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Pedants' corner
Original poster

Has anyone done this quiz?

39 replies

PanicMode · 15/04/2013 09:49

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationquestions/9987757/Good-grammar-test-can-you-pass.html

I thought my grammar was fairly solid, but was quite shocked by the result.

OP posts:
Trills · 15/04/2013 09:50

If I wanted to be very very pedantic I would answer you with "yes, I expect someone has done that quiz". :o

EugenesAxe · 15/04/2013 10:00

I got 58%; it was all the 'nowhere near good enough' questions that shafted me. And the Latin one. And Evelyn; I genuinely still can't see how you can tell he's male.

It was hard though... and like you I generally consider myself OK!

Original poster
PanicMode · 15/04/2013 10:11

Ha, Trills!! I read it so carefully before I posted but hadn't anticipated that response!

EugenesAxe - I also, still, do not understand how you know it is a male sibling.

OP posts:
Trills · 15/04/2013 10:29

I think that you don't necessarily have to know what parts of speech are called in order to use them correctly.

AuntieStella · 15/04/2013 10:39

Clickable link

I had two wrong answers, and would also like to know the reasoning for the "Evelyn" answer.

duchesse · 15/04/2013 10:40

75% Go me and my French education... Grin

Isn't there some rule about ladies first in introductions, meaning that Evelyn has to be male because s/he is introduced last?

ginslinger · 15/04/2013 10:40

I got 67%. I got the sibling question wrong, the first question wrong and 'my teaching you' wrong. It was very hard, I think.

Trills · 15/04/2013 10:47

"Isn't there some rule about ladies first in introductions, meaning that Evelyn has to be male because s/he is introduced last?"

That would be point of etiquette rather than grammar, wouldn't it?

WowOoo · 15/04/2013 10:48

I chose Evelyn as male as it might have said 'one of my sisters' otherwise. I have no idea why it's correct in all honesty!

I got 83%. Quite a lot of lucky guessing.

Original poster
PanicMode · 15/04/2013 10:49

I have found the setter's answer to the sibling question. I don't think it's a very satisfactory one (IMHO) Grin.

  1. ?I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to my brother Mark who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn." The absence of a comma before "who doesn't" makes that clause part of the definition of Mark, implying that there are other brothers. Try reading the sentence with the word "Mark" omitted.
OP posts:
AMumInScotland · 15/04/2013 10:51

58% - I don't think I've even heard of "adverbs qualifying adverbs" before.

And I don't get the Evelyn question either, unless it's to do with etiquette rather than grammar or logic.

JuliaScurr · 15/04/2013 11:02

50%
Blush

BOF · 15/04/2013 11:05

75%. It was a bit of a brain melter though.

WowOoo · 15/04/2013 11:07

Have just re read my reasoning for the Evelyn answer and it makes no sense at all!

Your explanation Op, DOES make sense!

senua · 15/04/2013 11:13

The Evelyn question is a bit suspect. I think the reasoning that the speaker has the brother-who-doesn't live-in NY, which implies that he is trying to differentiate him from another brother. Therefore the only other sibling, Evelyn, must be male.

I'm glad that it wasn't a timed test.

LilyAmaryllis · 15/04/2013 11:14

50% here too! I don't even know what a preposition is. I was at school when they didn't teach grammar. BUT I think I write well, in normal life!

Trills · 15/04/2013 11:14

So:

"my brother who doesn't" suggests that there is also a brother who does.

Is that it?

Frankly I think whoever is supposedly uttering that sentence is being an arse. If someone referred to "my brother" and "my sister" and "my sibling" I'd think that the other sibling was probably having some gender identity issues, and that the speaker was unsure with how to refer to them or uncomfortable referring to them with their chosen gender.

senua · 15/04/2013 11:15

Ooops. My post was edited several times. Hence grammatical garbage.

somebloke123 · 15/04/2013 11:15

58% - a bit chastening as I thought I would do better.

senua · 15/04/2013 11:17

Grin @ gender issues.

Which of these names is in fact the nominative feminine singular of the gerundive mood imported direct from Latin?

Would someone like to explain why this says 'direct' and not 'directly'?

xxDebstarxx · 15/04/2013 11:59

Lily I must be close in age to you because I was in school when they didn't teach grammar! I also got 50%.

EugenesAxe · 15/04/2013 12:07

I didn't notice that there are explanations on the correct answers at the bottom of the quiz. Here is the explanation for Evelyn; I do understand now, just about!

?I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to my brother Mark who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

The absence of a comma before "who doesn't" makes that clause part of the definition of Mark, implying that there are other brothers. Try reading the sentence with the word "Mark" omitted.

EugenesAxe · 15/04/2013 12:09

So well done Trills, although I thought duchesse's suggestion was very gallant, and nice.

AMumInScotland · 15/04/2013 12:52

So, they are highlighting some subtle difference between saying -

Amanda, who lives in New York

and Mark who doesn't (without the comma)?

Frankly I'd say that is a very obscure piece of nitpicking, rather than being about the proper use of grammar. It's the kind of thing that gives pedants a bad name!

Anyone who worded that sentence in that way, in the expectation of communicating accurately with other people, is an idiot. Which entirely goes against the reasons why some of us think that grammar matters. The point is that properly constructed sentences make sense and don't leave ambiguity about what you mean (except where that is your intention).

LilyAmaryllis · 15/04/2013 12:56

Yes xxDebStarxx I was at secondary school between 1984 - 1989. Was it really during "saint" Maggie's time that it was decreed that school children should not learn grammar?