[Grammar] This museum wasn't visited very often by tourists.

[Son Ho]

Good evening, Teachers. Could you please help me to choose between sentence 2 or 3 which is correct if we must use by tourists in the passive voice?

1. Tourists don't visit this museum very often.
2. This museum wasn't visited very often by tourists.
3. This museum wasn't visited by tourists very often.

 

[Son Ho]

You need isn't rather than wasn't for either to be correct.

In fact, I don't mean to ask about that. I used wasn't for isn't when typing in a hurry. I'm so sorry. I just want to ask about the position of very often.

 

[tedmc]

By "often", do you mean tourists make repeated visits to the museum? Are you talking about frequency of visits or the high number of one-off visits?

 

[emsr2d2]

In fact, I don't mean to ask about that. I used wasn't for isn't when typing in a hurry. I'm so sorry. I just want to ask about the position of "very often".

That excuse makes no sense. "Wasn't" has more letters than "isn't" so it's not logical to use the former when you're in a hurry. That still doesn't change the fact that neither sentence means the same as the sentence with "don't" in.

Please post your question again, using "isn't" instead of "wasn't". (You don't need to post a new thread. Simply add a new post with those errors corrected.) Also, you need to tell us which one you think is correct and why. We don't just hand out answers here.

 

[Son Ho]

You mean that I don't need to post a new one, just edit this post, don't you?

 

[GoesStation]

You mean that I don't need to post a new one, just edit this post, don't you?

No. Emsr2d2 is asking you to add a new post to this thread.

 

[Son Ho]

I think sentence 3 is correct because I was taught to put the adverbs at the end of the sentence in passive voice like yesterday, last week, in 1990. I wonder if the second one is also correct or not. It's hard to find this problem in some grammar books which I have.

1. Tourists don't visit this museum very often.
2. This museum isn't visited very often by tourists.
3. This museum isn't visited by tourists very often.

 

[GoesStation]

I think sentence 3 is correct because I was taught to put the adverbs at the end of the sentence in passive voice like yesterday, last week, in 1990. I wonder if the second one is also correct or not. It's hard to find this problem in some grammar books which I have.

1. Tourists don't visit this museum very often.
2. This museum isn't visited very often by tourists.
3. This museum isn't visited by tourists very often.

They're all possible.

 

[jutfrank]

It depends to some extent on what you mean to focus on.

With no context, it's kind of an odd thing to say in the first place. A reader might ask why you feel it necessary to mention tourists at all. Who else visits museums?

If your purpose is to make a contrast with other non-tourist visitors, then it's likely to be more effective if you position the by-agent phrase by tourists at the end of the sentence. (Though I'd argue that the pronunciation of the utterance would have a greater effect than word order on this.) Otherwise, you would just say This museum isn't visited very often.

 

[GoesStation]

A reader might ask why you feel it necessary to mention tourists at all. Who else visits museums?

Scholars. Many museums are important centers for research.

 

[GoesStation]

Scholars. Many museums are important centers for research.

I spent many hours in my childhood watching my father work in various natural history museums in the United States and Europe.