CPE sentence transformation

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Tanit

#450709 Fri, 07 Dec 07 04:14 PM

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.

Tanit

Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006

In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

Senior Member (2,238)

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Grammar

Clive

#450717 Fri, 07 Dec 07 04:59 PM

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.

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.

You mean the word 'uninterested'.

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.

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (22,565)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Grammar

Tanit

#450772 Fri, 07 Dec 07 08:56 PM

Thanks, Clive! I really appreciate your help.

I have a follow-up question concerning no. 16a, though. Smile [:)]

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 wrote:
You mean the word 'uninterested'.

I only copied the sentence exactly the way it was written in the book. Smile [:)]

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

Tanit

Clive

#450790 Fri, 07 Dec 07 11:27 PM

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

Clive

Hoa Thai

#450804 Sat, 08 Dec 07 12:12 AM

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

Hoa Thai

Joined on Mon, Oct 15 2007

Vietnam

Contributing Member (1,100)

Best Regards - Hoa Thai

Clive

#450809 Sat, 08 Dec 07 12:38 AM

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

Clive

Hoa Thai

#450830 Sat, 08 Dec 07 01:20 AM

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:

Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 9.180.000 cho "intention to". (0,22 giây)
Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 5.080.000 cho "intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 1.440.000 cho "no intention to". (0,22 giây)
Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 2.080.000 cho "no intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 248.000 cho "have no intention to". (0,24 giây)
Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 1.770.000 cho "have no intention of". (0,41 giây)

Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 169.000 cho "had no intention to". (0,26 giây)
Kết quả 1 - 10 trong khoảng 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. Smile [:)]

Thank you very much.
Hoa Thai

Hoa Thai

Verbs, Nouns, Noun Phrases, Gerunds

Clive

#450898 Sat, 08 Dec 07 05:40 AM

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

Verbs, Nouns, Noun Phrases, Gerunds

Hoa Thai

#450914 Sat, 08 Dec 07 06:27 AM

Clive wrote:
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

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

Hoa Thai

Verbs, Nouns, Noun Phrases, Gerunds

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