Which sentence is in passive voice?

• A. Analyzing the data was performed by the researchers.
• B. The data were analyzed by the researchers.
• C. The researchers analyzed the data.
• D. The researchers analyzing the data.

Answer: (B)

Passive voice happens when the subject of the sentence receives the action, and the doer of the action appears later with by. In this example, the data is the thing receiving the analyzing, and the verb phrase uses a form of be plus a past participle: were analyzed. The by-phrase shows who did the action—the researchers. This makes the sentence clearly passive: the focus is on what happened to the data, not on who did it.

The other options either present the action in active voice (the researchers performed the analysis) or are not complete sentences (a gerund phrase as the subject or a fragment), so they don’t fit the standard passive pattern as cleanly.