The force of the Greek verb construction in this sentence is to indicate the initiation of an action, and so the Good News Translation has translated started to quarrel (see also Moffatt “a quarrel broke out”). The phrase started to quarrel may simply be translated as “started to talk against each other”; and the group was divided may be rendered as “the group became two groups.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .