I made this small test for you:

Choose the correct word (s) to complete each sentence.
1. Hi, Sue. .................... a good time?
A. Do you have B. Are you having C. You are having D. You have

2. .................... the question?
A. Do you understand B. You understand
C. Are you understanding

3. I'm sorry I .................... able to come to the meeting. I had another
commitment.
A. didn't be B. wasn't C. was

4. Libby took another biscuit while her mother .................... .
A. wasn't looking B. hadn't looked C. didn't look

5. Tom can't write. .................... his arm.
A. He's broken B. He broke C. He was breaking

6. It's only the second time she .................... a horse. She's very good at
it.
A. rode B. rides C. has ridden

7. a: "Mmm. Something smells good."
b: "I .................... cakes all morning."
A. 've made B. 'm making C. 've been making

8. When is the rain going to stop? It's been four months .................... some
sunshine.
A. that we don't have B. that we haven't had
C. that we didn't have D. since we had

9. We .................... chocolate when we were children.
A. haven't been eating B. didn't eat C. haven't eaten

10. a: "Maya's in hospital."
b: 'Is she? Oh, I .................... her some flowers."
A. 'm sending B. 'll send C. 'm going to send

------END----


I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EnglishPeter wrote:
> I made this small test for you:

"little test" would be more idiomatic.  But I fear you have mistaken the 
purpose of this newsgroup.
-- 
John Briggs

EnglishPeter wrote:
> I made this small test for you:

> 
> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
> 

Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers can be correct.


-- 
Blue Sow

Blue Sow wrote:
> EnglishPeter wrote:
>> I made this small test for you:
>
>>
>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>
>
> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
> can be correct.

It depends what you mean by "correct".
-- 
John Briggs

John Briggs wrote:
> Blue Sow wrote:
>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>> I made this small test for you:
>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>
>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>> can be correct.
> 
> It depends what you mean by "correct".


One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers are provided, 
that some answers are deemed to be correct and others incorrect.  Otherwise, the 
tester will not be able to determine if the participant has passed or failed the 
test.  If the test does not measure anything, why do it?

That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of the topic of 
this thread.

Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the context.
What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?

-- 
Blue Sow

Blue Sow wrote:
> John Briggs wrote:
>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>>> I made this small test for you:
>>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>>
>>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>>> can be correct.
>>
>> It depends what you mean by "correct".
>
> One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers are
> provided, that some answers are deemed to be correct and others
> incorrect.  Otherwise, the tester will not be able to determine if
> the participant has passed or failed the test.  If the test does not
> measure anything, why do it?
> That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of
> the topic of this thread.
>
> Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the
> context. What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?

Which questions do you think have more than one 'correct' answer?  That 
could throw some light on what you might mean by 'correct'.
-- 
John Briggs

At 11:41:21 on Tue, 9 Oct 2007, EnglishPeter  wrote 
in :

>Choose the correct word (s) to complete each sentence.
>1. Hi, Sue. .................... a good time?
>A. Do you have B. Are you having C. You are having D. You have

E. You vill haff

>2. .................... the question?
>A. Do you understand B. You understand
>C. Are you understanding

D.  Who cares about

>3. I'm sorry I .................... able to come to the meeting. I had another
>commitment.
>A. didn't be B. wasn't C. was

D. couldn't be bothered to

>4. Libby took another biscuit while her mother .................... .
>A. wasn't looking B. hadn't looked C. didn't look

D. smoked a joint

>5. Tom can't write. .................... his arm.
>A. He's broken B. He broke C. He was breaking

D.  Instead of a pen, he tries to use

>6. It's only the second time she .................... a horse. She's 
>very good at
>it.
>A. rode B. rides C. has ridden

D.  has eaten

>7. a: "Mmm. Something smells good."
>b: "I .................... cakes all morning."
>A. 've made B. 'm making C. 've been making

D.  have been pigging out on

>8. When is the rain going to stop? It's been four months 
>.................... some
>sunshine.
>A. that we don't have B. that we haven't had
>C. that we didn't have D. since we had

E. since anybody sang that frightful song about

>9. We .................... chocolate when we were children.
>A. haven't been eating B. didn't eat C. haven't eaten

D.  weren't allowed

>10. a: "Maya's in hospital."
>b: 'Is she? Oh, I .................... her some flowers."
>A. 'm sending B. 'll send C. 'm going to send

D  can't be arsed to send
-- 
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)

