Choose the most appropriate passive construction for the given sentence:
Do you expect your parents to come from Hyderabad today?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Are your parents expected to come today from Hyderabad?
Passive of a question (simple present):
| Change | Active | Passive | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Object becomes subject | your parents | your parents (subject) | The object of “expect”, your parents, becomes the subject. |
| Tense kept | Do ... expect | Are ... expected | Be + past participle in the same tense. The simple present “do ... expect” becomes are ... expected (“are” agrees with the plural “parents”). |
| Question form | Do ... ? | Are ... ? | The helping verb are comes before the subject, and the question mark stays. |
| Agent (by ...) | you | – (left out) | “By you” is understood and is left out. |
| Full sentence | Do you expect your parents to come from Hyderabad today? | Are your parents expected to come today from Hyderabad? |
The infinitive "to come" stays after the verb.
Example: Do they expect him to win? → Is he expected to win?
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Do your parents are expected to come today from Hyderabad? — Incorrect. It uses two helping verbs, "Do" and "are", together. A passive question needs only "Are".
Option 3: Did your parents come today from Hyderabad? — Incorrect.
- It is active and drops "expect" altogether.
- It changes the tense to the simple past and the meaning: it asks whether they came, not whether they are expected.
Option 4: Were your parents expected to come from Hyderabad ? — Incorrect.
- "Were" is past. The active "do ... expect" is present, which needs "are".
- It drops "today".