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active voice:

If you can't reach the station on time, you can’t get the tickets.

passive voice 1:

The tickets can't be got if the station can’t be reached on time.

passive voice 2:

The tickets can't be got if you can’t reach the station on time.

which of the above is the right structure of passive voice? and please also explain when we are forming passive voice of sentence, do we form passive of both clauses of a sentence?

this confuses me often, please sort it out.

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    No, you will often see sentences with various mixed tenses. In your own native language, are you required to form sentences using only passive or active voice, or can you mix it up?
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 7:37
  • Yes,we do mix up. But this question was asked is my exam ,and it gave me hard time selecting one. Which would be better?
    – kumar
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 7:41
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    As with many English exams it's more about knowing what the teacher expects than what is actually grammatical. In this case it's grammatical but illogical to mix the tenses because it changes the meaning. "If you can't reach the station on time, the tickets can't be bought." is confusing, because who is buying the tickets? You've already identified yourself as the subject, so why use the passive unless you mean that someone else is going to buy them?
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 7:45
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    So is it right? Is it wrong? The correct answer is, it is whatever your teacher says it is, because that's who decides your grade. :(
    – Andrew
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 7:45
  • 1
    I hope you are also learning from your teacher the contexts in which the passive is the right choice. The context in your question is not one of them
    – Shoe
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 8:35

1 Answer 1

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The simple answer is "don't use the passive voice in such constructions."

If it is an exam question then you can form the passive in the main clause:

If you can't get to the station on time, the tickets can't be got.

That is already horrid, but correct.

You could put the passive in the condition:

If the station can't be got to on time, you can't get the tickets.

Also horrid.

You can do both:

If the station can't be got to on time, the tickets can't be got.

Yuck.

The condition can be put after the main clause, either passive or active in either clause

The tickets can't be got if you can't get to the station on time

The tickets can't be got if the station can't be got to on time.

You can't get the tickets if the station can't be got to on time.

All very horrid. All correct.

The only thing that you can't do is make a passive of the modal. You can't grammatically say "The tickets aren't could get...".

In particular, using the passive doesn't mention who is getting the tickets, and so implies "by anybody". As mentioned in a comment: "it's grammatical but odd to mix the [voices] because it changes the meaning. For example, 'If you can't reach the station on time, the tickets can't be bought.' is confusing, because who is buying the tickets? You've already identified yourself as the subject, so why use the passive unless you mean that someone else is going to buy them" (— Andrew)

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