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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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 Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 6:41 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
| Waygeek wrote: |
| schwa wrote: |
| They're all correct. |
I would bloody hope so, or my grammar needs some serious brushing up.
I have a question? Why are some ESL teachers so anal about this stuff? I have some very gifted students, they are going straight to Yonsei, and they do not need to learn this stuff. This is never going to assist them. Better to spend the time on conversation skills IMO. |
It's not EFL teachers that worry about this stuff, it's the Koreans with all their
tests.
They make up all kinds of phoney rules and put them into their grammar books to control education. That way they can baffle the waygukins
and make themselves seem smart. |
Unfortunately, the real reason is much simpler: some of them have no idea what they are doing. |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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For direct questions, the verb comes before the subject. For indirect questions, the subject comes before the verb. Therefore, #4 is incorrect. This is not a bad test question, nor a hard one.
In spoken English many people use verb + sub for indirect questions, but it is grammatically incorrect. |
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The Cosmic Hum
Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Which answer is "incorrect"? |
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| sirius black wrote: |
A teacher friend has a student that was given this question. They have to find the incorrect answer.
Can you tell me _______________________?
1. why you are so busy
2. where the post office is
3. what your favorite subject is
4. which is the largest city in Korea
5. how many girls there are in your class
I've ruled out #s 1 and 5 automatically. 2 and 3 end in is which may or may not be a slight grammatical matter. #4 could be 'what' instead of 'which'.
Any ideas? And yes, there are some very poorly written exam questions in this country.
Thanks in advance. |
Do you know if it has to be a 'wrong answer'...or just the odd one out of the group?
It is quite common to have to choose an answer with the odd grammar structure. |
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drydell
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| War Eagle wrote: |
For direct questions, the verb comes before the subject. For indirect questions, the subject comes before the verb. Therefore, #4 is incorrect. This is not a bad test question, nor a hard one.
In spoken English many people use verb + sub for indirect questions, but it is grammatically incorrect. |
Actually I think it's a bit more tricky in this case. Yes the subject comes before the verb in most indirect questions. But...
We don't seem to do this for some which questions as in this case -
A Can you tell me which is the largest city in Korea?
vs
B Can you tell me which the largest city in Korea is?
So for some reason (I can't find why right now) the given answer was actually correct in common use English.
B should be correct but is never used right? Maybe someone else can explain why... |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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Number one is incorrect. That's clearly Konglish.  Wait....so is number three. ...crap. |
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Waygeek
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
It's not EFL teachers that worry about this stuff, it's the Koreans with all their
tests.
They make up all kinds of phoney rules and put them into their grammar books to control education. That way they can baffle the waygukins
and make themselves seem smart. |
Can't say I've ever seen something this rigid in an ESL book, ever. It's far more basic, even at higher intermediate. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 6:53 am Post subject: |
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Murphy's Grammar in Use is all you should need.
I agree that some of these "rules" they come up with are more of a
hindrance than a help when it comes to language learning.
But as long as they have to pass all these grammar tests, they need
to understand some rules and when to apply them.
There is a time and a place for everything.
A lot of times I've seen them have students study grammar that's way
too difficult for their level. I wish they wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't call any of them wrong, and I see that at least some other posters would agree.
It's a poor question, the point is unclear. |
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