SSC Selection Post 2025 PYQ — Question 64

Correct Answer

When did Columbus discover America and later they renamed it after Amerigo Vespucci?

Explanation

Passive to Active Voice Rules

Deconstruct the Compound Sentence The given passive sentence consists of two distinct clauses joined by the conjunction "and." Both clauses need to be converted into the active voice.

Clause 1 (Interrogative) "When was America discovered by Columbus?"

Identify Elements: "America" is the passive subject, "was discovered" is the simple past passive verb, and "Columbus" is the agent.

Active Conversion: The agent "Columbus" becomes the active subject. To form a question in the simple past active voice, the auxiliary verb "did" is required, followed by the base form of the main verb ("discover"). This gives us: "When did Columbus discover America?"

Clause 2 (Assertive) "and later it was renamed after Amerigo Vespucci?"

Identify Elements: "it" (referring to America) is the passive subject, and "was renamed" is the simple past passive verb. The agent performing the renaming is vague or implied (historians, people, or "they").

Active Conversion: The pronoun "they" is introduced as the active subject to represent the generalized group who did the renaming. The passive verb "was renamed" converts to the simple past active verb "renamed", and the object "it" is placed immediately after. This gives us: "and later they renamed it after Amerigo Vespucci?"

Combining both structural updates leaves the third option as the only grammatically accurate configuration.

Key Points

Passive Structure When + was + Object 1 + V3 + by + Agent 1 + and + later + Object 2 + was + V3...

Active Structure When + did + Agent 1 + base verb (V1) + Object 1 + and + later + Agent 2 + V2 + Object 2...

Grammatical Role Compound active voice conversion (realigns both clauses to emphasize the subjects initiating the actions directly).