Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

It seems that living green is surprisingly easy and affordable. A small step masks a big difference.

What does "living green" mean? Is green here an adverb or adjective?


Having a husband means an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, according to a new study. For men, getting married saves an hour of housework a week. �It�s a well-known pattern,� said lead researcher Frank Stafford at University of Michigan�s Institute for Social Research. �Men usually work more outside the home, while women take on more of the housework.�
He points out that differences among households exist. But in general, marriage means more housework for women and less for men. �And the situation gets worse for women when they have children.� Stafford said.
Overall, times are changing in the American home. In 1976, women busied themselves with 26 weekly hours of sweeping-and-dusting work, compared with 17 hours in 2005. Men are taking on more housework, more than doubling their housework hours from six in 1976 to 13 in 2005.
Single women in their 20s and 30s did the least housework, about 12 weekly hours, while married women in their 60s and 70s did the most � about 21 hours a week.
Men showed a somewhat different pattern, with older men picking up the broom more often than younger men. Single men worked the hardest around the house, more than that of all other age groups of married men.
Having children increases housework even further. With more than three, for example, wives took on more of the extra work, clocking about 28 hours a week compared with husbands� 10 hours.

What can we conclude from Stafford�s research?
A. Marriage gives men more freedom.
B. Marriage has effects on job choices.
C. Housework sharing changes over time.
D. Having children means doubled housework.

I think both A and C are right according to the text. But the answer given is only C. Why do you think answer A is wrong?

Thanks

[pugachevV]

Living green is a current catch phrase for trying to lessen one's impact on the environment. It might consist of things like driving a smaller car, recycling, cutting down your use of non-renewable resources, composting, planting trees and so on.

Green is an adjective, but it seems to be used here, in the absence of a complete sentence, as an adverb modifying living. In that case, it is used incorrectly. The adverbial form of green is greenly.




According to the text, C. is the only correct answer.
However, that answer (C.) is not quite correct.
What the answer says is that housework sharing changes over time. This is not necessarily true. The text only says that housework sharing, as measured in 2005, has changed compared to housework sharing as measured in 1976. It does not, logically, follow that it will continue to change in future.
As for Answer (A.).. I take your point that if a man has to do less housework, he might be presumed to have more freedom.
A marriage, however, does not consist of just housework. Both a man and a woman give up a considerable amount of other freedoms when they get married, so Answer (A.) does not hold water.

[jasonlulu_2000]

Thank you.