Molly Mockford wrote:
> At 11:41:21 on Tue, 9 Oct 2007, EnglishPeter  wrote 
> in :
> 
>> Choose the correct word (s) to complete each sentence.
>> 1. Hi, Sue. .................... a good time?
>> A. Do you have B. Are you having C. You are having D. You have
> 
> E. You vill haff
> 
>> 2. .................... the question?
>> A. Do you understand B. You understand
>> C. Are you understanding
> 
> D.  Who cares about
> 
>> 3. I'm sorry I .................... able to come to the meeting. I had 
>> another
>> commitment.
>> A. didn't be B. wasn't C. was
> 
> D. couldn't be bothered to
> 
>> 4. Libby took another biscuit while her mother .................... .
>> A. wasn't looking B. hadn't looked C. didn't look
> 
> D. smoked a joint
> 
>> 5. Tom can't write. .................... his arm.
>> A. He's broken B. He broke C. He was breaking
> 
> D.  Instead of a pen, he tries to use
> 
>> 6. It's only the second time she .................... a horse. She's 
>> very good at
>> it.
>> A. rode B. rides C. has ridden
> 
> D.  has eaten
> 
>> 7. a: "Mmm. Something smells good."
>> b: "I .................... cakes all morning."
>> A. 've made B. 'm making C. 've been making
> 
> D.  have been pigging out on
> 
>> 8. When is the rain going to stop? It's been four months 
>> .................... some
>> sunshine.
>> A. that we don't have B. that we haven't had
>> C. that we didn't have D. since we had
> 
> E. since anybody sang that frightful song about
> 
>> 9. We .................... chocolate when we were children.
>> A. haven't been eating B. didn't eat C. haven't eaten
> 
> D.  weren't allowed
> 
>> 10. a: "Maya's in hospital."
>> b: 'Is she? Oh, I .................... her some flowers."
>> A. 'm sending B. 'll send C. 'm going to send
> 
> D  can't be arsed to send


'Can't be asked' surely?
(-:

-- 
Blue Sow

John Briggs wrote:
> Blue Sow wrote:
>> John Briggs wrote:
>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>>>> I made this small test for you:
>>>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>>>
>>>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>>>> can be correct.
>>> It depends what you mean by "correct".
>> One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers are
>> provided, that some answers are deemed to be correct and others
>> incorrect.  Otherwise, the tester will not be able to determine if
>> the participant has passed or failed the test.  If the test does not
>> measure anything, why do it?
>> That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of
>> the topic of this thread.
>>
>> Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the
>> context. What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?
> 
> Which questions do you think have more than one 'correct' answer?  That 
> could throw some light on what you might mean by 'correct'.

Most of them could, in spoken English, have made use of more than one of the 
possible answers and one of them could have used all of the possible answers and 
still been recognisable English usage.

As I suggest above, 'correct' in this context means providing an answer to the 
test that gains a tick rather than a cross from the person marking the test. 
For that reason, only one should be deemed to be correct, not any or all of them.

If you are trying to draw me into some debate about an imaginary 'correct 
English usage' then you should know that it isn't going to happen.

I have explained at least twice what the word 'correct' means when applied to 
test answers.  If you feel there is further room for debate on that, I suggest 
you check with your dictionary first (-:


-- 
Blue Sow

Blue Sow wrote:
> Molly Mockford wrote:

>>> 10. a: "Maya's in hospital."
>>> b: 'Is she? Oh, I .................... her some flowers."
>>> A. 'm sending B. 'll send C. 'm going to send
>>
>> D  can't be arsed to send
> 
> 
> 'Can't be asked' surely?
> (-:

Probably the origin of the phrase, via "arsked". I always liked the 
phrase "knocked from arsehole to breakfasttime".

Blue Sow wrote:
> John Briggs wrote:
>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>> John Briggs wrote:
>>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>>>>> I made this small test for you:
>>>>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>>>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>>>>
>>>>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>>>>> can be correct.
>>>> It depends what you mean by "correct".
>>> One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers
>>> are provided, that some answers are deemed to be correct and others
>>> incorrect.  Otherwise, the tester will not be able to determine if
>>> the participant has passed or failed the test.  If the test does not
>>> measure anything, why do it?
>>> That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of
>>> the topic of this thread.
>>>
>>> Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the
>>> context. What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?
>>
>> Which questions do you think have more than one 'correct' answer? That 
>> could throw some light on what you might mean by 'correct'.
>
> Most of them could, in spoken English, have made use of more than one
> of the possible answers and one of them could have used all of the
> possible answers and still been recognisable English usage.

