When I started turning the steering wheel, it emitted a strange sound.
I am trying to rewrite the above sentence such that the steering wheel is the subject. I would like to know which of the following is correct.
- The steering wheel emitted a strange sound when it was started to be
turn.- The steering wheel emitted a strange sound when it started to
be turned.
Best Answer
The first sentence is not correct: you should not use passive voice for start in this context, because the main activity is turning, not starting. It is optional for turn:
The first two versions might give the impression that the wheel turned on its own: the second version sounds over-complex.
It would make a more natural sentence if you kept the steering wheel as the subject of the first clause, but made it the object of the second clause:
emit is a bit technical: make would work better in informal spoken English.