[Grammar] The school bucked a national trend when its students showed improved SAT scores.

[sitifan]

1. The school bucked a national trend when its students showed improved SAT scores. (Longman Advanced American Dictionary)
2. When its students showed improved SAT scores, the school bucked a national trend. (My own sentence)

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/when
when: used for talking about a particular time or situation

Is my sentence (#2) acceptable to native speakers?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. Having said that, if talking about a specific instance of this happening, I'd expect "the national trend".

 

[jutfrank]

It does depend on what you mean by 'acceptable', but for me, no. Sentence 2 is no good. Sentence 1 is good.

 

[emsr2d2]

Sentence 1 is certainly preferable to sentence 2. I might reword it as "By getting improved SAT scores/By improving their SAT scores, the school's students bucked the national trend". (The original is still the best way of saying it.)