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Perfect for pedants' corner

(113 Posts)
CariGransnet (GNHQ) Wed 06-Feb-13 09:15:03

Saw this and thought of you (and us!)

www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/quiz/2013/feb/04/grammar-punctuation-quiz-test?CMP=twt_gu

Elegran Wed 06-Feb-13 13:27:08

I couldn't find a conditional sentence in the three choices on that question, so plumped for that one as being the nearest.

Bags Wed 06-Feb-13 13:30:15

Glad it's not just me, elegran. Actually, I think the test is quite hard for eleven year olds.

Galen Wed 06-Feb-13 13:47:40

11/14. Not bad for a mere doctor who hasn't studied E Lang for 50 years.
Never heard of a Grundy before!

Galen Wed 06-Feb-13 13:48:14

Obviously iPad doesn't know gerund either!

j08 Wed 06-Feb-13 14:41:14

That test isn't for the kids Bags. Thank goodness! (our little feller wouldn't have a clue with that) grin

absent Wed 06-Feb-13 14:50:03

Bags Isn't it actually subjunctive rather than conditional? But that wasn't an option.

janeainsworth Wed 06-Feb-13 14:57:50

Bags wrote: " I don't agree that this sentence is conditional: "He thought he might be able to dig a tunnel through the rock".

I think it is passive because it describes a thought."

Bags passive and active voices are nothing to do with thinking.

If a verb is in the active voice, the sentence goes subject-verb-object.
Or as my Latin master Mr Wetton explained, 'Rover sees the ball'.

If it is in the passive voice, something is done or happens to something else.
Mr Wetton again: 'The ball is seen by Rover'.

Hope that helps grin

janeainsworth Wed 06-Feb-13 15:01:28

I should add that Mr Wetton's explanations were often accompanied by Basil Fawlty-type antics of total exasperation as half the class failed to 'get' it grin

feetlebaum Wed 06-Feb-13 15:02:03

13/14 - but I don't know which question I got wrong!

Funny thing - I don't recall ever hearing the word 'gerund' in my school days. Come to that I didn't learn the "its/it's" set-up until I was in my twenties - so much for Grammar School education!

janeainsworth Wed 06-Feb-13 15:05:52

Feetle If you scroll down a bit further from your score, you can click on a link that takes you to the right answers and it shows where you went wrong.

feetlebaum Wed 06-Feb-13 15:06:39

Bags I don't think that sentence was an example of the subjunctive, which surely needs to express doubt - 'If it be possible to dig a tunnel...'
'Were he to be able to dig a tunnel...'

grumppa Wed 06-Feb-13 15:49:29

14/14, BUT...

In 4 the subordinate clause is conditional, not the sentence.

In 5 the 'correct' answer seems to me to be a subordinate phrase, not a clause. I thought a subordinate clause had to contain a finite verb.

I agree there is confusion between grammatically and orthographically in 10. The same error occurred in one of the 'Two Brains' questions in last Saturday's Times

absent Wed 06-Feb-13 15:55:30

feetlebaum It wasn't Bags who suggested the sentence was subjunctive; it was I. Might expresses doubt. Conditional, surely, is something along the lines of If the weather stays sunny, we shall have a picnic this afternoon.

absent Wed 06-Feb-13 15:55:56

This really is Pedants' Corner isn't it? grin

Riverwalk Wed 06-Feb-13 16:11:00

12 but I googled gerund! grin

Bags Wed 06-Feb-13 16:33:40

Actually, I did suggest it was subjunctive (thought it anyway wink). And I agree, absent, 'might' expresses doubt. The thinker isn't sure he can do something.

jane, thank you. Yes, I remember now, but I didn't know it didn't include thinking. I suppose thoughts don't count as actions. Why? They could, couldn't they? Mental action.

Anyway, which is the conditional bit if it's conditional? If he's able to? Hmm. He didn't think he would do it, he only thought he might be able to. Different.

ayse Wed 06-Feb-13 16:33:59

I wasn't very good a English Language at school but I had a go and managed 14/14. I have to say rather a lot was what is called an educated guess! Still I learn something everyday.

gracesmum Wed 06-Feb-13 16:43:24

I just think it is rich that The Grauniad published this test - the only newspaper ever heard of to mis-spell its own masthead. (Passive voice)
(You might have guessed that this would flush me out (subordinate clause) smile

Bags Wed 06-Feb-13 16:47:20

So, graces, what's your view on the supposed conditional sentence?

gracesmum Wed 06-Feb-13 16:58:48

"He thought" = straightforward past tense
Subordinate clause "that he might....." whatever = conditional
So no I don't agree with any of their options!

Example of a conditional verb? - If it wasn't raining, we would go to the beach. (I think)

Ella46 Wed 06-Feb-13 16:59:29

12/14 for me too, I'm gutted shock

gracesmum Wed 06-Feb-13 17:01:07

Or maybe I mean "we might go to the beach"? hmm scratching head emoticon

Ana Wed 06-Feb-13 17:01:39

Well, as long as you didn't Google 'gerund' Ella, you've done better than me!
#notthatIcaremuch

gracesmum Wed 06-Feb-13 17:02:29

Moral: If you don't get the answer you expect, perhaps you are asking the wrong questions.

Ella46 Wed 06-Feb-13 17:23:07

No I didn't Ana.......#goodguessergrin