Which of the following options is the most suitable conversion of the following sentence into active voice?
The young athlete is being trained by a former Olympian.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Correct Answer
A former Olympian is training the young athlete.
Explanation
The original sentence is in the passive voice and uses the Present Continuous Tense, which is flagged by the phrase "is being trained." When converting a Present Continuous passive sentence back to the active voice, the structure requires using the standard continuous helper verb alongside an "-ing" action verb: Subject + is/are/am + Verb-ing + Object.
The agent of the passive sentence, "a former Olympian," becomes the singular subject of the new active sentence. Pairing this singular subject with "is training" and placing the original subject, "the young athlete," at the end as the object gives the clean sentence: "A former Olympian is training the young athlete."
The remaining alternatives distort the timeline or the grammar rules. Option 1 shifts the action into the Present Simple tense by using "trains," altering the ongoing nature of the statement. Option 3 creates an impossible structural loop by keeping "is being trained" alongside the object. Option 4 uses an ungrammatical combination of "is been training."
Key Points
Whenever you tackle a passive-to-active voice problem, look for the word "being." Its presence is a dead giveaway that the underlying active sentence must be in a continuous tense, meaning the correct answer must feature a verb ending in "-ing" like training or cleaning.