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Please help me making an exam

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
I'm making an English exam for my high school students.
Would someone check my questions, please?
Does each question have the only answer?(Am I making sense?)

Q1) 次の各文の( )にあてはまるものをア~エから選び、解答欄に記号で書きなさい。<20点>
① That bird ( ) to my garden every morning.
ア)come イ)comes ウ)is come エ)is comes
② ( ) your father go to Osaka last week?
ア)Do イ)Did ウ)Was エ)Were
③ ( ) your mother play tennis?
ア)Is イ)Are ウ)Do エ)Does
④ ( ) Tom and Jane playing tennis now?
ア)Is イ)Are ウ)Do エ)Does
⑤I ( ) three cameras now.
ア)have イ)has ウ)am have エ)am having
⑥We ( ) dinner now.
ア)having イ)are having ウ)am have エ)am having
⑦( ) Mary come here every day?
ア)Is イ)Are ウ)Do エ)Does
⑧Did you ( ) to America last month?
ア)go イ)visit ウ)went エ)visited
⑨( ) your sister a junior high school student?
ア)Is イ)Are ウ)Do エ)Does
⑩You can get there earlier ( ) subway.
ア)in イ)on ウ)to エ)by
⑪I ( ) in the park every morning.
ア)run イ)am run ウ)running エ)am running
⑫I like baseball very ( ).
ア)well イ)good ウ)best エ)much
⑬Do you know Tom White very ( )?
ア)well イ)good ウ)best エ)much
⑭Jane and Tom are ( ).
ア)high school student イ)a high school student ウ)high school students エ)a high school students
⑮I ( ) tennis with Jane yesterday.
ア)played イ)was play ウ)was played エ)am playing
⑯( ) your mother Japanese?
ア)Do イ)Does ウ)Is エ)Are
⑰Jane often ( ).
ア)come here イ)come to here ウ)comes here エ)comes to here
⑱I have breakfast ( ) seven every morning.
ア)in イ)at ウ)on エ)for
⑲I usually study English ( ) the morning.
ア)at イ)in ウ)on エ)for
⑳May comes ( ) April.
ア)in イ)on ウ)after エ)before

Q2) Do all the sentences sound right?
1 My mother goes to Britain every year.
2 I was shown to the table.
3 My brother runs around here every day.
4 The people come here every morning.
5 My son lived in Osaka last year.
6 Mary reads a lot of books.
7 They go to school by train.
8 My parents speak English and French fluently.
9 My father is watching TV now.
10 I wanted this car last year.

Q3) 意味の通る英文になるように、[あ]~[こ]にあてはまる適切な語を下の選択肢から記号で選んで
入れなさい。 ただし同じ語を二回用いてはいけません。<各2点 計20点>
[Choose the correct word from the the choices below. You can't choose the same word twice.]
①The [あ] of the meal [い] a few days ago was really [う].
②I [え] to ask the waiter about the volume of the meal.
③It was a [お] as large as the meal I had last Monday.
④The waiter [か] answered the question.
⑤The price of the car was quite [き].
⑥It is [く] for me to run in the park early in the morning.
⑦I work for an [け] company.
⑧Is 2 p.m. [こ] for you?
ア)convenient イ)impressed ウ)quality エ)served オ)decided
カ)politely キ)pleasant ク)reasonable ケ)quarter コ)advertising

A little help would be fine.
Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
Hi Hirashin

For Q3 - I'm not sure イ is correct ? It doesn't fit into any of the answers correctly... Is it meant to be the answer for う? In which case I think 'impressive' is the correct word to use in this context.

All the sentences in Q2 sounded fine. For Q1, there is only one correct answer for each question out of the choices provided (I think this is what you were asking?).

Hope this helps!
 
Oh, thank you for the great help, Yakultcat.
Yes, you are right. I was mistaken.
"impressed" could not be fit into [う].

I've altared ①. How about this one?
① I was really [あ] by the [い] of the meal [う] at the restaurant a few days ago. .
 
Yes, now it's perfect! Impressed can be used for あ and quality and served still fit as the answers to いand う
 
It depends on if Hirashin is after what is grammatically correct for an exam, or after things people say that aren't generally accepted as grammatically correct (i.e. get the grammar pedants frothing at the mouth) but other than them no-one gives a s**t and native speakers will say it.

am running - it's a continuous action that is occurring in the now - so you can't add a time to it that indicates it's something you're doing every morning AND be grammatically correct. But you can say it.

Or at least in English grammar - poss American grammar is different? I know there are a few areas in which we differ... 400 years and some bitter feelings about wasted tea will do that to a language.
 
It depends on if Hirashin is after what is grammatically correct for an exam, or after things people say that aren't generally accepted as grammatically correct (i.e. get the grammar pedants frothing at the mouth) but other than them no-one gives a s**t and native speakers will say it.

am running - it's a continuous action that is occurring in the now - so you can't add a time to it that indicates it's something you're doing every morning AND be grammatically correct. But you can say it.

Or at least in English grammar - poss American grammar is different? I know there are a few areas in which we differ... 400 years and some bitter feelings about wasted tea will do that to a language.
You are correct about "am running" being an action in the now. I "run" in the park every morning is the answer Hirashin is seeking in the quiz above.
 
