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rsl12 · 05-01-2003, 07:18 AM

deconstructing the quiz. ps. i'm not a english teacher, so these reasons are my *educated guesses*! but i did get the entire quiz right, minus one.

1. The manager threw the team a party because *of them* breaking a two-week losing streak.

In English you can't modify a personal pronoun. E.g., when you say "Richard talked to him wearing a hat.", you mean that richard wore a hat, not "him." When you say "Richard talked to the man wearing a hat," most likely you mean the man is wearing the hat. Therefore you can't say "them breaking a two-week losing streak."

2. Will everyone pass in *their* homework?

The word "everyone" is singular. E.g. you would say "Everyone is going to the party", not "Everyone are going to the party." therefore you must use a singular pronoun.

3. Having *snuck* out of the service, the congregant didn't contribute to the offering.

Whenever "have" is with a verb, you must use the past participle. "Snuck" is the simple past tense, "sneaked" is the past participle. Kind of tricky--you consider that for the verb "drink", the simple past is "drank" and the past participle is "drunk," so you could say "Having drunk four bottles of malt liquor, Harry's stomach strangled itself, ejecting mom's meatloaf." I think English and American conjugations of "sneak" are slightly different. i may have to do a little research.

4. Had I been ready, I could have *went* to the game early.

same as above. "Went" is simple past (ie, "I went to the game.") and "gone" is the past participle ("I had gone to the game.")

5. Winning the award was more *then* she had ever hoped.

ez, right?

6. That *was information* supposed to be heard only by Michael and *myself*.

I think the editors missed a mistake. Correctly, I think it should read "That information was supposed to be heard only by Michael and me."

The first correction is because "supposed to be heard" is not a modifying phrase--gramatically, I don't think it's anything.

The second correction: "myself" is a reflexive pronoun and requires that the subject refer to the same object as the pronoun. Eg, "I went there by myself" is correct. In this case, "information" is the subject, and "me" should be used.

7. The soldier could "of" looted the abandoned bank but resisted the temptation.

colloquial substitution of "of" for "have".

8. The decision was reached *between* my mother, my sister and me.

"Between" is used for two nouns, "among" for any number greater than two.

9. I read less books during the school year than in the summer.

because you can count books, "fewer" should be used instead of "less." "I ate less food during the school year" would be ok.

10. I appreciated knowing him because he was different *than* most of my other friends.

To use "than" in this case requires a comparative adjective. Ie, you could have said "...he was more different than..." since "more" is not there, it's just a regular old adjective phrase, so it takes "from", since it's the preposition that "different" takes.

11. Despite the prisoner's being under suicide watch, he *hung* himself.

When you hang something on a wall, that is different from being hanging a person. The two verbs have different conjugations.

12. She wished her partner was not so stubborn.

Any clause following the verb "wish" needs to be a subjuctive clause. (Subjunctive is the verb tense to express something that did not/is not/will not be expected to happen, but is being considered hypothetically. Eg, "I should have gone to the store.") For reasons beyond me, "were" is the past subjunctive third-person singular form.

13. My niece wanted my sister and *I* to pick her up at the train station.

"I" is a subject pronoun. Since your niece is the subject in this case, you should use the object pronoun "me" instead. (even though you are the one picking her up at the train station! because the sentence wouldn't sound right if you said "My sister wanted I to pick her up....")

14. In accumulated sales he was far less successful than *her*.

"Than" seems like a preposition that takes an object. However, in this case you are comparing "He" and "she". The two must agree in being either subjects or objects. (Other examples: The donkey rubbed him harder than her. The crossdresser wore more jewelry than she.)

15. I couldn't remember *whom* I had thought was more important.

This is tricky. "Whom" is the relative pronoun used for objects, while "who" is for subjects. In this case it seems that "whom" refers to the person that "I" had thought about, but actually "I had thought" is a modifier to the word "whom", and the phrase, stripped to the bare essense, is 'I couldn't remember whom was more important." Is this case, it's more clear that "whom" should be "who".

ADDENDUM: actually, I'm sure my reasoning is incorrect for 15. It seems to me now that "I had thought" doesn't modify "whom," and that the relative clause is really "whom I had thought was more important." However, If you make this into a regular sentence: "I had thought he was more important", it becomes clear that the pronoun (ie, "he") should be in subjective case (Since "I had thought him was more important" sounds wrong). Therefore "who" should be used instead of "whom".

