiliaries according to the verb tense. Let's compare two sentences providing the same information, one in the Active voice, one in the Passive.
- People have been listening to music for ages now. (Active)
- Music has been listened to (by people) for ages. (Passive)
In the first sentence, we emphasize the ones performing the action: people. In the second sentence, we emphasize the action performed and what was affected by it (listen, music). We don't even need to mention the agent in this case (by people), since it won't add important information.
Among the options given in the question, the ones that present a Passive Voice structure are letters B and D. They have some form of the verb be and a main verb in the past participle, and they emphasize the action, not the performer of the action. The other options are in the Active Voice.
