Select the option that expresses the given sentence in passive voice.
Why did your manager refuse to give you the pay raise?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3. “Why have you been refused the pay raise by your manager?”
To transform an active‑voice question into the passive voice, follow these steps:
Identify the object in the active sentence, then promote it to the subject in the passive structure.
Active sentence: Why did your manager refuse to give you the pay raise?
The object (recipient) is “you”.
Use the appropriate passive structure:
Question word remains at the beginning: Why
Passive auxiliary: have been (because original “did refuse to give” implies simple past, which in passive for a request/refusal with give fits with present perfect)
Past participle of main verb: refused
Then include the agent: by your manager.
Thus the correct formation is:
Why have you been refused the pay raise by your manager?
Why other options are incorrect:
Option 1: Why has the pay raise been refused to be given to you by your manager?
This is overly wordy and awkward (“to be given”) and does not follow standard passive structure clearly.
Option 2: Why had your manager refused to give you the pay raise?
This keeps the sentence in active voice and changes the tense (past perfect “had refused”), which is not required.
Option 4: Why was the pay raise refused to be given to you by your manager?
This also is awkward, uses simple past passive (“was refused”) but awkward phrasing like “to be given” and shifts focus incorrectly away from you as the subject.