help me this question!please.....! I don't know how to choose it !

[tranviet2103]

Last year's holiday sales strategy.........to be such a success that we have decided to repeat it this year.
A) proved
B) was proven
C)was
D) became

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would accept either A or B.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, tranviet.

You're lucky this time: we don't usually give out free answers to students' homework questions.

 

[tranviet2103]

Welcome to the forum, tranviet.

You're lucky this time: we don't usually give out free answers to students' homework questions.

thank you so much !!! In fact i know the answer is A but i dont know why we choose it ! i'm going to examing the toeic test next month ! could you explain why the answer is A for me ? thanks in advance.....

 

[tranviet2103]

Thank MikeNewYork !! ...however.... could you explain clearly ? this is a questtion in target toeic! The answer is A but i dont now why ! help me please......

 

[MikeNewYork]

I don'r know either. For me, either A or B is correct.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

A) is the right answer because 'proved' is the word that we would use - in BrE at least - to mean 'was found to be' which is clearly the intended meaning.

The verb 'prove' does have two past participles proved and proven, and they are often interchangeable, but proven simply wouldn't be the natural choice here.

If you were to use 'was proven to be' it would have more the meaning that the success of last year's holiday sales strategy had been demonstrated by means of proof.

 

[SoothingDave]

Maybe it's an AmE difference, maybe it's just me, but I prefer "proven" to "proved" as past participle. And either A or B is an acceptable answer to me. I don't get the distinction that Roman55 is trying to make. A is probably the expected answer, but there is nothing wrong grammatically or semantically with choosing B.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Let's assume that it is an AmE/BrE difference because you are the second AmE speaker to make the same point. If that is the case, and I'm not completely alone in my point of view, perhaps the question was set by a BrE speaker and A) was the expected answer. After all, the question wasn't just, 'What is the past participle of "prove"?'

 

[sunrose8]

I am a English learner.I prefer A. Below is my understanding
A)proved(is proved to be) is passive sentence(simple present) while B) was proven is passive sentence too (but simple past)
From the "we have decided to repeat part" sentence ,we know that this is present perfect(have done).
Present perfect(have done) is for happenings and actions that are connect with present.So A(simple present) is more attuned to the whole sentence's grammar.

 

[tranviet2103]

I am a English learner.I prefer A. Below is my understanding
A)proved(is proved to be) is passive sentence(simple present) while B) was proven is passive sentence too (but simple past)
From the "we have decided to repeat part" sentence ,we know that this is present perfect(have done).
Present perfect(have done) is for happenings and actions that are connect with present.So A(simple present) is more attuned to the whole sentence's grammar.

thanks so much.............

 

[tranviet2103]

Maybe it's an AmE difference, maybe it's just me, but I prefer "proven" to "proved" as past participle. And either A or B is an acceptable answer to me. I don't get the distinction that Roman55 is trying to make. A is probably the expected answer, but there is nothing wrong grammatically or semantically with choosing B.

thank you.........

 

[tranviet2103]

I am not a teacher.

A) is the right answer because 'proved' is the word that we would use - in BrE at least - to mean 'was found to be' which is clearly the intended meaning.

The verb 'prove' does have two past participles proved and proven, and they are often interchangeable, but proven simply wouldn't be the natural choice here.

If you were to use 'was proven to be' it would have more the meaning that the success of last year's holiday sales strategy had been demonstrated by means of proof.

thank you....Roman

 

[Rover_KE]

tranviet, there is no need to write new posts to say "Thank you" or to quote our replies back to us. It makes us think there is new information or a follow-up question and we spend time opening the thread. Simply click on the "Thank" button at the bottom left-hand corner of any post you find helpful.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I am a English learner.I prefer A. Below is my understanding
A)proved(is proved to be) is passive sentence(simple present) while B) was proven is passive sentence too (but simple past)
From the "we have decided to repeat part" sentence ,we know that this is present perfect(have done).
Present perfect(have done) is for happenings and actions that are connect with present.So A(simple present) is more attuned to the whole sentence's grammar.

There is no "is" before proved in answer A. The verb "proved" is simple past, not simple present. Both A and B use the past tense, so that can't be the reason to choose one over the other. This appears to another difference between AmE and BrE.

The British English Ngram shows that while "was proved to be" is more common than "was proven to be", is use has declined dramatically since 1940.

The American English Ngram shows the uses to be very close.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

The actual comparison is between 'was proven to be' and 'proved to be' (not 'was proved to be') and it shows a clear preference for 'proved' in both varieties of English.

British English Ngram

American English Ngram

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The best phrasing would have been: "was such a success that...."

But you didn't get that choice. Too bad.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No. That was not the choice. Nobody objected to "proved"; the objection was to "was proven to be" instead of "was proved to be". Your Ngrams are not instructive on that issue.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

This is a total non sequitur so perhaps it refers to post #16 which itself was in response to post #15. Post #15 muddied the waters of an otherwise limpid thread by introducing unbidden, 'was proved to be'. Maybe a thread could be started in the General Language Discussions forum to deal with this unrelated topic.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No, It dealt directly with your post #7. You can walk that back if you would like, but you wrote what you wrote.