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jasonlulu_2000
Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 879
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:18 am Post subject: help |
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I am going to London. Do you have anything ______?
A. to buy b. to be bought
Could any native tell me which one is more appropriate from the grammatical perspective?
There is a similar question:
I am going to London. Do you have anything _______?
A. to take b. to be taken
The answer given is B.
I think the same rule goes for both the questions. Am I right? Or is there any difference between them?
Many thanks for consideration.
Jason |
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eddfx

Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 38 Location: Behind you!
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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You have to love test questions.
These sentence structures are not used by native speakers when we speak. It is obvious these test questions are made by a non-native speaker and used to test you on tenses.
The answer I give is for you to answer your test questions correctly so you can pass your test, but they are not correct in spoken English for they sound clunky and "non-native" to me.
I am going to London. Do you have anything to buy?
This is a strange sentence because the speaker was originally talking about himself going to London then they switch topics without a smooth transition.
These are just sample sentances and only used for examples on how I would personally say them.
I am going to London. Is there anything you want me to buy (for you)?
I am going to London. Is there anything you want bought?
I am going to London. Do you have anything to take?
Again this is a strange sentence because the speaker was originally talking about themselves going to London then they switch topics without a smooth transition.
It sounds better to me to say:
We are leaving for London; do you have anything to take?
These are just my examples. I am really interested in hearing other native English speakers answers as well. |
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CP
Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 2875 Location: California
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with eddfx: These are unnatural constructions made up for test purposes only.
I am going to London. Do you have anything ______?
A. to buy b. to be bought
--A native speaker would say: I am going to London. Do you need anything from there? / Would you like me to get you anything?
I am going to London. Do you have anything _______?
A. to take b. to be taken
--A native speaker would say: I am going to London. Do you have anything to take there / to send there / for me to take there for you? _________________ You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb |
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