Choose the most appropriate passive construction of the following sentence from the options given below:
His friends assured him of various promising possibilities.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → He was assured of various promising possibilities by his friends.
Active to passive (simple past):
| Change | Active | Passive | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Object becomes subject | him | He | The object of the active sentence becomes the subject: “him” becomes “He”. |
| Tense kept | assured | was assured | The verb becomes was/were + past participle in the same tense: “assured” becomes “was assured”. |
| Agent (by ...) | His friends | by his friends | The doer moves into a by-phrase at the end: “by his friends”. |
| Full sentence | His friends assured him of various promising possibilities. | He was assured of various promising possibilities by his friends. |
The rest of the verb phrase stays as it is: of various promising possibilities (one is "assured of" something).
Example: The coach praised the team. → The team was praised by the coach.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: They assured him of various promising possibilities. — Incorrect. It is still in the active voice. Only "His friends" has been replaced by "They".
Option 2: His friends assured that he had various promising possibilities. — Incorrect. It is still active, and dropping the person assured ("him") changes the structure of the sentence.
Option 4: It was assured by his friends that he had various promising possibilities. — Incorrect.
- The person who received the assurance (him) must become the subject. Here an empty "It" takes his place.
- "It was assured that ..." is not a natural English pattern, and the meaning shifts from assuring a person to assuring a fact.