Choose the most appropriate passive construction of the given sentence:
The contractor will have laid the new pipeline before the monsoon arrives.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The new pipeline will have been laid by the contractor before the monsoon arrives.
Passive of the future perfect:
| Change | Active | Passive | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Object becomes subject | the new pipeline | The new pipeline | The pipeline receives the action, so it becomes the subject. |
| Tense kept | will have laid | will have been laid | “Will have laid” is in the future perfect, so the passive stays in the future perfect: will have been + past participle (V3). |
| Agent (by ...) | The contractor | by the contractor | The contractor is named, so the doer comes after “by”. |
| Full sentence | The contractor will have laid the new pipeline before the monsoon arrives. | The new pipeline will have been laid by the contractor before the monsoon arrives. |
Other future perfect verbs work the same way: will have built → will have been built. Example: The farmers will have sown the wheat before the first frost. → The wheat will have been sown before the first frost.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The new pipeline will be laid by the contractor before the monsoon arrives. — Incorrect. “Will be laid” is the simple future. “Have” is dropped, so the idea of the work being finished before the monsoon is lost.
Option 2: The new pipeline will have laid by the contractor before the monsoon arrives. — Incorrect. The word “been” is missing. Without it, the pipeline becomes the one that lays something.
Option 3: The new pipeline would have been laid by the contractor before the monsoon arrives. — Incorrect. “Would” is not “will”. “Would have been laid” talks of something that did not happen.