Source: mgmat cat

Despite an expensive publicity campaign, ticket sales for the new play were poor enough that it closed only after two weeks.

poor enough that it closed only after two weeks

poor enough that it was closed after only two weeks

so poor that it closed only after two weeks

so poor that it was closed after only two weeks

so poor that only after two weeks it closed

OA: D

A part of the explanation says: Note that the correct answer does change the verb from active to passive voice ("it was closed"), which is generally slightly less preferable

My question is:
1. why is the passive voice 'slightly less preferable'? Active voice would have sounded like this ''Despite an expensive publicity campaign, ticket sales for the new play were so poor that it closed after only two weeks''. After all, the play cannot close itself.
2. Why is the 'it' not considered ambiguous?
It seems to me like 'ticket sales' is the subject. So, isn't it possible that 'it' refers to 'ticket sales'?

Thanks,

1. You're right; that's why we need to change to passive voice, in order to avoid the unintended consequence you note if we keep it in active voice. However, if you have two sentences that are otherwise both perfectly correct but one is active and the other passive, you should go with active voice. This rarely happens though, as most of the time other grammatical issues are dispositive (as we see here)..

2. Ticket sales are plural..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Can anyone explain. What is the difference btw

Only after 2 weeks and
After only 2 weeks

Let's use a simpler example:

"The play closed only after two weeks."
This indicates that many things could have caused the play the close, but it was the passage of two weeks that finally did it. This one doesn't make much sense as written. An example that makes more sense would be:
"The play closed only after the director died".
This shows that the play had gone on and on, surviving various problems, but it closed ONLY after a particular event.


"The play closed after only two weeks."
This indicates that the play closed after a very short time--two weeks! This meaning indicates the author's surprise at the play closing so soon.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor