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Discussion Groups / English Usage / April 2009several questions to ask
Dear all, My students are doing some cloze tests for practice, but there come several items that I cannot resolve. Here are the items in questions, including the partial text, for your reference. 1)stand for v.s. represent The world-famous adventurer Mike Horn has several feats under his belt. In 2008, Horn began another unique adventure – one that will take four years to complete. He calls this latest adventure the “Pangaea Expedition,” with “Pangaea” ____ “ a Pan Global Adventure for Environmental Action.” A) represents B) representing C) stands for D) standing for The answer given is (D), but I wonder why answer (B) isn’t suitable in this case. 2)namely v.s so to speak In a few years previous to World War II, the Nazi government of Germany adopted a racist policy which caused the massacre of innumerable Jews, ___, the Holocaust. A) namely B) for example C) needless to say D) so to speak The given answer is (A). What bothers me is answer (D). I’ve checked the dictionary. When we use ‘so to speak,’ it often implies something not good. Is it why we don’t choose (D) as the answer. 3) what we call v.s what is called Do you know what the beans were? They were ___ coffee today. (A) what we call B) what calls C) what is called D) what to call The correct answer is (A), but I wonder if we can also use (C) as a possible answer. Or we have to take the agreement into account, which means we have to change it to be ‘what are called.’ Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but you have always been one of reliable information sources on the Internet. With best regards, Gloria > Dear all, > > My students are doing some cloze tests I'd never heard the phrase, only "fill-in-the-blank tests". > for practice, but there come > several items that I cannot resolve. Here are the items in questions, > including the partial text, for your reference. > > 1)stand for v.s. represent (The usual abbreviation for "versus" is "vs.", or "v." in the names of law cases. I'm sure the final period can be removed from one of those.) > The world-famous adventurer Mike Horn has several feats under his > belt. In 2008, Horn began another unique adventure – one that will [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > The answer given is (D), but I wonder why answer (B) isn’t suitable in > this case. I don't remember ever hearing "represent" for an initialism or acronym. > 2)namely v.s so to speak > In a few years previous to World War II, the Nazi government of [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > the dictionary. When we use ‘so to speak,’ it often implies something > not good. Is it why we don’t choose (D) as the answer. "So to speak" is a way of apologizing for something about what one has just said, maybe something incongruous, imprecise, or excessively clever (in which case "so to speak" may be more of a way of calling attention to one's cleverness). It's not like "namely" at all and wouldn't make sense here. If I can make up an example, "the Nazi racist policies that led to a massacre of the innocents, so to speak". "So to speak" here indicates that the person who said this would be uncomfortable with the comparison to the Massacre of the Innocents in the book of Matthew-- because this Christian story seems an incongruous comparison for the Holocaust, in which the majority of the victims weren't Jewish, or the killing of babies seems an incongruous comparison for the killing of people of all ages (most of whom weren't as innocent as babies), or some such. > 3) what we call v.s what is called > Do you know what the beans were? They were ___ coffee today. > (A) what we call B) what calls C) what is called D) what to call > The correct answer is (A), but I wonder if we can also use (C) as a > possible answer. Or we have to take the agreement into account, which > means we have to change it to be ‘what are called.’ ... "What is called" sounds fine to me, as you suggest. Not "what are called"--it's sort of "the substance that is called coffee". -- Jerry Friedman In article <a27e0a0a-22cb-43f1-8c37-cfd9b91d4514@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, > "So to speak" is a way of apologizing for something about what one has > just said, maybe something incongruous, imprecise, or excessively > clever (in which case "so to speak" may be more of a way of calling > attention to one's cleverness). Is it interchangeable with "as it were"?  SignatureWatch out for the random hedgehogs > In article > <a27e0a0a-22cb-43f1-8c37-cfd9b91d4...@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Is it interchangeable with "as it were"? I think so. When I was at school we had a history teacher who could cram several of these phrases into each utterance, along the lines of of: "Errrrmmmm.... the, er, Battle - as it were - of, erm.... Hastings.... in fact....occurred - so to speak - in, er....ten... erm... sixty-six. Are you - as it were - WITH us, Mooney?" Mike M > In article > <a27e0a0a-22cb-43f1-8c37-cfd9b91d4...@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Is it interchangeable with "as it were"? It's the dead spit, if I can put it that way, or, in a manner of speaking, fungible with it. -- Jerry Friedman > > Dear all, > > > > My students are doing some cloze tests > > I'd never heard the phrase, only "fill-in-the-blank tests". I hadn't either. It's in Merriam-Webster online: Main Entry: Function: adjective Etymology: by shortening & alteration from closure Date: 1953 : of, relating to, or being a test of reading comprehension that involves having the person being tested supply words which have been systematically deleted from a text Brian SignatureDay 84 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project > > Dear all, > > > > My students are doing some cloze tests > > I'd never heard the phrase, only "fill-in-the-blank tests". Welcome to the wonderful world of ESL/EFL, Jerry, where 'cloze' is a well-recognised term. Just as with any professional terminology, there's no reason to expect people who don't work in the field to be familiar with it. DC -- > jerry_fried...