Question

Which sentence from "The Interlopers" is written in passive voice?A."In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening…"B."The two enemies stood glaring at one another for a long silent moment."C."A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads…"D."And he laughed again, mockingly and savagely."

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is: C. A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads…

Explanation:

Passive voice is often used to emphasize a verb or the object in a sentence. In active voice, emphasis is made on the subject i.ethe doer of the action but in passive voice, the verb or subject is emphasized.

Passive voice could also show that the subject in that case is either not too important or we don't know what or who the subject is.

A way to identify passive voice is to observe what happened and what the subject in the text is. If the subject i.e the doer is omitted or occurs after the action has taken place, it's a passive voice. Sometimes you can also identify it by looking at the verb. If it's in past participle, as in "had been" (used in option C), it's passive voice.

The presence of "by" (also present in option C), which also turns the position of object to subject is also an indicator of passive voice.

Answer 2

Answer:

C. "A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads…"

Explanation:

The passive voice is made up of the appropriate form of the verb "to be" (which depends on the verbal tense)  + the past participle of the main verb and it is used to put emphasis on who or what receives or experience an action instead of the one who performs the action.

A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads is written in passive voice because it has the appropriate form of the verb “to be” in past perfect: “had been,” followed by the past participle verb “answered.” This sentence puts emphasis on what happens rather than who or what is actually doing the main action, which in this case is “a splitting crash over their heads.”