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I am trying to understand why this sentence is incorrect as in grammatically. The instructions were given to use passive/active accordingly.

The incorrect verse:

It's raining and the roads are full of water. Cars are moving quickly and people on the sidewalks are splashed by the cars. The traffic lights aren't working, so traffic is directed by a policeman.

Vs the correct verse was this:

It's raining and the roads are full of water. Cars are moving quickly and people on the sidewalks are being splashed by the cars. The traffic lights aren't working, so traffic is being directed by a policeman.

Liiuc
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Jay
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2 Answers2

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I don't see a grammatical fault in the first version, but the second version is better because the progressive tense of "being directed" is parallel to "aren't working"; in fact the whole paragraph uses present progressive tense forms.

Jack O'Flaherty
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    "People are splashed" could imply that it happens only once, but on a busy road on a very wet day it is likely to be happening all the time - people are being splashed. – Kate Bunting May 03 '21 at 07:58
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It's raining and the roads are full of water. Cars are moving quickly and people on the sidewalks are being splashed by the cars. The traffic lights aren't working, so traffic is being directed by a policeman.

From the italic terms at the beginning of the passage, we see that this describes a rainy day, with lots of focus on the process. The present continuous tense is hence more appropriate.

Seowjooheng Singapore
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  • I don’t think this is present perfect. It’s passive and present continuous (progressive). – Jay May 03 '21 at 09:23