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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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 Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:21 pm Post subject: 2 Grammar Questions, Multiple Choice |
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Do you see 1 or 2 possible answers to the grammar questions below? If only 1, why?
1. Do you know the girl ___ by the teacher now?
a. to be mentioned
b. being mentioned
c. mentioned
d. mentioning
2. The morning air is so good ___.
a. to be breathed
b. to breathe
c. breathing
d. being breathed |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:49 pm Post subject: Re: 2 Grammar Questions, Multiple Choice |
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| YTMND wrote: |
Do you see 1 or 2 possible answers to the grammar questions below? If only 1, why?
1. Do you know the girl ___ by the teacher now?
a. to be mentioned
b. being mentioned
c. mentioned
d. mentioning
2. The morning air is so good ___.
a. to be breathed
b. to breathe
c. breathing
d. being breathed |
One possible answer. 1. "Now" makes the use of the progressive, answer b. correct. The others can't. You need the being because it's passive voice.However, the whole thing is off because how can you be commenting at the same time the teacher "is mentioning" since a mention is quick and short. "Do you know the girl the teacher just mentioned?" would be regular usage.
2. Answer is again b. c. has the air doing the breathing, which is logically impossible. d. is passive without an object to act, a. is future which makes no sense since the morning air isn't going to change; it;s always good. And besides, they're not in the corpus. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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What if you looked at the word "now" in a different way.
A: Do you remember the person we met at the party?
B: No, I don't. Which one?
A: The one with blonde hair and red glasses. Do you remember now?
B: Oh, yea. I remember now.
Do you still think there's only 1 correct answer now?
In the second sentence, I would choose "b" also. However, I thought "a" might also be acceptable even though it sounds awkward.
The morning air is so good to be breathed.
It is so good to breathe morning air.
I don't think "to be" refers 100% to future events, but rather recurring events. I do think it sounds strange, but I don't know of a grammatical rule to say it's wrong. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
What if you looked at the word "now" in a different way.
A: Do you remember the person we met at the party?
B: No, I don't. Which one?
A: The one with blonde hair and red glasses. Do you remember now?
B: Oh, yea. I remember now.
Do you still think there's only 1 correct answer now?
In the second sentence, I would choose "b" also. However, I thought "a" might also be acceptable even though it sounds awkward.
The morning air is so good to be breathed.
It is so good to breathe morning air.
I don't think "to be" refers 100% to future events, but rather recurring events. I do think it sounds strange, but I don't know of a grammatical rule to say it's wrong. |
You've changed the context, so I still say one answer for #1.
Can you give examples of "to be" referring to recurring events because I don't buy that at all. To be continued... |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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In one, a is also possible as a future form
e.g.
That man is to be executed in a few minutes
That man is to be executed now (very near future)
That girl is to be mentioned by the teacher in a few minutes (for doing something good/bad)
Do you know the girl to be mentioned by the teacher now? |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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edwardcatflap,
I like the change from knowing to killing 
But yea, that's what I am getting at. Also, couldn't you say, "Do you know the girl mentioned by the teacher now?" (The teacher mentions a girl at the school, the person being asked later meets her, and then a classmate asks. Maybe more time has to go by to make it more realistic, but I think you can understand the point I am making here.)
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| You've changed the context |
Changed it from what the test makers were thinking, yea probably. That's why I asked. However, when taking a test, I don't see how an answer should be completely wrong just because the test makers didn't consider it.
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| Can you give examples of "to be" referring to recurring events |
"To be woken up by the neighbor's dog every morning gives me a headache. I should talk to my neighbor about this."
It sounds awkward, but I don't see it as wrong. Is there a rule that would clearly prevent it from being acceptable in all possible situations? |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:39 am Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
edwardcatflap,
I like the change from knowing to killing
But yea, that's what I am getting at. Also, couldn't you say, "Do you know the girl mentioned by the teacher now?" (The teacher mentions a girl at the school, the person being asked later meets her, and then a classmate asks. Maybe more time has to go by to make it more realistic, but I think you can understand the point I am making here.)