That is not 'correct' :-)

[The questioner is looking for idiomatic usage which is grammatically 
correct]
-- 
John Briggs

John Briggs wrote:
> Blue Sow wrote:
>> John Briggs wrote:
>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>> John Briggs wrote:
>>>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>>>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>>>>>> I made this small test for you:
>>>>>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>>>>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>>>>>> can be correct.
>>>>> It depends what you mean by "correct".
>>>> One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers
>>>> are provided, that some answers are deemed to be correct and others
>>>> incorrect.  Otherwise, the tester will not be able to determine if
>>>> the participant has passed or failed the test.  If the test does not
>>>> measure anything, why do it?
>>>> That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of
>>>> the topic of this thread.
>>>>
>>>> Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the
>>>> context. What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?
>>> Which questions do you think have more than one 'correct' answer? That 
>>> could throw some light on what you might mean by 'correct'.
>> Most of them could, in spoken English, have made use of more than one
>> of the possible answers and one of them could have used all of the
>> possible answers and still been recognisable English usage.
> 
> That is not 'correct' :-)

No.  The answer that obtains the tick is correct (no quotes needed).


> [The questioner is looking for idiomatic usage which is grammatically 
> correct]

If you think so.

-- 
Blue Sow

Blue Sow schrieb:
> John Briggs wrote:
> 
>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>
>>> John Briggs wrote:
>>>
>>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> John Briggs wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Blue Sow wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> EnglishPeter wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I made this small test for you:
>>>>>>>> I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
>>>>>>>> http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers
>>>>>>> can be correct.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It depends what you mean by "correct".
>>>>>
>>>>> One presumes, when taking a test in which multiple choice answers
>>>>> are provided, that some answers are deemed to be correct and others
>>>>> incorrect.  Otherwise, the tester will not be able to determine if
>>>>> the participant has passed or failed the test.  If the test does not
>>>>> measure anything, why do it?
>>>>> That, essentially, is what is meant by 'correct' in the context of
>>>>> the topic of this thread.
>>>>>
>>>>> Funnily enough, that is what I meant by 'correct' too, given the
>>>>> context. What, I wonder, did you think that I might mean?
>>>>
>>>> Which questions do you think have more than one 'correct' answer? 
>>>> That could throw some light on what you might mean by 'correct'.
>>>
>>> Most of them could, in spoken English, have made use of more than one
>>> of the possible answers and one of them could have used all of the
>>> possible answers and still been recognisable English usage.
>>
>>
>> That is not 'correct' :-)
> 
> 
> No.  The answer that obtains the tick is correct (no quotes needed).
> 
> 
>> [The questioner is looking for idiomatic usage which is grammatically 
>> correct]
> 
> 
> If you think so.
> 
Since the header suggests that this is a test appropriate for people 
taking the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English examination I would 
suggest that this is the only possible interpretation.

Einde O'Callaghan

In article <470bd885$0$13941$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk>,
Blue Sow   wrote:
> EnglishPeter wrote:
> > I made this small test for you:
> 
> > 
> > I will try to put up more tests on the page later taday at
> > http://plainenglish.alldiscussion.net
> > 
> 
> Try designing them so that only one of the multiple choice answers can be correct.

In each question, there was in fact only one answer that was "natural"
English, as would be spoken by a native speaker.

However, several of the alternative answers were recognisable as constructs
frequently used by non-native speakers who are thinking according to the
grammatical rules of their mother tongue.

Cheers
Tony
-- 
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org

Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
> Blue Sow schrieb:

>>
>>
>> If you think so.
>>
> Since the header suggests that this is a test appropriate for people 
> taking the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English examination I would 
> suggest that this is the only possible interpretation.
> 
> Einde O'Callaghan


Regrettably, there is no such header on the original post that I can see here, 
otherwise I would not have mentioned it.

-- 
Blue Sow

Blue Sow schrieb:
> Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
> 
>> Blue Sow schrieb:
> 
> 
>>>
>>>
>>> If you think so.
>>>
>> Since the header suggests that this is a test appropriate for people 
>> taking the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English examination I 
>> would suggest that this is the only possible interpretation.
>>
>> Einde O'Callaghan
> 
> 
> 
> Regrettably, there is no such header on the original post that I can see 
> here, otherwise I would not have mentioned it.
> 
I don't know what you are using to read this thread, but I'm using 
Mozilla Thunderbird and the subject line says quite clearly "re: CAE Test".

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

P.S. I suggest you find some way of reading newsgroups that allows you 
to see the subject line.