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Eejit Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
Pub quiz question...
0 During last nights pub quiz we were set a question: 02 br
02 br
00 which politicians wife said xyz 02 br
00 To which the answer was the name of the politicians wife, not the name of the politician - Cherie Blair (instead of Tony!) 02 br
02 br
00 I argued the question was not particularly well phrased and was indeed difficult to answer because it seemed to ask 02 br
02 br
00 "what was the name of the politician" not the wife....This then became a question of semantics, regarding the use of apostrophes 02 br
00 what politicians wife said xyz 02 br
02 br
00 I argued : "which politician's wife said xyz" is distinctly different to "which politicians' wife said xyz" 02 br
02 br
00 Who can tell me I'm wrong, and how :-) 02 br
02 br
00 Oh and should the answer have been the wifes name or the politicians name - we were marked down because we gave the politicians name - 02 br
02 br
00 we came 2nd instead of 1st in the quiz because of it... There's 8 pints of beer invloved so very important :-D 0-
02 br
00 which politicians wife said xyz 02 br
00 To which the answer was the name of the politicians wife, not the name of the politician - Cherie Blair (instead of Tony!) 02 br
02 br
00 I argued the question was not particularly well phrased and was indeed difficult to answer because it seemed to ask 02 br
02 br
00 "what was the name of the politician" not the wife....This then became a question of semantics, regarding the use of apostrophes 02 br
00 what politicians wife said xyz 02 br
02 br
00 I argued : "which politician's wife said xyz" is distinctly different to "which politicians' wife said xyz" 02 br
02 br
00 Who can tell me I'm wrong, and how :-) 02 br
02 br
00 Oh and should the answer have been the wifes name or the politicians name - we were marked down because we gave the politicians name - 02 br
02 br
00 we came 2nd instead of 1st in the quiz because of it... There's 8 pints of beer invloved so very important :-D 0-
Top answer
) 02 br 02 br 00 To be honest, I would have taken the meaning as the wife's name. 02 br 02 br 00 I'm not sure how this will help sort out your argument though 0-
- ) 02 br 02 br 00 To be honest, I would have taken the meaning as the wife's name.
- 02 br 02 br 00 I'm not sure how this will help sort out your argument though 0-
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4 Answers
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0 It's not down to the apostrophe (politicians' wife doesn't make sense - the wife of multiple politicians?) 02 br
02 br
00 To be honest, I would have taken the meaning as the wife's name. If they wanted the politician's name they could have phrased it 'The wife of which politician said XYZ?' But I agree that the question was very ambiguous and you could answer it either way. 02
02 br
00 To be honest, I would have taken the meaning as the wife's name. If they wanted the politician's name they could have phrased it 'The wife of which politician said XYZ?' But I agree that the question was very ambiguous and you could answer it either way. 02
00
0 Thanks nona. 02 br
02 br
00 I'll have to confess my incorrection then :-) 0-
02 br
00 I'll have to confess my incorrection then :-) 0-
00
0 I think the question was so ambigious you should have been right whichever way you answered it. 0-
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0 I agree with Nona - and the only way out to cover all contingencies would be to answer 01 i 00 Tony Blair's wife Cherie 02 i 00 . 0-
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