Phrase Usage – Understanding ‘Something Sells Well’

phrase-usage

It is always said:

Air conditioners sell well in the summer months.

Could are sold well be used here ?

Best Answer

Air conditioners sell well in the summer months.

Air conditioners are sold well in the summer months.

Those two sentences have slightly different meanings. "air conditioners sell (adverb)" describes if they are selling. "air conditioners are sold (adverb)" describes the skills of the person selling them, or the method they are using to do the selling.

With that said, "Air conditioners are sold well in the summer months" does not work. You could say "Air conditioners are sold well by the sales team", although it sounds a little constructed. You would probably want to use a present voice construction. "Our sales team does a great job of selling air conditioners during the summer."

Related Topic