Q&A - P4 English

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grammartots


Thanks

[smurf28]

Hi can someone explain to me why the answer is in present tense?


Susan had seen a burglar ____into that house a week ago.
1)break
2)broke
answer :break
why not ’ broke '?

[grammartots]

smurf28:

Hi can someone explain to me why the answer is in present tense?


Susan had seen a burglar ____into that house a week ago.
1)break
2)broke
answer :break
why not ' broke '?

The answer \"break\" is not present tense -- \"break\" is non-finite (i.e. it has no subject, tense or number).

The question above is similar to the one below, which is the more common version:

1) Susan saw a burglar break/breaking into that house a week ago.

(Actually, with the time \"a week ago\" given, the simple past \"saw\" may be preferrable to the past perfect \"had seen\").

The verb \"saw\" is a sense verb . When you have a verb that follows a sense verb, the second verb is non-finite and can only be the infinitive (\"break\") or -ing (\"breaking\") form.

Changing the sense verb \"saw\" to \"had seen\" does not change the rule above. So the answer is \"break\" (or \"breaking\").

If you're interested, I've discussed this topic in greater detail at this link http://grammartots.blogspot.sg/2012/05/verbs-of-senses-part-1.html.

[CayennePepper]

I’m puzzling over these S&T questions.

Which are the better/acceptable constructions?

1. The dog bit the man. It then ran off into the woods.
(a) After the dog bit the man, it ran off into the woods.
Or
(b) After biting the man, the dog ran off into the woods.
Edit to add:
After the dog had bitten the man, it ran off into the woods.
—

2. The dog bit the man. It then ran off into the woods.
(a) Before the dog ran off into the woods, it had bitten the man.
Or
(b) Before the dog ran off into the woods, it bit the man.
Or
Before running off into the woods, the dog had bitten the man.
Or
(d) Before running off into the woods, the dog bit the man.
—

3. The girls are all here. Mary is not.
(a) The girls are all here, except Mary.
Or
(b) The girls are all here, except for Mary.
Or
(3) All the girls are here except Mary.
Or
(4) All the girls are here except for Mary.

Much thanks in advance!

[CayennePepper]

Oops, these didn’t get copied earlier.


4. The crowd cheered wildly when they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer.
(a) As soon as the crowd caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, they cheered wildly.
Or
(b) As soon as they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, the crowd cheered wildly.

5. Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course. She was afraid of heights.
(a) Despite Mary’s fear of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.
Or
(b) Despite her fear of heights, Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course.

All the answers sound right to me!

[grammartots]

CayennePepper:

Oops, these didn't get copied earlier.


4. The crowd cheered wildly when they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer.
(a) As soon as the crowd caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, they cheered wildly.
Or
(b) As soon as they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, the crowd cheered wildly.

5. Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course. She was afraid of heights.
(a) Despite Mary's fear of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.
Or
(b) Despite her fear of heights, Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course.

All the answers sound right to me!

You may get different opinions from different people with the questions you gave, because with Synthesis and Transformation, sometimes it's not so clear-cut whether an answer that changes the original meaning only slightly is acceptable.

Looking at example (4), I would say both are acceptable. The difference between the two lies in whether you have an anaphoric (backward) or cataphoric (forward) reference. Some people prefer version 4a (anaphoric) because there it may be easier to understand without the undefined pronoun \"they\".

As for (5), I would prefer to use the original word \"afraid\" instead of \"fear\", because there's less chance of making a mistake. You see, with an exam like PSLE, the student doesn't get a chance to look at how his or her paper is marked. And if his or her answer deviates from the agreed answer or answers, then you never know whether he's going to get any point for that question.

So I would go for version (5c) below:

(5c) Despite the fact that Mary was afraid of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.

[CayennePepper]

grammartots, many thanks for your response

It's really frustrating that there seems to be various acceptabe answers for S&T! Wish there're clearer guidelines.

[smurf28]

Hi grammartots

thank for your explaination

[grammartots]

smurf28:

Hi grammartots

thank for your explaination

You're welcome. Hope it helped

[grammartots]

CayennePepper:

grammartots, many thanks for your response

It's really frustrating that there seems to be various acceptabe answers for S&T! Wish there're clearer guidelines.

Having more than one acceptable answer is fine, because sometimes there's more than one way to rewrite (transform) the given sentence or sentences. What's bad is when not enough flexibility is exercised (by tutors or teachers) and a perfectly legitimate answer is marked wrong. I've come across cases like that, yes, even for exams.

Yes, having clearer guidelines would really help.