Answer: "A special dish is being prepared for the guests by the chef." The active sentence is in the present continuous tense ("is preparing"). The passive formula for present continuous is: is/am/are + being + past participle. So the object "a special dish" becomes the subject, "is preparing" changes to "is being prepared", the doer "the chef" moves to the end with "by", and the phrase "for the guests" stays in its place.

Answer: "The choir has sung the song." This is passive → active. The formula for the present perfect passive is: has/have + been + past participle, which becomes has/have + past participle in the active. So the doer after "by" ("the choir") becomes the subject, "has been sung" returns to the active "has sung" ("been" drops out), and the object "the song" follows the verb.

Answer: "The car engine was fixed by the mechanic this morning." The active sentence is in the simple past, so the passive formula is: was/were + past participle. The object "the car engine" becomes the subject, "fixed" changes to "was fixed" (fixed is the same in all three forms: fix–fixed–fixed), the doer "the mechanic" goes after "by", and the time phrase "this morning" stays at the end.

Answer: "The plants are watered by the gardener daily." The active sentence is in the simple present ("waters"), so the passive formula is: is/am/are + past participle. Step by step: the object "the plants" becomes the subject; since it is plural, it takes "are", giving "are watered" (water–watered–watered); the doer "the gardener" moves after "by"; and the adverb "daily" keeps its end position. Watch the agreement: "The plants is watered" is the commonest error here.

Answer: "The results will be announced by the committee tomorrow." The active sentence is in the simple future ("will announce"), so the passive formula is: will + be + past participle. Step by step: the object "the results" becomes the subject, "will announce" changes to "will be announced" ("be" is inserted between "will" and the participle), the doer "the committee" follows "by", and the time word "tomorrow" stays at the end. Never write "will announced" — the "be" is compulsory.

Answer: "Let the door be closed." An imperative sentence follows a fixed passive pattern: Let + object + be + past participle. Here the object is "the door" and the past participle of "close" is "closed", so "Close the door" becomes "Let the door be closed." There is no alternative form — memorise this pattern as it is. This is a high-frequency exam question, and examiners accept only this exact structure.

Answer: "By whom was the window broken?" A "who" question turns into a "by whom" question in the passive. Step by step: "Who" becomes "By whom" and moves to the front; the tense is simple past, so the auxiliary "was" comes next ("was" agrees with the singular "window"); "the window" becomes the subject; "broke" changes to the past participle "broken" (break–broke–broken); and the question mark is retained. Remember: "whom" keeps the object role, so "who" can never stay as it is in a passive question.

Answer: "He requested me to pass him the salt." The formula for a reported request is: requested + (object) + to + base verb. "Please" is dropped because "requested" already expresses politeness. The pronoun "me" changes to "him" according to the speaker, and the quoted words become "to pass him the salt" — so the full reported sentence is "He requested me to pass him the salt." Never keep "please" in indirect speech; it would repeat the politeness twice.

Answer: "Sania proudly declared that she had completed the assignment." When the reporting verb is in the past ("declared"), the reported verb shifts one step back: present perfect "have completed" becomes past perfect "had completed". The pronoun "I" changes to "she" (Sania), the connector "that" is added, and the adverb "proudly" remains as it is — so we get "Sania proudly declared that she had completed the assignment." This backshift rule (present perfect → past perfect) is asked almost every year.

Answer: "She asked me where I lived." In a reported wh-question, the question word itself acts as the connector ("where"), so "that" is never used. The word order becomes statement-like: "do you live" drops the helping verb and shifts one step back to "I lived". So the direct "Where do you live?" becomes the reported "where I lived", giving "She asked me where I lived." Note that the question mark disappears because the reported sentence is a statement.

