I heard this on a Travel Channel show about “extreme Christmas” celebrations.<\/p>\n
Problems:<\/strong> Explanation:<\/strong> I believe that the use of “beat” instead of “beaten” when the latter is appropriate represents<\/p>\n The one-syllable “beat” is simpler than the two-syllable “beaten” to say, which is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis about American English. Throw in a common lack of understanding how sentences in the active voice<\/em> are converted to sentences in the passive voice<\/em>, and it’s no wonder that many English speakers choose “beat” (incorrectly) instead of “beaten” in a statement posed in the passive voice<\/em>.<\/p>\n The other problem with the original statement is that the adverb “out” is unnecessary. Even in active voice — “Liverpool beat out Las Vegas.” — the adverb “out” is unnecessary. I have noticed a trend in American English (I can’t say whether the trend exists in other English-speaking countries.) to add one or more unnecessary adverbs after verbs, and this problematic statement contains yet another example of this trend.<\/p>\n Solution:<\/strong> I heard this on a Travel Channel show about “extreme Christmas” celebrations. Problems: 1. The verb “beat” is incorrect here. 2. The adverb “out” is unnecessary. Explanation: The statement is written in passive voice, albeit incorrectly. In particular, “beaten” — not “beat” — is the passive form of the verb “to beat”. (The statement in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,19,18,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adverbs","category-common-english-blunders","category-devolution-toward-simpler","category-passive-voice","category-verbs"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n1. The verb “beat” is incorrect here.
\n2. The adverb “out” is unnecessary.<\/p>\n
\nThe statement is written in passive voice<\/em>, albeit incorrectly. In particular, “beaten” — not “beat” — is the passive form of the verb “to beat”. (The statement in active voice<\/em> would be “Liverpool beat Las Vegas.”)<\/p>\n\n
\n“Las Vegas was beaten by Liverpool.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"