Sentence Correction:
Problem Number 12) The sentence is in passive voice. My understanding is that the active voice is preferred. I would like to know why the passive voice is correct in this case.
Problem Number 9) This sentence states that you should use the past perfect. However, the word "before" is inserted between the two clauses. Hence, according to page 46 of the book.
Exceptions to the rule: (2)
Clauses, linked by before or after. These conjunctions indicate the time sequence very clearly, so you do not generally need to use the past perfect tense.
I would like to know why this does not apply to this sentence.
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- auxillaryman2003
- rfernandez
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Problem Number 9) This sentence states that you should use the past perfect. However, the word "before" is inserted between the two clauses. Hence, according to page 46 of the book.
Exceptions to the rule: (2)
Clauses, linked by before or after. These conjunctions indicate the time sequence very clearly, so you do not generally need to use the past perfect tense.
I would like to know why this does not apply to this sentence.
[Please indicate chapter numbers in the future... thanks!]
#12: The passive voice is considered grammatically correct. Surely, stylistically we prefer the active voice, but passive structure is not wrong in and of itself. In the context of a GMAT question, if you're comparing two grammatically correct sentences and the only difference between them is that one uses active voice and the other passive, then that's a case when choose active over passive. There are cases, however, in which the passive voice is correct because the active voice options all have some other flaw. That's a time when it's necessary to pick the passive one.
Getting back to #12, it was deemed correct because, again, the passive voice is a correct grammatical construction.
#9): The problem reads: "They never met an Australian before they met Crocodile Dundee."
There is a rule about the words BEFORE and AFTER as you described, and these words do create an exception about when to use the past perfect tense. There is, however, an exception to this exception! If the "more past" action occurs at an unspecified point in time, then you must use the past perfect tense along with BEFORE or AFTER. That's what we have occurring here in #9. Here are some examples to illustrate:
I bought an iPhone right before Apple lowered its price.
No need to use past perfect here ("I had bought...") because when the iPhone was bought is specified: right before Apple lowered its price.
I had visited Brazil before I took my daughter to Sao Paolo last spring.
Here, we need the past perfect because the earlier trip to Brazil happened at an indeterminate point in time.
Rey
Exceptions to the rule: (2)
Clauses, linked by before or after. These conjunctions indicate the time sequence very clearly, so you do not generally need to use the past perfect tense.
I would like to know why this does not apply to this sentence.
[Please indicate chapter numbers in the future... thanks!]
#12: The passive voice is considered grammatically correct. Surely, stylistically we prefer the active voice, but passive structure is not wrong in and of itself. In the context of a GMAT question, if you're comparing two grammatically correct sentences and the only difference between them is that one uses active voice and the other passive, then that's a case when choose active over passive. There are cases, however, in which the passive voice is correct because the active voice options all have some other flaw. That's a time when it's necessary to pick the passive one.
Getting back to #12, it was deemed correct because, again, the passive voice is a correct grammatical construction.
#9): The problem reads: "They never met an Australian before they met Crocodile Dundee."
There is a rule about the words BEFORE and AFTER as you described, and these words do create an exception about when to use the past perfect tense. There is, however, an exception to this exception! If the "more past" action occurs at an unspecified point in time, then you must use the past perfect tense along with BEFORE or AFTER. That's what we have occurring here in #9. Here are some examples to illustrate:
I bought an iPhone right before Apple lowered its price.
No need to use past perfect here ("I had bought...") because when the iPhone was bought is specified: right before Apple lowered its price.
I had visited Brazil before I took my daughter to Sao Paolo last spring.
Here, we need the past perfect because the earlier trip to Brazil happened at an indeterminate point in time.
Rey
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