Question

Change the given sentence into its passive voice.

It had had it.

• A. It had had by it.
• B. It had been had by it.
• C. It had had been by it.
• D. It had it by it.

Hint:

Use the passive pattern: Object + had been + past participle + by + Subject.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This question looks odd at first because the sentence "It had had it" repeats the word "had" twice, but it is simply the past perfect tense of "it has it," meaning "it possessed it before some other past event." The task is to turn this into the passive voice correctly.

1. It had had by it: this drops the word "been," which is required to mark passive voice in the past perfect tense. Without "been," the sentence is not truly passive, so this option is wrong.
2. It had been had by it: this keeps the full passive structure, object plus "had been" plus the past participle "had" plus "by" plus the original subject. This matches the standard rule for turning a past perfect active sentence into passive voice.
3. It had had been by it: here "had" and "been" are swapped out of order. The passive auxiliary must read "had been," not "had... been" split apart like this, so the sentence breaks the grammar rule.
4. It had it by it: this option removes the past participle form needed to show the action was done to the object, so it does not express passive voice at all.

Remember the general rule for past perfect passive: Object + had been + past participle + by + Subject. Applying this to "It (subject) had had (verb) it (object)" gives us "It (new subject) had been had (participle) by it (original subject)."

Let's summarize:

• Past perfect passive always needs the fixed phrase "had been" before the past participle.
• The past participle of "have" is "had," so it correctly appears once after "had been."

The correct passive form is "It had been had by it," which is option (b).