Or at least in English grammar - poss American grammar is different? I know there are a few areas in which we differ... 400 years and some bitter feelings about wasted tea will do that to a language.

Ah! So that's why you all spell 'defense' with a 'c!' You're reminding us of where we placed your misappropriated tea!

I'm feeling magnanimous, please feel free to retrieve it. ;)
 
I'm feeling magnanimous, please feel free to retrieve it. ;)

I will take you up on that offer! Everyone knows that sea salt magnifies the delightful flavour of tea. The nation will rejoice and we shall chug it all down while ignoring our slowly increasing blood pressures...
 
Thank you for the help, everyone.
Uncle Frank, what's the difference in meaning between
"I run in the park every morning." and "I am running in the park every morning."?
To avoid ambiguity, I'll change the question into
⑪ I ( ) your father.
ア)know イ)knowing ウ)am know エ)am knowing

I hope this works. What do you think?
Hirashin
 
On number (11) , I think "run" and "am running" could both be OK.

For the sentence, "I am running in the park every morning," I count it as acceptable since it could be a shortened form of "I'm out running in the park every morning." (Alt: I go (out) running in the park every morning, or, I'm usually (out) running in the park every morning.)

Personally, I don't like testing things which are acceptable in day-to-day life, but which someone can find/claim there's a rule that it's wrong. But I have a strong preference for descriptive grammar (and not prescriptive).

I know for a fact that TOEIC does not test details such as verb agreement for collective nouns, different to/than, etc., or other common Brit/US differences.
 
How about the following sentences? Are they all acceptable?
a) Tom is swimming in the river every day.
b) Mary is having lunch around 2 p.m. every day.
c) My mother is going to the U.S. every month.
d) A lot of Japanese are taking a bath every day.
e) Most Japanese people are eating/having rice almost every day.
f) My son is watching TV for more than three hours every day.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
Grammatically speaking these sentences are incorrect. The sentence, "I am running in the park every morning." is something I would never say. "Am running", denotes it's ongoing so to be grammatically correct you wouldn't use it. Even in every day speech if someone told me that I would correct them to "run".
 
How about the following sentences? Are they all acceptable?
a) Tom is swimming in the river every day.
b) Mary is having lunch around 2 p.m. every day.
c) My mother is going to the U.S. every month.
d) A lot of Japanese are taking a bath every day.
e) Most Japanese people are eating/having rice almost every day.
f) My son is watching TV for more than three hours every day.

The present progressive can be used for things that are happening temporarily, e.g., "I teach during the school year (( < simple present for that)), but this summer I'm coaching the swim team." (( < temporary, so pres. progressive)) I.e., my summer coaching is temporary.

The difficulty (I think) lies in the thing that you are doing temporarily. Coaching the swim team is easy to think of as a single act, "I'm coaching (every day) this summer," But some of your other examples are not so easily thought of as a single act--going swimming every day, having lunch at two every day, etc. They are repetitive/iterative--a series of actions that seem on the one hand to be a habit, or statement of fact ((which would normally demand simple present)).

As always, context is important, and for your examples, it is pretty easy to imagine a context in which they are perfectly normal, grammatical sentences.

A: I bought a new health club membership and I'm going three times a week.
B: Yeah? Well, Tom is cheap, and he is swimming in the river every day.

Since her new boss has scheduled special new 90-minute meetings at 12:30, Mary is having lunch around 2 p.m. every day.

I think your examples (d) and (e) are a little harder, since there's some cultural knowledge about bathing and eating rice. Still:

Thank goodness, in Kumamoto people are finally getting back to normal--the Japanese (but not the foreigners) are taking a bath (eating rice) every day.

Again, swimming in the river, taking a bath, and eating some rice are iterative/repetitive actions (that happen daily), as opposed to coaching, which is more of a single thing, a project. Just a bit of added context can make them perfectly acceptable--which is why TOEIC doesn't test this kind of thing.

((Let me post this and see how it looks.))
 
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Grammatically speaking these sentences are incorrect. The sentence, "I am running in the park every morning." is something I would never say. "Am running", denotes it's ongoing so to be grammatically correct you wouldn't use it. Even in every day speech if someone told me that I would correct them to "run".

A: This summer, I'm going to do weight training three times a week.
B: Eh? Too much trouble--as for me, I'm running in the park every morning.

Or more simply:
This summer, I'm running in the park every morning.
 
Yes in that context. However, by itself, I think the "am -ing" verbs are incorrect. These contexts show that for a given period of time an action will be ongoing rather than one that's ongoing for an indefinite amount of time. Thanks for the examples.
 
Looking at sentences out of context (or not trying to imagine a context) is like dissecting a dead frog.

Add context and the frog becomes a living, breathing, swimming, noisy creature, that will jump away from you in a moment.
 
Yes, now it's perfect! Impressed can be used for あ and quality and served still fit as the answers to いand う
Thanks, Yakltcat.

Thanks for the detailed explanations about the present progressive tense, jonnyG. It seems a lot more difficult than I thought. English is always a puzzle to me....
 
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