12/6/2023 0 Comments To this aim definitionHope from now on, we are confident with "aim at" and "aim to".Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit + We should aim for a bigger share of the market. + Our main aim is to increase sales in Europe. + She went to London with the aim of finding a job. The course aims to educate children to cope with dangerous situations. + [(Intransitive verb, in an active form. They are aiming to reduce unemployment by 50%. => FINAL STRUCTURE: aim at Ģ) Aim to: meaning: to try or plan to achieve something They're aiming at training everybody by the end of the year. The government is aiming at a 50% reduction in unemployment. ![]() Passive form in this case is not allowed) These measures are aimed at preventing violent crime. + (Transitive verb, a valid passive form): A valid passive form is: A kick is aimed at my shins She aimed (= directed) a kick at my shins. There are hundreds of nuclear missiles aimed at the main cities. + (Transitive verb, a valid past participle form): Second meaning: to try or plan to achieve something to have something as an aim + I was aiming at the tree but hit the car by mistake First meaning: point or direct sth towards to say or do something that is intended to influence or affect a particular person or group Therefore, focus on active and passive form! Again, difference in meaning between "aim at" and "aim to", in my own opinion, is not so great that it is the reason why the sentence is wrong. Thus, the wrongness of the sentence will lie in the parallelism. When you see "aim at", remember that "aim at" + STH (again, STH may be noun, noun phrase or even V-ing). Thus, any attempt to reduce it to past participle form is WRONG. When you see "aim to", remember that it CANNOT be used in passive voice. The active and passive voice itself is crucially important. Thus, "aim at" is more diverse than "aim to", and not so much different in meaning from that of "aim to". OR: The talks, aimed at influencing public opinion, are successful (past participle for reduced form). EITHER: The talks, aiming at a compromise, are successful (present participle for reduced form) + With such understanding, the reduced form of "a" is: ![]() "Aim at" here is passive voice, or we have: " sb aim sth at sth"). (The government aims the campaign at influencing public opinion. (The talks themselves intend to achieve the compromise, active voice, or we have: " sb/sth aim at sth"ī) The government's campaign is aimed at influencing public opinion. In this aspect, "aim at" is both transitive and intransitive verb.Įx: a) The talks are aiming at a compromise. We do not care much about this meaning.Ģ) Aim at STH: to plan, hope, or intend to achieve sth have the intention of achieving sth ( STH here is a noun, noun phrase, V-ing). + The right sentence HAS TO BE: The project, aiming to reduce the unemployment rate, is a failure ( = The project, which aims to reduce the unemployment rate, is a failure)ġ) Aim (sth) at (sb/sth): point or direct sth towards. + "Which is aimed to" is WRONG because "aim to", with the meaning of "intend to", is an intransitive verb, CANNOT be in passive voice. + The original for this wrong sentence is: The project, which is aimed to reduce the unemployment rate, is a failure. + WRONG: "aimed to" is a past participle in reduced form. ( RIGHT: "aimed to" is in simple past tense, active form).ī) The project, aimed to reduce the unemployment rate, is a failure ![]() Therefore, any sentence that reduces "aim to" in the form of past participle is WRONG because with the active form, when reduced, it should be "aiming to", not "aimed to"Įx: a) I aimed to be a teacher when I was a boy. Or we can understand that "Aim to" CANNOT be used in PASSIVE VOICE. Thus, we say: " SB/STH aims to + Inf"Įx: a) I aim to be a millionaire by the time I'm 35.ī) They are aiming to reduce unemployment by 50%. ![]() Note: "Aim to" is an intransitive verb, which does NOT take a direct object. The following examples are accumulated from Cambridge dictionary ( ) and Oxford dictionary ( ) I would like to clarify more about the ACTIVE AND PASSIVE voice of these words, which, IMO, are the crucial points here. WRONG: We adopted new policies WITH THE AIM TO REDUCE theft.įor difference in meaning between "aim at" and "aim to", Chetan clarifies well enough. RIGHT: We adopted new procedures AIMED AT REDUCING/ WITH THE AIM OF REDUCING theft. It is based on the meaning and frequency of the idioms that one should care about, not the wordy interpretation because that is subjective and in some cases does not help one to have the true answer.īack to the word "aim", in Manhattan Sentence Correction, 4th edition, page 143, we have:
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