Border Patrol Practice Exam

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Which phrase is in the passive voice: "She was taken" or "She had taken"?

She was taken
She had taken
Both are passive
Neither are passive

The correct answer is: She was taken

The phrase "She was taken" is in the passive voice because it emphasizes the action being done to the subject ("she") rather than the subject performing the action. In passive constructions, the subject receives the action of the verb, and the doer of the action is either omitted or included in a prepositional phrase starting with "by." In this case, "was taken" indicates that some agent took "her," but that agent is not specified in the sentence itself. On the other hand, "She had taken" is in the active voice, where the subject performs the action of the verb. The focus here is on "she," who is the one taking some unspecified object. The use of the past perfect tense ("had taken") further indicates a completed action performed by the subject rather than something being done to the subject. This distinction makes it clear why "She was taken" is the example of passive voice, highlighting the feature of agency and focus in voice construction.