CPE sentence transformation

Question

Hi!I’m doing  some sentence transformations and hope somebody can help me out.I must  complete the second sentence (in green) so that it has the same meaning as the  first one (in blue), using between 3 and 8 words and including the word in  bold.Below are six  sentences I’m having some doubts about. I wrote my  sentences in black; missing words are in italics. Could you tell me if all of them convey  the same meaning as the sentence in blue and if there are any problems (be they  grammar problems, collocations etc.)? Many  thanks!1. I refuse  to pay the bill.[intention] I have ………………… the bill.a. I have no intention of paying the bill.b. I have no intention to pay the bill.8. I  apologise but I completely forgot about our appointment.[confess] I must ……. my mind.a. I must confess that our appointment escaped  my mind.b. I must confess that our appointment completely  slipped my mind.10. At  least make an attempt at the exercise. It might not be as difficult as you  think it is.[try]   If you ……………………… it easier than you think.a. If you give the exercise a try, you might find  it easier than you think.b. If you gave the exercise a try, you might find  it easier than you think.c. If you try to do the exercise, you may find it  easier than you think.12. He  continued his speech, even though they all appeared disinterested.[on] He ……………… that they all appeared  disinterested.a. He went on speaking, despite the fact that  they all appeared disinterested.b. He kept on with his speech despite the fact  that they all appeared disinterested.15. It is believed  that the two rival companies have agreed to the merger.[through] The two rival companies  …………………. the merger.a. The two  rival companies are believed to have gone  through  the merger.b. The two  rival companies are believed to be going  through the merger.c. The two  rival companies are believed to be going  through with  the merger.16. Nadia  said nothing because she was afraid of offending them.[fear] Nadia remained silent ……………………  offence.a. Nadia  remained silent in fear of causing  offence.b. Nadia  remained silent for fear of them taking offence.c. Nadia  remained silent for fear that they would  take offence.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I've indicated in red the ones that are not correct or idiomatic.

Clive

I must complete the second sentence (in green) so that it has the same meaning as the first one (in blue), using between 3 and 8 words and including the word in bold.

Below are six sentences I’m having some doubts about. I wrote my sentences in black; missing words are in italics.
Could you tell me if all of them convey the same meaning as the sentence in blue and if there are any problems (be they grammar problems, collocations etc.)?

Many thanks!

1. I refuse to pay the bill.
[intention] I have ………………… the bill.
a. I have no intention of paying the bill.
b. I have no intention to pay the bill.

8. I apologise but I completely forgot about our appointment.
[confess] I must ……. my mind.
a. I must confess that our appointment escaped my mind.
b. I must confess that our appointment completely slipped my mind.

10. At least make an attempt at the exercise. It might not be as difficult as you think it is.
[try] If you ……………………… it easier than you think.
a. If you give the exercise a try, you might find it easier than you think.
b. If you gave the exercise a try, you might find it easier than you think. a and c are better.
c. If you try to do the exercise, you may find it easier than you think.

12. He continued his speech, even though they all appeared disinterested.
[on] He ……………… that they all appeared disinterested.
a. He went on speaking, despite the fact that they all appeared disinterested.
b. He kept on with his speech despite the fact that they all appeared disinterested.

You mean the word 'uninterested'.

15. It is believed that the two rival companies have agreed to the merger.
[through] The two rival companies …………………. the merger.
a. The two rival companies are believed to have gone through the merger.
b. The two rival companies are believed to be going through the merger.
c. The two rival companies are believed to be going through with the merger.

They haven't gone through with it (ie completed it). They have just agreed to do it.

16. Nadia said nothing because she was afraid of offending them.
[fear] Nadia remained silent …………………… offence.
a. Nadia remained silent in fear of causing offence.
b. Nadia remained silent for fear of them taking offence. 'Their' is more formal than 'them'.
c. Nadia remained silent for fear that they would take offence.

Tanit · Answer

Thanks, Clive! I really appreciate your help.
I have a follow-up question concerning no. 16a, though.

16. Nadia said nothing because she was afraid of offending them.
[fear] Nadia remained silent …………………… offence.
a. Nadia remained silent in fear of causing offence.

Would the following work?
d. Nadia remained silent for fear of causing offence.
I mean, did the problem in 16a lie in "in fear of" or in "to cause offence"?

Thanks again!

PS:

Clive You mean the word 'uninterested'.

I only copied the sentence exactlythe way it was written in the book.

But I know you're right (as usual)!!!

Clive · Answer

Hi,

16. Nadia said nothing because she was afraid of offending them.
[fear] Nadia remained silent …………………… offence.
a. Nadia remained silent in fear of causing offence.

Would the following work?
d. Nadia remained silent for fear of causing offence. Yes
I mean, did the problem in 16a lie in "in fear of" or in "to cause offence"? It's the 'in'. I wouldn't entirely say it's wrong, but it doesn't sound right to my ear.

Clive

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi Clive,

a. I have no intention of paying the bill.
b. I have no intention to pay the bill.

I am baffled by your comment. I would choose b over a; to me, to pay appears stronger than of playing - thus, it reflects the meaning of refuse better.

Googlle search hit counts:
intention to: over 9,000,000 hits
intention of: almost 6,000,000 hits

Please share your thought.

