Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

I've got a multiple choice question that I need some help with because I'm not confident on the answer - or why.

Choose the sentence that has the same meaning as
"Cathy seems to have been hurt."

(1) It seemed that Cathy had been hurt.
(2) It seemed that Cathy was hurt.
(3) It seems that Cathy was hurt.
(4) It seemed that Cathy is hurt.
(5) It seems that Cathy is hurt.

Am I the only one confused by all of that?

Thanks for any input.

[lifeinkorea]

"Have been", present perfect, is used for describing things that recently happened. I have typed this sentence. Now I am typing this sentence. I typed the first sentence earlier.

So, which answer shows something that finished recently?

1) past, no
2) past, no
3) present observation about a past event, could mean she is not hurt now (50% correct), so no
4) past with present, no (grammar conflict, worst answer available)
5) present observation about something that happened recently, BINGO

[thegadfly]

+1 to lifeinkorea...though I am curious what test that question comes from....

[jizza]

I think both 3 and 5 are acceptable. The rule isn't totally strict in that it means one or the other.

[machoman]

[Riker]

Wow, I need to work on my grammar. They all seemed correct to me. I have a grammar book that I will start working on tonight.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

I think they're all correct grammatically, but I agree with lifeinkorea's explanation even though my initial feeling was #3. It's rare that someone changes my mind on a language/grammar issue...so...kudos!

PS - these tests are ridiculous. I have no doubt that their are Koreans who would get the right answer on this question and be able to explain exactly why...using Korean...but who could not have a comfortable and mostly error-free everyday conversation. -_-;

[different]

Out of context, I guess 5 is the best answer, but it's really tricky because in 5 "hurt" is an adjective, not a verb. If pressed for time, I would've chosen 3. In some contexts 3 would be correct and 5 would be wrong.

Example: "My neighbor's cat, Cathy, likes to fight. For the past couple of years she has been missing a chunk of her ear. Cathy seems to have been hurt. Maybe that big cat up the street bit a piece of her ear off."

In this example, choice 3 is better: It seems that Cathy was hurt.
5 doesn't work, since the injury has surely healed by now: It seems that Cathy is hurt.

Out of context, I guess 5 is the closest answer, but it's debatable, and therefore this question is not a good test question. It's hard to make a perfect test, because there are often different ways to interpret test questions.

[BoholDiver]

I think 3 and 5 are both acceptable. Hurt can mean injured as the occurance at the time, and also a continued state of being hurt. The original sentence does not give us enough information to make that judgment.

[edwardcatflap]

quote]I think they're all correct grammatically[/quote]

How can 4 possibly be correct? On first impressions LifeinKorea�s explanatiuon seems to be the closest though there are still a few issues. I would question his reasoning on the present perfect. The present perfect aspect can show something that has happened recently when used with adverbs such as 'just' and 'recently' but simple past can also be used to describe something that happened recently - e.g. 'I saw him five seconds ago'. The use of present perfect without an adverb e.g. 'I have hurt myself' suggests not necessarily something that happened recently but something that has its result in the present. ie 'I am still hurt now'. Usually something with a present result was completed recently but not always. Look at this example. I've been decorating my house for the last five years. I've painted the dining room and living room but haven't done the kitchen yet.
I agree with Different about possible different meanings of hurt, however I�m not sure I buy the cat example. If a cat had been missing a piece of its ear for two years you would not use the present perfect to talk about it unless you were noticing it for the first time. You would probably say this

"My neighbor's cat, Cathy, likes to fight. For the past couple of years she has been missing a chunk of her ear. She was/got hurt. Maybe that big cat up the street bit a piece of her ear off."

There are, however, other possible meanings of hurt. In the context of emotionally scarred for example, �"Cathy seems to have been hurt." would be a comment on an action that could have happened years ago. Ie �Cathy seems to have been hurt, she takes a long time to trust men completely. In that case number three would be closer to the meaning. So I suppose I agree with Different that�s it�s a poor question, with Boholdiver that 3 and 5 are both possible and with Lifeinkorea that the intended correct answer was probably 5.

[bobbybigfoot]

The answer is 5.

[different]

I looked at it again. It's 3 or 5. They're both fine and overlap in meaning with the original sentence. Without thinking about it like a math problem, 3 feels more similar and fits better intuitively, to me.