<ol>
<li>The Roman Empire, often by questionable means, attempted to bring their version of law and order to provinces throughout Europe.</li>
</ol>
<p>D. Questionable means were often used by the Roman Empire, in attempting to bring its
E. Often by questionable means, the Roman Empire attempted to bring its</p>
<p>Collegeboard states D is wrong just because it’s in the passive voice.</p>
<p>Are there any guidelines when it comes to passive voice on the SAT?</p>
<p>The general rule for passive voice on the SAT is, if the sentence can be modified using the active voice and without additional grammatical errors, then the option including passive voice is always incorrect. </p>
<p>Without speaking in terms of passive/active, we can tell choice D is unnecessarily lengthy and unclear…“were often used…in attempting to bring…”</p>
<p>Some people claim passive voice is wrong, some claim SAT doesn’t test passive voice, some say if there’s no alternative then passive is OK. In this case, D is wrong because the comma before is is incorrect. A comma is not used before a dependent clause. If the dependent clause starts the sentence, the comma is needed.</p>
<p>Passive voice is “style” on the SAT, which means it’s wrong if it’s the only distinguisher from another otherwise correct answer. If no other answer is grammatically correct, then passive is fine, but if another is correct and doesn’t feature passive voice, select it. In other words, grammar always trumps style on the SAT, but style is tested, at least with passive voice use.</p>
<p>D is wrong not because of the passive voice but because of wrong modifier. Who/which attempted to bring~? The Roman Empire or qurstionable means? Definitely the former.</p>