PASSIVE: “They are likely to be punished.”
ACTIVE:
(A) It is likely that they will be punished.
(B) It is likely for someone to punish them.
(C) It is likely that someone will punish them.
(D) Someone is likely to punish them.
This is a question put in an entrance exam.
I googled but couldn't find the answer. To me, all of them seem confusingly correct. But only one must be correct.
Best Answer
I think I've figured out what your test makers want, so I'm adding a little bonus information to go with the other answers.
The test makers are probably treating be likely to as a modal semi-auxiliary. The following quote is from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al 1985), pages 143-144:
This isn't an especially well defined category, nor is it one that everyone acknowledges in terms of theory. And these strings are really unlike modal auxiliaries in most respects. But let's ignore all that. Let's take this idea and run with it! We'll treat be likely to something like would:
So they probably want answer D, just like the other answers said.