Please correct these four questions

Question

Hi. Let us say these are potential survey questions. Are they correct? Please note the questions are not related.

1. Do you have extra time during the weekdays, that is, outside your working hours? -- Could we use the pharas "that is" in questions if constructed right?

2. Have you gained faith in God as the result (as a result - OK?) your first coming to the church?

3. Was learning English your primary purpose/intention/goal when you decided to attend the English worship services here?

4. Has your English improved as the result of your being a member of our English congregation?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Let us say these are potential survey questions. Are they correct? Please note the questions are not related.

1. Do you have extra time during the weekdays, that is, outside your working hours? -- Could we use the pharas "that is" in questions if constructed right?

'That is' is fine. But I prefer a simpler version.
Do you have any spare time on weekdays?

2. Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK?) your first coming to the church?
Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK? Yes ) of coming to the church?

3. Was learning English your primary purpose/intention/goal when you decided to attend the English worship services here? All are OK.

4. Has your English improved as a ~~the~~ result of your being a member of our English congregation?

Clive

Avangi · Answer

3 & 4 are fine.

In #2, "the" implies "the only result." "a result" is better in this case.

Use "as a result of X." "Your" is optional.

I don't understand your purpose in using "first." I would not use it.

AnonymousCould we use the phrase "that is" in questions if constructed right?

Yes.
In this case it seems awkward, but would be okay in casual conversation.
My choice would be to simply omit it, comma optional.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi. Thank you, Avangi. That surely goes to Clive, too.

Clive wrote this for nos. 2 and 4:

2. Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK?) your first coming to the church?

Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK? Yes ) of coming to the church?

4. Has your English improved as a ~~the~~ result of your being a member of our English congregation?

For no. 2, if the definite article carries the implication of "the only result" (as you seemed to have said), my first thought would be to apt for the phrase "the result," not "a result." Also, Why do you think Clive thought both "as a result" and "as the result" would be OK (I think that's what he said) for no. 1 when he crossed out the definite article "the" before the word "result" and put the indefinite article "a" instead in no. 4?

If Clive is looking at this post, I will welcome his response, too.

Clive · Answer

Hi,
Clive wrote this for nos. 2 and 4:

2. Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK?) your first coming to the church?

Have you gained faith in *** as the result (as a result - OK? Yes ) of coming to the church?

4. Has your English improved as a ~~the~~ result of your being a member of our English congregation?

For no. 2, if the definite article carries the implication of "the only result" (as you seemed to have said), my first thought would be to apt for the phrase "the result," not "a result." Also, Why do you think Clive thought both "as a result" and "as the result" would be OK (I think that's what he said) for no. 1 when he crossed out the definite article "the" before the word "result" and put the indefinite article "a" instead in no. 4?

If you say 'a', it suggests the speaker thinks there may be more than one result.
'The' suggests the speaker thinks there is only one result.
So, both are correct. depending on the speaker's thinking.
In #2, either article sounded OK to me.
In #4, I just felt it more likely that there woud be more than one result of being a member of the congregation, eg improving your English, meetiing people, having a religious experience.
As I said above, the choice is really the speaker's.

Clive

Avangi · Answer

I agree that your questions #2 and #4 are basically the same in regard to the idea of results.

When we ask, "Is B the result of A?" (Did B happen as a/the result of A?), it can work at least two ways:
1. We know for a fact that A happened, and we're asking if it caused B.
2. We know for a fact that B happened, and we're asking if it was caused by A.

In the second case, we may suspect that A caused a lot of things, and we're asking if B was one of them. In this case, it seems to make no difference whether we use the definite or the indefinite article.
Did you get promoted as a/the result of your father-in-law's position on the board of directors?
(It's a true fact that you got promoted, and it's a true fact that your father-in-law is on the board.)
We're asking if there was a causal relationship between the two things. We don't care if it was one among many, or if it was the only one.

Your questions are of the other type - The first type.
In both sentences, we know for a fact that the person is a member of the congregation.

Each question really has two parts:
1. Did my faith/my English improve?
2. If so, did my membership in the congregation cause it?

This makes the choice of articles confusing. You've proposed at least two results - improved English and improved faith. That's "a result" and "a result."

If you wanted to treat the "cause" question as a separate issue, that could be "the result of."

Sorry, I didn't mean to go on like this.

- A.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Clive and Avangi. Now it is clear. As to Avangi's last long response, I want to say any extra help from you is welcome.

Please correct these four questions

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