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Exodejavu Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
If you ______ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races.
Hello,
An EFL test question goes:
If you ____ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races.
An option is "had been;" the other option is "were."
------------
1.
In my humble opinion,
"Americans are almost of all colors and races"
would read more idiomatic.
Or, in this case, the that-clause without "of" doesn't bother native English speakers, does it?
2.
I guess "had been" would agree with the grammar.
- If you had been in America, you must have found that ....
How about "were"?
- If you were in America, you must have found that ....
I think "were" would do in this case.
What is/are your verdict(s)?
Sincerely,
An EFL test question goes:
If you ____ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races.
An option is "had been;" the other option is "were."
------------
1.
In my humble opinion,
"Americans are almost of all colors and races"
would read more idiomatic.
Or, in this case, the that-clause without "of" doesn't bother native English speakers, does it?
2.
I guess "had been" would agree with the grammar.
- If you had been in America, you must have found that ....
How about "were"?
- If you were in America, you must have found that ....
I think "were" would do in this case.
What is/are your verdict(s)?
Sincerely,
Top answer
exodejavu An EFL test question goes: If you __ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races. " I find this a strange question! It doesn't sound completely idiomatic to my ear with either had been or were .
- exodejavu An EFL test question goes: If you __ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races.
- " I find this a strange question!
- It doesn't sound completely idiomatic to my ear with either had been or were .
- I would probably choose were .
- exodejavu in this case, the that-clause without "of" doesn't bother native English speakers, does it?
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3 Answers
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exodejavuAn EFL test question goes:I find this a strange question! It doesn'
If you __ in America, you must have found that Americans are almost all colors and races.
An option is "had been;" the other option is "were."
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Dear CJ,
Thanks for your swift reply, but can you talk more about the strangeness of the test question?
Thanks for your swift reply, but can you talk more about the strangeness of the test question?
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What is strange is that, to my ear, at least, there is no "right answer". I can't figure out what knowledge the question is attempting to test. It may be some arcane or imagined rule about the use of "must have", but I'm just speculating. I really have no idea what the point of the question is.
CJ
CJ
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