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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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 Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:09 pm Post subject: Quick warmer |
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I found this little quiz, which should be a good warm up for those pre- to intermediate students that have internet access.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4246472.stm
I got 19/20, but I'm not telling you which I got wrong  |
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hlamb
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Posts: 431
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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I got 20, though to be perfectly honest, I felt the exam was very easy. However, I bet lots of native speakers would have trouble with it!  |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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I missed the one requiring 'long-lost'
I think that hyphenation is a British tradition...
Anyway, finding a long-lost brother probably deserves an exclaimation mark (my 'wrong' answer). Whether it was a positive OR negative experience, it was certainly worthy of some excitement!! |
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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
I missed the one requiring 'long-lost'
I think that hyphenation is a British tradition...
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I didn't take the test but would have hyphenated "long-lost", since it's used as an adjective. As is obvious from my use of "...." instead of '....', I'm not British  . |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
I missed the one requiring 'long-lost'
I think that hyphenation is a British tradition...
Anyway, finding a long-lost brother probably deserves an exclaimation mark (my 'wrong' answer). Whether it was a positive OR negative experience, it was certainly worthy of some excitement!! |
The hyphen is necessary to avoid confusion with your "lost brother" who has excessive length! 
BTW Necessary is a word that always gave me problems (it was one of the spellings on the test), until I learnt:
Never Eat Cucumber, Eat Salmon Sandwiches And Raspberry Yoghurt |
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raulyn
Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 64
Location: D.F.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Phil_K wrote: |
| spiral78 wrote: |
I missed the one requiring 'long-lost'
I think that hyphenation is a British tradition...
Anyway, finding a long-lost brother probably deserves an exclaimation mark (my 'wrong' answer). Whether it was a positive OR negative experience, it was certainly worthy of some excitement!! |
The hyphen is necessary to avoid confusion with your "lost brother" who has excessive length!
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Hyphenated modifiers
http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node24.html
I've had many a debate with some English teachers over this.
It's just an error that many Americans make with English.
It doesn't help that almost all advertising that uses h-m's don't use a hyphen. I warn my students about this discrepancy between academic and applied English in the U.S.. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Lesson learnt. Thanks, guys. |
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El Gallo
Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't it lesson "learned"?  |
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notamiss
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Posts: 908
Location: El 5o pino del la CDMX
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:34 am Post subject: |
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Learnt/learned. It's one of the verbs that have two correct participles.
In many of these cases, the "t" form is more common in UK English and the "ed" form preferred in NA English.
Dreamt/dreamed.
Spelt/spelled.
Burnt/burned.
Leant/leaned.
Spoilt/spoiled.
Smelt/smelled.
etc. |
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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:50 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the spelling reminder, notamiss. And we did miss you today at the zoo  . |
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El Gallo
Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:54 am Post subject: |
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notamiss, of course, thank you
I was being factitious with my British friends |
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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:32 am Post subject: |
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| El Gallo wrote: |
notamiss, of course, thank you
I was being factitious with my British friends |
Isn't spiral78 from the US? And don't you mean "facetious"? |
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GueroPaz
Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 216
Location: Thailand or Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:37 am Post subject: |
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I scored all of the questions correctly except the first, and those definitions could have changed since I learned/learnt them 49 years ago.
I see many of those mistakes made on internet teaching forums. My spelling was excellent until I learned Spanish, which embarases me. 
This American hyphenates long-lost. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| notamiss wrote: |
Learnt/learned. It's one of the verbs that have two correct participles.
In many of these cases, the "t" form is more common in UK English and the "ed" form preferred in NA English.
Dreamt/dreamed.
Spelt/spelled.
Burnt/burned.
Leant/leaned.
Spoilt/spoiled.
Smelt/smelled.
etc. |
...but "dove" instead of "dived" - NEVER! |
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hlamb
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Posts: 431
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| GueroPaz wrote: |
I see many of those mistakes made on internet teaching forums. My spelling was excellent until I learned Spanish, which embarases me.
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Me too! My spelling was always almost-perfect in school and I didn't have to think about it. Now I make far more mistakes and have trouble playing scrabble without a dictionary at hand. |
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