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| You've changed the context |
Changed it from what the test makers were thinking, yea probably. That's why I asked. However, when taking a test, I don't see how an answer should be completely wrong just because the test makers didn't consider it.
| Quote: |
| Can you give examples of "to be" referring to recurring events |
"To be woken up by the neighbor's dog every morning gives me a headache. I should talk to my neighbor about this."
It sounds awkward, but I don't see it as wrong. Is there a rule that would clearly prevent it from being acceptable in all possible situations? |
It's not wrong but you've changed the verb tense with woken so it doesn't apply to your original example. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| It's not wrong but you've changed the verb tense with woken so it doesn't apply to your original example. |
I don't understand what you are talking about. In 1, I was addressing the word "now". It is not a verb and could not be construed as a verb tense. Or were you referring to 2? I don't see what point you would be making in either case. Please expound.
In any case, I didn't post a different answer or question. I merely interpreted the question differently. The issue here is interpretation vs. standardized answers based on only one line of thinking. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| It's not wrong but you've changed the verb tense with woken so it doesn't apply to your original example. |
I don't understand what you are talking about. In 1, I was addressing the word "now". It is not a verb and could not be construed as a verb tense. Or were you referring to 2? I don't see what point you would be making in either case. Please expound.
In any case, I didn't post a different answer or question. I merely interpreted the question differently. The issue here is interpretation vs. standardized answers based on only one line of thinking. |
Changing the verb tense used in the sentence is not re-interpreting it.
Good luck with finding the answer you're seeking. I gave you my answer. |
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wings
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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double post
Last edited by wings on Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:21 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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wings
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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"To be woken up by the neighbor's dog every morning gives me a headache. I should talk to my neighbor about this."
This is wrong as an infinitive can't be a subject in everyday modern English. You can still find examples of it in proverbs etc, or in cases where the old fashioned grammar is being used as emphasis but you can't use this form outside of relics.
You need a gerund here "Being woken up..." not an infinitive. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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| wings wrote: |
"To be woken up by the neighbor's dog every morning gives me a headache. I should talk to my neighbor about this."
This is wrong as an infinitive can't be a subject in everyday modern English. You can still find examples of it in proverbs etc, or in cases where the old fashioned grammar is being used as emphasis but you can't use this form outside of relics.
You need a gerund here "Being woken up..." not an infinitive. |
wings, you came in to the middle of a conversation. The original post wasn't about what you commented on. A person replied to me asking for an example, I gave an example, supported now by your information.
Please read the whole thread before commenting. From top, work your way down, don't just bite at the bottom post. Look at the original post and see if 1 or 2 answers are correct.
Looking forward to reading your opinions. |
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Binch Lover
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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YTMND, what's your point of this post? You ask a question and then get snippy at people who respond.
Why don't you just consider the "right answer" to be the best or most logical answer? As you have shown, it takes a bit of explanation to set up a context in which answer (a) is correct. However, answer (b) jumps out as being correct in any context. |
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wings
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| wings, you came in to the middle of a conversation. The original post wasn't about what you commented on. A person replied to me asking for an example, I gave an example, supported now by your information. |
I did read the whole thread. I responded only to something that I saw that was wrong that happened to be halfway down the page.
My example doesn't support you. You are wrong.
There is only 1 right answer to the multiple choice questions you posted. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| YTMND, what's your point of this post? You ask a question and then get snippy at people who respond. |
The point is to get an opinion, not to read someone's reply which is out of sequence in a conversation I was having with another person.
I understand comments like theirs and yours will get in the way of a fluid conversation. Thank you for the comments you made in the second part. That's what I was looking for.
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| I saw that was wrong |
You said it was wrong within a limited context, but not always.
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| My example doesn't support you. |
I don't see any example sentences by you.
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| There is only 1 right answer to the multiple choice questions you posted. |
Then, we disagree. |
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