Active vs passive voice

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joshi.v123: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 19; Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:34 pm; Location: india; Thanked: 3 times

by joshi.v123 » Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:32 pm

Can any body please explain

Incorrect: The aliens WERE ARRIVED on Neptune in the 20th century. (Why this is Incorrect?)
Correct : The aliens ARRIVED on Neptune in the 20th century. (Why this is correct?)

Incorrect: After they advertised, sales WERE INCREASED by 25%. (Why this is Incorrect?)
Correct: After they advertised, sales INCREASED by 25%. (Why this is correct?)

Thanks,
VJ

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:32 pm

kvcpk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1893; Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 215 times

by kvcpk » Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:54 pm

joshi.v123 wrote:Can any body please explain

Incorrect: The aliens WERE ARRIVED on Neptune in the 20th century. (Why this is Incorrect?)
Correct : The aliens ARRIVED on Neptune in the 20th century. (Why this is correct?)

Incorrect: After they advertised, sales WERE INCREASED by 25%. (Why this is Incorrect?)
Correct: After they advertised, sales INCREASED by 25%. (Why this is correct?)

HI Joshi,

Rule to note: A subject cannot have 2 verbs referring to it in the same clause.

The aliens WERE ARRIVED on Neptune in the 20th century.
in this sentence, WERE is a verb referring to aliens and ARRIVED is a verb again referring to Aliens.
Hence it is incorrect.

Same holds true for the other sentence.
sales were increased by 25%
WERE,INCREASED are both referring back to subject sales.
Hence incorrect.

Hope this helps!!

"Once you start working on something,
don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it.
People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275BC)

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EducationAisle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 434; Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:42 pmFollowed by: 46 members; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 91 times

by EducationAisle » Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:19 am

Tremendous differwnce in meaning. Lets look at this example:

After they advertised, sales WERE INCREASED by 25%

This indicates that advertising and increase in sales were independent events and does not show that sales increased because of advertising. were increased denotes an involuntary action.

Perhaps difference will be more apparent in the following:

He came to Bangalore (on his own).

He was brought to Bangalore (involuntary action).

Ashish
MBA - ISB, GMAT - 99th Percentile
GMAT Faculty @ EducationAisle
www.EducationAisle.com

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