@yahoo.com wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > there's no reason to expect people who don't work in the field to be > familiar with it. What strikes me as odd is that I don't remember hearing it in my three or four education courses. Maybe I'd have had to take something more advanced, or specialized in ESL. -- Jerry Friedman >>> Dear all, >>> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > there's no reason to expect people who don't work in the field to be > familiar with it. Ah but they do expect it. We have sevearl discussions about whether it's OK to assume people in this news group know what sth. and sb. mean in sample sentences -- to tell sb. about sth., for example. Signatureathel >>>> Dear all, >>>> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > it's OK to assume people in this news group know what sth. and sb. > mean in sample sentences -- to tell sb. about sth., for example. "Cloze" isn't just ESL:/EFL jargon. I first heard the word at a UK examiners' meeting, and assumed the spelling was with an s. Alan Jones > > > > Dear all, > > > > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > it's OK to assume people in this news group know what sth. and sb. > mean in sample sentences -- to tell sb. about sth., for example. I know - I've been involved in those discussions. At least nobody's been on asking about third conditional for a while... DC -- > 1)stand for v.s. represent > The world-famous adventurer Mike Horn has several feats under his [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > The answer given is (D), but I wonder why answer (B) isn’t suitable in > this case. "Pangaea" is Mr. Horn's acronym for "Pan Global...". That's what it stands for. To say that it represents it is to say that it speaks or acts for it, or maybe performs its functions in its absence. > 2)namely v.s so to speak > In a few years previous to World War II, the Nazi government of > Germany adopted a racist policy which caused the massacre of > innumerable Jews, ___, the Holocaust. > A) namely B) for example C) needless to say D) so to speak > The given answer is (A). What bothers me is answer (D). I’ve checked > the dictionary. When we use ‘so to speak,’ it often implies something > not good. Is it why we don’t choose (D) as the answer. Corrected: A few years before World War II, the Nazi government of Germany began to adopt racist policies that resulted in the massacre of innumerable Jews, a tragedy which came to be known as the Holocaust. "So to speak" is entirely wrong. The expression is often used mockingly, perhaps after an exaggeration, to imply that what one is saying is somewhat of a stretch. At any rate, the original sentence is ambiguous in that it seems to imply that it was the policy, not the actual tragedy, that became the Holocaust. > 3) what we call v.s what is called > Do you know what the beans were? They were ___ coffee today. > (A) what we call B) what calls C) what is called D) what to call > The correct answer is (A), but I wonder if we can also use (C) as a > possible answer. Or we have to take the agreement into account, which > means we have to change it to be ‘what are called.’ I may be wrong, but what we usually mean by coffee is the actual liquid beverage. I think most people would say "coffee beans" to refer to the beans. In article <efd4cf7f-4703-43e2-89f8-a6d5e1a35378@v1g2000prd.googlegroups.com>, [In article <2cea841c-82b9-4805-8725-15eeff7e37ce@q33g2000pra.googlegroups.com>, gloria <gloria0402@gmail.com> wrote:] > > 1)stand for v.s. represent > > The world-famous adventurer Mike Horn has several feats under his [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > stands for. To say that it represents it is to say that it speaks or > acts for it, or maybe performs its functions in its absence. If the acronym weren't in quotes I might concur, but with them there I read it as a mention rather than a use -- a symbol rather than its referent -- and for such a subject, "representing" means pretty much the same thing as "standing for". I agree with Don that it should have been written "PANGAEA", or perhaps "PanGAEA". SignatureOdysseus > 1). . . adventurer Mike Horn has several feats under his > belt. In 2008, Horn began another unique adventure – one that will [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > the answer given is (D), but I wonder why answer (B) isn’t suitable in > this case. 1. You are right: solutions B and D are equally suitable. The specific indicator is the form of each verb among the four solutions: because the last clause of the sentence is a subordinate clause, a present participle suffices. 2. The question is also defective in that: 2a. "feats under his belt" is a sports journalism colloquialism mature writers would avoid, as too close to "feet under his belt." 2b. Punctuation: the dash is wrong (should be a comma.) 2c. The name Pangaea has its own meaning in palaeogeography, which has nothing to do with Mr. Horn. When acronyms are coined from initials, we print them in capitals, viz. PANGAEA. 2d. The paragraph belongs to the genre of advertising or publicity, which is independent of (not limited by) the grammar of everyday English. (We assume the intention is to teach everyday English, not jargon.) > 2) . . . In a few years previous to World War II, the Nazi government of > Germany adopted a racist policy which caused the massacre of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > the dictionary. When we use ‘so to speak,’ it often implies something > not good. Is it why we don’t choose (D) as the answer. Grammar is the basis of the solution (not nuances of meaning.) 1. Grammar requires no word after the second comma, i.e. ". . . Jews, the Holocaust." is perfectly grammatical. 2. Solution A is preferable only on stylistic grounds. 3. The phrase "so to speak" is not mainly pejorative, i.e. your dictionary is misleading in this respect. This error is especially grievous if the exercise seeks to teach style as well as grammar. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
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