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Unlike you, I get these results.

"intention of" 2,430,000

"intention to" 2,360,000

Perhasp I am not searching in the correct manner? I've also read several comments that Google searches can give misleading or inaccurate results. In addition, there is the whole question as to the overall quality of the English you find on the internet. Google searches have to be interpreted with caution. Anyway, I did some other searches and got these results. You might like to try these and see what results you get.

"no intention to" 976,000

"no intention of" 1,480,000

"have no intention to" 228,000

"have no intention of" 1,190,000

"had no intention to" 164,000

"had no intention of" 1,200,000

Regardless of these results, to my ear, as I said, 'have no intention of' sounds like a much better collocation. It's the use of 'no' that influences my feeling about this.

Best wishes, Clive

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi Clive,

Pardon me for showing my results in Vietnamese. I don't know how to set Google to switch over to English server(s) (I tried with .com instead of .com.vn).

Here are my results. They are similar to yours except the first set:

Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 9.180.000 cho "intention to". (0,22 giây)
Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 5.080.000 cho "intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 1.440.000 cho "no intention to". (0,22 giây)
Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 2.080.000 cho "no intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 248.000 cho "have no intention to". (0,24 giây)
Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 1.770.000 cho "have no intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 169.000 cho "had no intention to". (0,26 giây)
Kê´t qua? 1 - 10 trong khoa?ng 1.680.000 cho "had no intention of". (0,41 giây)
I was taught that:

1. To unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases.
2. Soften the verb by using gerund to stretch longing emotion.

Are those two rules valid?

Now I must add the use of 'no' in my repertoire.

Thank you very much.
Hoa Thai

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I was taught that:

1. To unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases.
2. Soften the verb by using gerund to stretch longing emotion.

Are those two rules valid? They might well be, although I am always cautious about generalizations. Can you offer a couple of examples of each of the two?

One of the reasons I find this Froum interesting is that learners think of English in a very different way than I do. Often there are rules mentioned that I've never heard of and thus find hard to relate to

Clive

Hoa Thai · Answer

CliveHi,

I was taught that:

1. To unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases.
2. Soften the verb by using gerund to stretch longing emotion.

Are those two rules valid? They might well be, although I am always cautious about generalizations. Can you offer a couple of examples of each of the two?

One of the reasons I find this Froum interesting is that learners think of English in a very different way than I do. Often there are rules mentioned that I've never heard of and thus find hard to relate to

Clive

Hi,

For the first rule:
a. Its instruments are used for routing, testing, and evaluating the audio lines.
b. Its instruments are used to route, test, and evaluate the audio lines.

For the second rule:
a. She has spent hours to wait for her husband to come home.
b. She has spent hours waiting for her husband to come home.

In both cases, b is the better choice.

The second rule seems to violate the first rule. However, we don't want the act of waiting to overpower the act of spending hours waiting. The longing emotion is in spending time waiting, not in waiting by itself. Therefore, we demote to wait to waiting.

Best,
Hoa Thai

Clive · Answer

Hi,

1. To unleash the power of verb chose infinitive over gerund and noun phrases.
2. Soften the verb by using gerund to stretch longing emotion.

Are those two rules valid?

For the first rule:
a. Its instruments are used for routing, testing, and evaluating the audio lines.
b. Its instruments are used to route, test, and evaluate the audio lines.Yes, this is more direct, more dynamic.

For the second rule:
a. She has spent hours to wait for her husband to come home. In this example, 'to wait' is so unidiomatic that I'd say it is wrong. Perhaps you can find a better example. However, it seems a bit odd to me to make a general rule about a very specific type of context, ie one that expresses 'longing emotion'. How often do we need or want to do that? I wonder if you fully realize how the term 'longing emotion' sounds in English. It sounds like something one feels very rarely.

b. She has spent hours waiting for her husband to come home. This sounds fine.

In both cases, b is the better choice.

The second rule seems to violate the first rule. I don't see why. The rules say that the infinitive gives power, and the gerund softens, With emotion, do we not want to soften, to reduce the sense of action?

However, we don't want the act of waiting to overpower the act of spending hours waiting. The longing emotion is in spending time waiting, not in waiting by itself. Therefore, we demote to wait to waiting. You're certainly trying to deal with subtleties here. As I said above, it might be better if you could find a more suitable example to discuss.

Best wishes, Clive

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi Clive,

As I stated in my previous post, "In both cases, b is the better choice." However, it seems that I did not adequately convey my thought to you.

I learned the second rule a long time ago. Now, I cannot find a note of the example. However, I remember the instruction telling us that when we use search for / wait for / look for / etc... in a dependent clause, we should demote the verb from infinitive to gerund to allow the verb in the main clause to grab readers' attention, especially when the main clause expresses a longing emotion / an intensive effort. So here are two sentences, and again, to follow the second rule, I must choose the second one.

Attentively, he looks at each picture in the huge photo album to search for a familiar face that he can vaguely remember.
Attentively, he looks at each picture in the huge photo album searching for a familiar face that he can vaguely remember.
I must have paid no attention to my teacher's instruction if you say the example still does not make sense.

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

CPE sentence transformation

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