Which of the following contains an error in verb voice?
I would buy a large sailing yacht if I were to become rich.
Had I known you were going to be late, I would have started by now. **
If I were going on this trip, I would have planned a fishing trip.
If I was stronger, I would be able to do more than one push up.
I think its B, but honestly I don't know about this one. If you can please give the answer and explain why it's correct.
D is the right answer.
Since the sentence begins with "if", the verb needs to be in the subjunctive. The correct verb is "were" not "was."
http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subjunctive_mood.htm
Thanks!
Yes, you are correct. The sentence that contains an error in verb voice is B: "Had I known you were going to be late, I would have started by now."
The error in this sentence is the use of the past perfect tense ("had known") with the past simple tense ("were going") in the same conditional clause. The correct verb form in this case would be the past perfect tense throughout the clause, so it should be "Had I known you were going to be late, I would have started by now." This maintains parallelism and ensures consistency in the verb tense used in the conditional sentence.
So, the corrected sentence would be: "Had I known you were going to be late, I would have started by now."
You are correct, option B contains an error in verb voice.
To understand why this is the case, let's first briefly touch upon verb voice. In English, there are two main verb voices: active voice and passive voice.
Active voice is when the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb. For example: "John ate an apple."
Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb. For example: "The apple was eaten by John."
Now, let's analyze option B: "Had I known you were going to be late, I would have started by now." This sentence is in the subjunctive mood, expressing a hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situation. The error lies in the use of the passive voice ("had known") instead of the active voice ("I had known").
To correct this error, we should use the active voice, resulting in the sentence: "If I had known you were going to be late, I would have started by now."
So, the correct answer is indeed option B, as it contains an error in verb voice by using the passive voice instead of the active voice.