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poof · Joined: 23 May 2005

I'm reckoning there'll be someone out there on this board to explain the reason WHY?

The question is :
During free fall, _________ up to a full minute, a skydiver will fall at a constant sped of 120 m.p.h.

Fill the blank with:
A- it is
B- which is
C- being
D- is

I decided upon 'which is' - also the answer in the book. But ALL my students bar one chose 'being'.
Upon reviewing the question, it is hard to deny why 'being' could not be the answer. So how am I going to explain to my students why they are not correct?
The only reason I can think of is that a 'being + measurement' clause should follow with the word 'long' - am I just imagining it?
Also, with the commas, is 'being' not equivalent to a relevant clause where commas would be necessary?

If anyone can shed some light on this, it would be much appreciated?

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Is this from a TOEFL or TOEIC? If so, is the book published by ETS?
ETS is the testing company, their books are crap for preparation, but they do contain questions taken from the actual test. If your book is from The Princeton Review (TPR) or some other publisher, that publisher made up the question. And that's why you have such a nonsensical problem here.

I always recommend using the real tests provided in the ETS book along side a strategy book like TPR. Note that for the computer adaptive exams like TOEFL and GMAT, you can download "PowerPrep" software for free... real electronic sample tests.

This sentence makes no logical (or physics) sense, because (a) free-fall can last longer than a minute and (b) the skydiver accelerates from zero up to a terminal velocity, his speed is not constant until reaching that velocity.

However, the answer "being" is wrong for the grammatical reason that "skydiver" is the subject of the sentence, not "free fall". That's my best guess.

Kimchieluver · Joined: 02 Mar 2005

I'd go with being as I think free fall is the object. But it still makes no sense.

fancypants · Joined: 22 May 2005

during a series of neural synapse misfires, being up to a minute, my brain will short circuit at a constant rate of 30 zaps per second.

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

You need an adjective clause marker in order to modify "free-fall," such as "which, when, as" or "that." At least according to Heinle 'n Heinle. Being would start an identifying adjective clause that would define "free-fall."

And the other guy is right about people not falling at a constant speed, that question is lame.

matthewwoodford · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Location, location, location.

The Cosmic Hum · Joined: 09 May 2003 Location: Sonic Space

This seems to be one of those archaic tests which gives students and teachers alike good reason to question the inherent validiity of such tests.
This kind of test is looking for what is most correct.
'which is' ...is the most correct...formal ...adjective/relative clause with proper punctuation.

Regardless...the sentence itself is illogical...go figure Cool

"which is" more correctly worded in this sentence ..."which lasts"
Even this is not scientifically valid.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

poof · Joined: 23 May 2005

Thank you for those who replied to my problem.

For anyone's info, the question came from the Longman Complete TOEFL Course.

I had thought it was a good book to teach TOEFL from, but as was pointed out, perhaps practice tests are not always taken from real tests. Also, the text really needs to be interspersed with more thrilling reading material.
What I'm also learning from teaching TOEFL, is that it's always wise to answer the questions yourself before giving them to your students. That way you can foresee any pitfalls, and avoid being caught out with tricky questions. Teaching grammar rules can be nightmarish...

To be simple, I just explained to my students that 'being' should be followed by a state as one of you suggested.

But is it not so that there exist expressions like: 'Being up to ten feet across, the abcwhale is a colossal animal' ?

plokiju · Joined: 15 Mar 2005

I'm in posting mood tonight.

I'd say that the 'being' clause has to be directly related to independent clause. 'Being up to ten feet across' provides some reasoning behind the statement that the abc whale is a colossal animal.

In the first problem, the 'up to a full minute' does nothing to explain why the skydiver falls at a constant rate. 'Which is' is just a way to include extra information in the sentence that isn't pertinent to the main clause. Then again, my only training in English teaching was 2 days of observation so feel free to discredit me.

plattwaz · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Location: <Write something dumb here>

If I were writing that sentence on my own, I wouldn't word it that way...which doesn't help you at all...I know.

But wouldn't the most understandable (yet still correct) thing to say be "During free fall, which can last up to a full minute, a skydiver will fall at a constant speed of 120 mph."

?