A customer is sold / bad product is sold

[uktous]

Hi,

Question:
1) Which sentence does not make sense?
2) Do the meaning for the sentences correctly?

Sentence1:
If a customer is sold bad product, we will lose that customer.
Sentence2:
If bad product is sold to a customer, we will lose that customer

Meaning of sentence 1:
If a customer receives bad product, we will lose that customer.
Meaning of sentence 2:
If we sell bad product to a customer, we will lose that customer.


Thanks

[jayan12]

Not a teacher

Hi,

Question:
1) Which sentence does not make sense?
2) Do the meaning for the sentences correctly?

Sentence1:
If a customer is sold bad product, we will lose that customer. \\ This sentence doesn't make sense to me.
Sentence2:
If bad product is sold to a customer, we will lose that customer

Meaning of sentence 1:
If a customer receives bad product, we will lose that customer.
Meaning of sentence 2:
If we sell bad product to a customer, we will lose that customer.


Thanks

[euncu]

If a customer is sold bad product, we will lose that customer. \\ This sentence doesn't make sense to me.

verb:sell:
1-Exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent

"He sold his house in January"

2-Be sold at a certain price or in a certain way

"These books sell like hot cakes"

source:Wordweb

[Barb_D]

I don't see any difference in meaning in the two sentences at all.

[bhaisahab]

Hi,

Question:
1) Which sentence does not make sense?
2) Do the meaning for the sentences correctly?

Sentence1:
If a customer is sold bad product, we will lose that customer.
Sentence2:
If bad product is sold to a customer, we will lose that customer

Meaning of sentence 1:
If a customer receives bad product, we will lose that customer.
Meaning of sentence 2:
If we sell bad product to a customer, we will lose that customer.


Thanks

There is no difference in meaning, but it's "a bad product".

[BobK]

There is no difference in meaning, but it's "a bad product".

... except if the speaker has an online MBA! There are people who say things like "This business is all about product - making product, testing product, selling product."

b

[BobK]

verb:sell:
1-Exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent

"He sold his house in January"

2-Be sold at a certain price or in a certain way

"These books sell like hot cakes"

source:Wordweb

Tell [verb] me [indirect object] something [direct object]: did Wordweb, somewhere outside the bit you quoted, mention indirect objects? A customer can be sold a bad product.

b

[Raymott]

I think your confusion comes from the apparent ambiguity about what is sold - the customer or the product.
1. If a customer is sold ...
2. If a bad product is sold ...
What you have done is chosen a ditransitive verb (to sell) and put it into the passive voice. The originals might be:
3. If we sell the customer a bad product ...
4. If we sell a bad product to the customer ...

In both cases, the direct object is 'a bad product' and the indirect object is 'the customer'. The two objects share the same verb, and the subject "we" is left out of your original passive clauses.

[philo2009]

Hi,


If a customer is sold a bad product, we will lose that customer.
Sentence2:
If a bad product is sold to a customer, we will lose that customer

Both are passives, but the first is an irregular passive, while the second is regularly formed. In a regular passive, the direct object of the corresponding active form (here 'product') becomes the subject, while in an irregular passive it is the indirect object of the original that becomes the passive subject.

The irregular passive - probably on account of its brevity - interestingly, tends to be the more natural of the two in most cases.