gxwang
王光旭
教師
本課程發文次數: 29
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The Grammar Test that We Discussed in Class Today
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Dear All:
The explanation below is the “possible” answer for the discussion in class today. Every answer in each question could be challenged. If you have any inquiry about each question, you can express your opinion and create a discussion to let us involve in. In my point of view, these three answers in question one are correct in grammar, but the selection (c) might not be used in normal situation as 子豪 said that “will” is not so often to be used with “now”. As question three, the native speaker’s opinion is three answers are possible in different meaning. However, regarding to the grammar rule, “when” is often used to the scenario of specific time point. It is better to use “while” instead of “when” in question three if you chose (b) and (c).
1. ______ swimming now?
(A) Are they still going (B) Do they still go (C) Will they still go
I think each answer is possible, although each produces a somewhat different meaning.
I think (B) is the most likely. It simply asks whether they are continuing to do something which we know that they have done in the past. (C) would imply that something has changed or occurred--maybe the pool near their home has closed and the nearest alternative is miles away, or maybe their favorite coach has left the swimming club, or maybe contamination has been discovered in the pool's water--which may affect their ability or desire to continue to go swimming. (A) could mean the same as (B) (and would be entirely possible, though not I think as likely as (B), if "going"were omitted). However, with "going" it most likely would be asked if something might have affected their desire or ability to go swimming on a one-time basis; maybe they had plans to meet their cousins at the pool to swim, but there is a forecast of thunderstorms with lightning, and the questioner wonders whether, in the light of that new development, they have changed their plans.
2. Why ______, Andrew? Was there something funny?
(A) did you smile (B) are you smiling (C) were you smiling
Every one of these is easily possible, with, of course, different meanings as to time and aspect.
The only reason I mention aspect is to distinguish (a) and (c). You clearly understand what I'm talking about even if the word is buried deep in the past, for both "did smile" (interrogative simple past) and "were smiling" (past progressive) are in the past tense but the focus of "did smile" is on the fact that Andrew has stopped smiling some time in the past, while the focus of "were smiling" is on the fact that he smiled for a period of time that began before and continued until after we picture him in the past. He kept smiling; it was continuous in aspect.
3. The dog bit Helen on the leg when she ______ it.
(A) caught (B) was catching (C) was trying to catch
Again, any of these could be correct. The most automatic choice is (a): Helen catches the dog and then the dog bites her. But (b) says that while Helen is in the process of catching the dog, but before she has completed that act, the dog bites her. And while both (a) and (b) say that Helen was successful in catching the dog, in (c) the dog bites Helen while she is in the process of catching the dog, as in (b), but we don't know whether she ever succeeded in catching it (she probably did not). I don't think "when" is wrong, at least not in contemporary spoken English, but I would rather more expect "while" with (b) and (c). "When" tends to refer more to a point in time, whereas "while" can refer to a period of time during which something else is happening. I think the reason "when" might be used is that the bite takes place at a point in time, even though the catching is a continuous action in progress. On the other hand, it may just be that the distinction between "when" and "while" is dying out.
4. We ______ to go to Taiwan for a vacation, but now we find we do not have enough money.
(A) have intended (B) are intending (C) have been intending Here (c) seems the most natural to me. (b) could mean that the desire to go to Taiwan is still alive, but we do not have enough money to do it at this time; however, in that case "now" would almost certainly come at the end of the sentence, following "money", or else between "not" and "have".
(a) would be unquestionably correct with "had" instead of "have"; but I think it could be said with the same meaning as (c). There might be a slight difference in focus: with (a), although the intention might have persisted for any length of time the emphasis is on the fact that it is over (though it remains relevant in the present); with (c) the emphasis is on the fact that the intention persisted for some period of time.
5. We ______ dinner in half an hour.
(A) will have (B) are having (C) will be having
All three of these are perfectly good English sentences with virtually no difference in meaning or even in focus or emphasis, as far as I can tell. Just
three different ways of referring to the future in English.
6. I ______ until they have returned.
(A) am not leaving (B) will not leave (C) will not be leaving
Just as with 5, all three choices are perfectly good English with virtually no difference in meaning. (a) and (b) could be used to express a fixed intent in the mind of the speaker, a determination, but they also (especially (a)) could refer to a simple fact; (c) can only refer to a simple fact.
文章於 2011/3/25 下午 05:43:19 被 gxwang 編輯過
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