Choose the most appropriate passive construction of the given sentence:
Someone had already booked all the tatkal tickets by ten o’clock.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → All the tatkal tickets had already been booked by ten o’clock.
Passive of the past perfect with an unknown doer:
| Change | Active | Passive | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Object becomes subject | all the tatkal tickets | All the tatkal tickets | The tickets receive the action, so they become the subject. |
| Tense kept | had booked | had been booked | “Had booked” is in the past perfect, so the passive stays in the past perfect: had been + past participle (V3). |
| Agent (by ...) | Someone | (left out) | “Someone” does not tell us who the doer is. So “by someone” is dropped. “By ten o’clock” is a time, not the doer, so it stays. |
| Full sentence | Someone had already booked all the tatkal tickets by ten o’clock. | All the tatkal tickets had already been booked by ten o’clock. |
“Somebody”, “people” and an unknown “they” are dropped the same way. Example: Somebody had cut the phone wires before the storm. → The phone wires had been cut before the storm.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: All the tatkal tickets were already booked by someone by ten o’clock. — Incorrect. “Were booked” is the simple past. The active “had booked” is the past perfect.
Option 2: All the tatkal tickets had already booked by ten o’clock. — Incorrect. The word “been” is missing. Without it, the tickets become the ones that booked something.
Option 3: All the tatkal tickets have already been booked by ten o’clock. — Incorrect. “Have been booked” is the present perfect. The active “had booked” is the past perfect.