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A controversial fill in the blank
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snd2tsy



Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:53 am    Post subject: A controversial fill in the blank Reply with quote
Dear all,

May I ask how would you fill in the following blank ?

That is the man who ______ (take) Joe's pen.
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asterix



Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That is the man who took Joe's pen.
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CP



Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Why is it controversial?
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snd2tsy



Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
CP wrote:
Why is it controversial?

First thanks Asterix for replying. Why is it controversial ? Well, since it is only a little bit more than 5 hours since I post this question, I would like to wait for a few more responses before I point out the controversial part.
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snd2tsy



Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:48 pm    Post subject: The controversial being .... Reply with quote
OK, here is the controversial part.
Imagine I am a fortune teller and I am saying this to a friend "That is the man who will take Joe's (or your) pen."
Or I could be a witness accusing the defendant : "That is the man who has taken Joe's pen."
In fact, I can make up other circumstances such that had taken and would have taken can also be correct.

Now the point is : am I correct on this ? Can I make those assumption ? I really don't know.
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Lorikeet



Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1877
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Of course those are possible. It just shows that you can make up all kinds of interesting stories to match an answer. However, your exercise isn't controversial because the answer that was given is the logical one, if there is no further explanation. If you add the stories and the answers, they are right too, but they wouldn't be chosen as the most common possibility. So I don't think there is any controversy.
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Anuradha Chepur



Joined: 20 May 2006
Posts: 933
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
What a disappointment.

And I spent a sleepless night over it. Sad
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redset



Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 582
Location: England
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Anuradha Chepur wrote:
What a disappointment.

And I spent a sleepless night over it. Sad


Just be glad nobody took your pen! Very Happy
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Anuradha Chepur



Joined: 20 May 2006
Posts: 933
PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'll happily give my pen if anyone could break the suspense. Thanks for the consolation though. Very Happy
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snd2tsy



Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lorikeet wrote:
Of course those are possible. It just shows that you can make up all kinds of interesting stories to match an answer. However, your exercise isn't controversial because the answer that was given is the logical one, if there is no further explanation. If you add the stories and the answers, they are right too, but they wouldn't be chosen as the most common possibility. So I don't think there is any controversy.

Dear Lorikeet, thanks for explaining. Does' that mean I should take the simplest situation instead of making any assumption whenever I do these type of question ?
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