I received the following sentence in an office email:
"Hope this feedback goes into the right department and acted upon."
Is this correct?
Or the correct usage should be "Hope this feedback goes into the right department and IS acted upon."
Please let me know.
5-Day Free Trial
5-day free, full-access trial TTP
Available with Beat the GMAT members only code
MORE DETAILS
Please guide
This topic has expert replies
-
sarthak.agarwal
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:55 pm
-
Test Prep Unlimited
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:56 am
- Location: NYC, LA, Chicago, SF, and Online
Yes, the latter is correct--It needs "IS", otherwise if you leave out the "goes into the right department and" it would be like saying "Hope this feedback acted upon." Acted upon what?
TestPrepUnlimited.com
TestPrepUnlimited.com
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
David@GMATPrepNow
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 147
- Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:52 pm
- Thanked: 53 times
- Followed by:21 members
Hi sarthak.agarwal,
You are correct that the sentence needs the verb "is" in order to be correct. In addition, while we often see sentences begin with verbs like "hope," it is not strictly correct. It is missing a subject. Who hopes? Here is the complete, correct sentence:
I hope this feedback goes into the right department and is acted upon.
I hope this helps.
You are correct that the sentence needs the verb "is" in order to be correct. In addition, while we often see sentences begin with verbs like "hope," it is not strictly correct. It is missing a subject. Who hopes? Here is the complete, correct sentence:
I hope this feedback goes into the right department and is acted upon.
I hope this helps.
-
sarthak.agarwal
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:55 pm
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
David@GMATPrepNow
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 147
- Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:52 pm
- Thanked: 53 times
- Followed by:21 members
-
Matt@VeritasPrep
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 2630
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:32 pm
- Location: East Bay all the way
- Thanked: 625 times
- Followed by:119 members
- GMAT Score:780
I hate to be a stickler, but even the corrected sentence is a bit of a mess. A better sentence would be something like "I hope that this feedback is received and acted upon by the right department."
The key points:
* If we're going to be formal, we have to say "hope that", not simply "hope";
* "Goes into" has two problems: "into" is the wrong preposition (it should be "to"), and "goes" is a questionable verb (when dealing with bureaucracies, you never simply submit anything - it has be acknowledged!)
* Ending a sentence with a preposition ("upon"), even one that's part of a verb, is still taboo among old-fashioned grammarians, and the GMAC is pretty old-fashioned.
That sentence, you don't want to be this formal in a work email! "Hope this finds its way to the right department" is more appropriate in that context, I think.
The key points:
* If we're going to be formal, we have to say "hope that", not simply "hope";
* "Goes into" has two problems: "into" is the wrong preposition (it should be "to"), and "goes" is a questionable verb (when dealing with bureaucracies, you never simply submit anything - it has be acknowledged!)
* Ending a sentence with a preposition ("upon"), even one that's part of a verb, is still taboo among old-fashioned grammarians, and the GMAC is pretty old-fashioned.
That sentence, you don't want to be this formal in a work email! "Hope this finds its way to the right department" is more appropriate in that context, I think.