05-01-2003, 07:18 AM	#4 (permalink)
rsl12 On the lam Location: northern va	deconstructing the quiz. ps. i'm not a english teacher, so these reasons are my educated guesses! but i did get the entire quiz right, minus one. 1. The manager threw the team a party because of them breaking a two-week losing streak. In English you can't modify a personal pronoun. E.g., when you say "Richard talked to him wearing a hat.", you mean that richard wore a hat, not "him." When you say "Richard talked to the man wearing a hat," most likely you mean the man is wearing the hat. Therefore you can't say "them breaking a two-week losing streak." 2. Will everyone pass in their homework? The word "everyone" is singular. E.g. you would say "Everyone is going to the party", not "Everyone are going to the party." therefore you must use a singular pronoun. 3. Having snuck out of the service, the congregant didn't contribute to the offering. Whenever "have" is with a verb, you must use the past participle. "Snuck" is the simple past tense, "sneaked" is the past participle. Kind of tricky--you consider that for the verb "drink", the simple past is "drank" and the past participle is "drunk," so you could say "Having drunk four bottles of malt liquor, Harry's stomach strangled itself, ejecting mom's meatloaf." I think English and American conjugations of "sneak" are slightly different. i may have to do a little research. 4. Had I been ready, I could have went to the game early. same as above. "Went" is simple past (ie, "I went to the game.") and "gone" is the past participle ("I had gone to the game.") 5. Winning the award was more then she had ever hoped. ez, right? 6. That was information supposed to be heard only by Michael and myself. I think the editors missed a mistake. Correctly, I think it should read "That information was supposed to be heard only by Michael and me." The first correction is because "supposed to be heard" is not a modifying phrase--gramatically, I don't think it's anything. The second correction: "myself" is a reflexive pronoun and requires that the subject refer to the same object as the pronoun. Eg, "I went there by myself" is correct. In this case, "information" is the subject, and "me" should be used. 7. The soldier could "of" looted the abandoned bank but resisted the temptation. colloquial substitution of "of" for "have". 8. The decision was reached between my mother, my sister and me. "Between" is used for two nouns, "among" for any number greater than two. 9. I read less books during the school year than in the summer. because you can count books, "fewer" should be used instead of "less." "I ate less food during the school year" would be ok. 10. I appreciated knowing him because he was different than most of my other friends. To use "than" in this case requires a comparative adjective. Ie, you could have said "...he was more different than..." since "more" is not there, it's just a regular old adjective phrase, so it takes "from", since it's the preposition that "different" takes. 11. Despite the prisoner's being under suicide watch, he hung himself. When you hang something on a wall, that is different from being hanging a person. The two verbs have different conjugations. 12. She wished her partner was not so stubborn. Any clause following the verb "wish" needs to be a subjuctive clause. (Subjunctive is the verb tense to express something that did not/is not/will not be expected to happen, but is being considered hypothetically. Eg, "I should have gone to the store.") For reasons beyond me, "were" is the past subjunctive third-person singular form. 13. My niece wanted my sister and I to pick her up at the train station. "I" is a subject pronoun. Since your niece is the subject in this case, you should use the object pronoun "me" instead. (even though you are the one picking her up at the train station! because the sentence wouldn't sound right if you said "My sister wanted I to pick her up....") 14. In accumulated sales he was far less successful than her. "Than" seems like a preposition that takes an object. However, in this case you are comparing "He" and "she". The two must agree in being either subjects or objects. (Other examples: The donkey rubbed him harder than her. The crossdresser wore more jewelry than she.) 15. I couldn't remember whom I had thought was more important. This is tricky. "Whom" is the relative pronoun used for objects, while "who" is for subjects. In this case it seems that "whom" refers to the person that "I" had thought about, but actually "I had thought" is a modifier to the word "whom", and the phrase, stripped to the bare essense, is 'I couldn't remember whom was more important." Is this case, it's more clear that "whom" should be "who". ADDENDUM: actually, I'm sure my reasoning is incorrect for 15. It seems to me now that "I had thought" doesn't modify "whom," and that the relative clause is really "whom I had thought was more important." However, If you make this into a regular sentence: "I had thought he was more important", it becomes clear that the pronoun (ie, "he") should be in subjective case (Since "I had thought him was more important" sounds wrong). Therefore "who" should be used instead of "whom". __________________ oh baby oh baby, i like gravy. Last edited by rsl12; 05-01-2003 at 07:50 AM..