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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Vocabulary
clever at???
hi! Please help me to choose this sentence:
boys/clever/see/solution/problem/so quickly
a . The boys were clever to see the solution to the problem so quickly
b.boys are clever to see the solution of the problem so quickly
c. The boys are clever at seeing the solution of the problem so quickly
d.The boys were clever to see the solution of the problem so quickly
I have some confusion of preposition
boys/clever/see/solution/problem/so quickly
a . The boys were clever to see the solution to the problem so quickly
b.boys are clever to see the solution of the problem so quickly
c. The boys are clever at seeing the solution of the problem so quickly
d.The boys were clever to see the solution of the problem so quickly
I have some confusion of preposition
Top answer
This example is full of prepositions, but if you can make just one choice, you can solve it. (the solution of / to the problem)
- This example is full of prepositions, but if you can make just one choice, you can solve it.
- (the solution of / to the problem)
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7 Answers
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This example is full of prepositions, but if you can make just one choice, you can solve it. (the solution of / to the problem)
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"Solution to" and "solution of" are both OK, and they mean the same thing. Here I marginally prefer "solution to", for no particularly good reason that I can think of.
"Clever at" tends to mean "clever at this type of thing generally", while "clever to" tends to mean "clever in this particular instance".
a) The boys were clever to see the solution to the problem so quickly
"Clever at" tends to mean "clever at this type of thing generally", while "clever to" tends to mean "clever in this particular instance".
a) The boys were clever to see the solution to the problem so quickly
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Hi Wordy, I felt as you do about "solution of/to the problem," so I did the Google thing and got seven to one for "solution to the problem." (Which I suppose means only what it means.) Only a) has that choice, which is interesting only from the point of view of test strategy.
- A.
- A.
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What I did was "the solution to the problem" (in quotes) 710 k
and "the solution of the problem" 126 k
I was stupid to include "the" in the quote. The preference is much greater without it:
"solution to the problem" 3.6 m (3,600,000)
"solution of the problem" 294 k (294,000)
Right now I'm getting 529,000 for "t
and "the solution of the problem" 126 k
I was stupid to include "the" in the quote. The preference is much greater without it:
"solution to the problem" 3.6 m (3,600,000)
"solution of the problem" 294 k (294,000)
Right now I'm getting 529,000 for "t
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Sometimes I wonder if those numbers Google throws up are just random noise, but I cling on to the hope that they have some kind of ball-park indicativeness.
For example, sometimes you will get a number like, say, 10,000 on the first search page, but when you actually scroll through all the pages, the hits stop at some vastly smaller number like 300 (even with "similar" pages included). It
For example, sometimes you will get a number like, say, 10,000 on the first search page, but when you actually scroll through all the pages, the hits stop at some vastly smaller number like 300 (even with "similar" pages included). It
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