(1) The New York Botanical Garden covers 250 acres in the Bronx section of New York City. (2) The garden was established in 1891 by a British couple who thought New York should have a garden similar to the Royal Botanic Garden in London.(3) Today, the New York Botanical Garden grows more than one million plants in fifty different gardens. (4) The garden continues one of the missions with which it was founded: to research plants in order to preserve them.

Question

How is the passive voice used in sentence 4?

a. The phrase "in order to preserve" uses the passive voice to explain the reason for an action
b. The phrase "was founded" uses the passive voice to keep "the garden" the subject of the sentence
c. The phrase "to research plants" uses the passive voice to let "missions" be the subject of the sentence
d. The phrase "the garden continues" uses the passive voice to indicate that many people work to keep the garden going

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

b. The phrase "was founded" uses the passive voice to keep "the garden" the subject of the sentence.

In this context, the passive voice is used to emphasize the action of founding the garden rather than focusing on who did the founding.