<p>Hi,
Which one is correct? Because I have seen both as correct on sat tests.</p>
<p>For more than a year, they were used...</p>
<p>For more than a year, they have been used...</p>
<p>Both are correct.</p>
<p>sigh…then collegeboard needs to screen its questions…</p>
<p>What question involved this?</p>
<p>gertrudetrumpet,
The wording “For more than a year, they were used” suggests that “they” were used for an interval longer than a year, in the past–so that the usage is now over. In contrast, “For more than a year, they have been used” suggests that “they” are still in use now, and that they started being used more than a year ago.</p>
<p>I believe “they were used” is simple past, while “they have been used” is past perfect.</p>
<p>It would be very helpful to know the context</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot but it was something like “(for) more than a century, boats were used…”
I was not sure whether to chose the prep “for” because the sentence dictates that the time period was in the past and not ending or continuing into the future. Because for more than a century also implies that the time is still going on right?</p>
<p>It’s not the “for more than a century” that dictates whether the action is still continuing - it’s the proper verb tense. Contrast:</p>
<p>(1) The XYZ people migrated to a large lake in 300 BC. For more than a century, boats were used to explore and fish on the lake. However, starting around 150 BC they abandoned the area and instead moved to a high mountaintop where boats were useless.</p>
<p>(2) The XYZ people live on the shores of Lake W. For more than a century, boats have been used to explore and fish on the lake. In fact, boats are crucial to the existence of the XYZs.</p>
<p>What puzzles me, though, is the use of the passive. Does the collegeboard often use examples where a passive tense is correct?</p>
<p>^
Yes. As Mike Barret has noted, CB doesn’t test for active vs passive</p>
<p>That’s interesting . . . I tutor for a national test prep company, and they claim that there are (on average) a question or two testing passives.</p>
<p>^
Mike claims that, if there is an active and a pssive, the correct one is determined by other things, not the voice.</p>
<p>I know about the time frame, but it was on identifying errors and there was no other indicator of time. There was no “300BCE”</p>
<p>Wait, so was one wrong, or were they both ok?</p>
<p>One was wrong i recall, and for the boat example “for” is considered correct even though there was no time frame to make the decision. I guess I will just assume that it is correct to use both past tense and present perfect if there is no time frame and it just says “for more than a year…”</p>