Answer: "The teacher asked me if I knew the answer." In a reported yes/no question there is no question word to act as a connector, so "if" or "whether" is used ("that" is never used here). The word order becomes statement-like: "do you know" drops the helping verb "do" and shifts one step back to "knew"; the pronoun "you" becomes "I". So "Do you know the answer?" becomes "if I knew the answer", giving the full sentence "The teacher asked me if I knew the answer."

Answer: He said to us, "I will arrive late." In indirect → direct, every change is reversed: "told" becomes "said to", the connector "that" is removed, and inverted commas are added around the exact words. The backshifted "would" returns to "will", and "he" becomes "I" since the speaker now speaks for himself. A comma is placed after the reporting clause: He said to us, "I will arrive late." Check that every backshift is undone — missing even one reversal costs marks.

Answer: "When the hunter saw the tiger, he ran away." The simple sentence contains the non-finite phrase "on seeing the tiger", which must be expanded into a full dependent clause. Step by step: the preposition "on" is replaced by the subordinating conjunction "when"; the gerund "seeing" becomes the finite verb "saw" (same past tense as "ran"); a subject "the hunter" is supplied, since a clause needs one; and the main clause "he ran away" stays unchanged. A comma separates the dependent clause from the main clause — the hallmark of a complex sentence.

Answer: "In spite of being rich, he is not happy." A complex sentence is reduced to a simple one by turning its dependent clause into a phrase. Step by step: remove the subordinating conjunction "although" and the repeated subject "he"; replace them with the prepositional phrase "in spite of"; change the finite verb "is" into the gerund "being" (a clause needs a finite verb, a phrase does not); keep "rich" as it is; and leave the main clause "he is not happy" untouched. The final sentence has only one finite verb, which is the test of a simple sentence.

Answer: "The soldier was brave, and he was rewarded." A compound sentence joins two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction (and/but/so). Here the phrase "for his bravery" is not a clause, so it must be expanded into a full clause — "he was brave" — which is then joined with "and" to the second clause "he was rewarded". Each part can now stand alone as a sentence. The test of compound is simple: remove "and" and both halves must still be complete sentences.

Answer: "She is not a foolish girl." To make a sentence negative without changing its meaning, replace the affirmative adjective with the negative of its antonym: "wise" → "not foolish". The rest of the sentence stays untouched, so "She is a wise girl" becomes "She is not a foolish girl." Both sentences express the same idea — only the form is negative. The formula is fixed: affirmative adjective → not + opposite adjective; using a wrong opposite ("not unwise") would change the meaning or sound unnatural.

Answer: "Does she like chocolate?" For the simple present with a third-person singular subject, the question formula is: Does + subject + base form of the verb. So "Does" comes at the beginning, and since "Does" already carries the "-s", the verb "likes" returns to its base form "like". Remember: the "s" appears only once — "Does she likes" is the commonest error, and examiners deduct marks for it every year.

Answer: "The sunset is very beautiful." The formula for exclamatory → assertive is: "How + adjective" becomes "very + adjective". So "How beautiful" changes to "very beautiful", the exclamation mark is replaced by a full stop, and the sentence is reordered as a statement — "The sunset is very beautiful." The meaning stays exactly the same; only the tone changes. This is the reverse of the common assertive → exclamatory transformation, so practise both directions.

Answer: "Iron is harder than any other metal." The formula for superlative → comparative is: "the + -est" becomes "-er than any other". So "the hardest" changes to "harder", "the" is dropped, and "than any other metal" is added to keep the meaning identical. Note: leaving out "any other" would change the meaning, so it is compulsory. This "any other" trick is the single most-tested point in degree-change questions.

Answer: "The tea is so hot that it cannot be drunk." The fixed formula for removing "too" is: "too + adjective + to" becomes "so + adjective + that + cannot". Applying it step by step: "too hot to drink" → "so hot that it cannot be drunk". The meaning remains unchanged — the tea is still undrinkable. This is a high-frequency exam question, so memorise the formula. Also note the passive "cannot be drunk", which many students forget and write "cannot drink" instead.