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Annemarie84 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

In the given

Hi, I've just finished a paper and my tutor drew my attention to a phrase. Basically, in order to draw attention to or refer to a specific exercise, incident, etc., I tend to write: 'In the given exercise', 'In the given task', 'in the given situtation. My supervisor told me that this was wrong use, as given would usually be used in phrases like, 'any given'. I am familiar with that phrase but no one has ever drawn my attention to 'in the given' being wrong. So could you please let me know whether or not my usage of 'in the given' is proper English? Thanks, A-M
  

Top answer

Can you give us an example of one of your sentences which was criticized? Please include the sentence which precedes it. " Of course, "any" would also be correct in my example.

  • Can you give us an example of one of your sentences which was criticized?
  • Please include the sentence which precedes it.
  • " Of course, "any" would also be correct in my example.
  • ) With the definite article , there should be something for it to refer to.
  • That is, the "given task" must be given , or at least some "formula" should be given which defines it.
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5 Answers
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Can you give us an example of one of your sentences which was criticized?

Please include the sentence which precedes it.

Without prior context, I would use "in a given task, the time factor must be considered."

Of course, "any" would also be correct in my example. (The idea would basically be the same.)

With the definite article, there shou
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the paper is on a project that I did this year. Here is an example:

In order to make the pupls even more conscious of their own work, raising awareness can also be accomplished by having pupils assess each other's work. In the given project formative assessment was going to be given much more weight, as it was going to develop their abilities further.

Having omitted a number of w
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Hi,

the paper is on a project that I did this year. Here is an example:

In order to make the pupls even more conscious of their own work, raising awareness can also be accomplished by having pupils assess each other's work. In the given project formative assessment was going to be given much more weight, as it was going to develop their abilities further.

Having o
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Okay, I think I get it. I suspect you're using "given" to mean "in the project which was given to the student, etc."

If I understand this, your usage is not technically incorrect. But "given" as an adjective is typically used to mean "the one referred to," not the one assigned.

I hope I'm getting this across. It's a little tricky. (And it may not even be what yo
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You've just opened my eyes. I suspect that my advisor thought that I wanted to say 'project which was given to the student, etc.' as in 'it was handed to them'. However, I used it as an adjective to refer to the project I was talking about. If 'given ti' can be used as a synonym for 'referred to' then my usage was correct.

Thanks,

A-M

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