Tenses

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HexFumes1

#552671 Fri, 08 Aug 08 09:47 PM

<Hi everyone>

In some villages in England and Wales, there are people who still continue to make cheese in the same way as people --it for hundreds of years.
A) had made
B) made
C) will make
D) have been making
E) are making

Is the answer B or D? I couldn't decide. Or is there anything wrong with the question?

HexFumes1

Joined on Fri, Aug 8 2008

New Member (07)

optilang

#552674 Fri, 08 Aug 08 09:52 PM

In some villages in England and Wales, there are ~~still~~ people who still continue to make cheese in the same way as people have been making it for hundreds of years.

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,234)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

HexFumes1

#552676 Fri, 08 Aug 08 09:58 PM

Cheers Optilang. But you know we can use the expression "for" with simple past tense as well if the action took place for a period in the past. What do you think?

HexFumes1

Tenses, Expressions, Simple Past, Past Tenses

HexFumes1

#552683 Fri, 08 Aug 08 10:11 PM

I guess it's better to say:
In some villages in England and Wales, there are people who still continue to make cheese in the same way as people made it hundreds of years ago.

HexFumes1

Seraphin

#552685 Fri, 08 Aug 08 10:16 PM

Since a native speaker has already piped in, I am not a native speaker so I only beg for an answer to clarify my own confusion.

My initial thought to this question is A - with the following logic.

To me, the sentence is comparing two groups of people: modern people (people who still continue to ...) and "ancient" (for lack of a better word) people. So I thought, the structure of the sentence should be

(a) there are people (now) who still continue to make cheese (in the same way as)

(b) there WERE people (in the past) who HAD made cheese for several hundred years (from one time point in the past to another time point ALSO in the past)

thus I would choose A.

If the answer is D, the sentence would seem a little odd to me, because the first group (people who continue to make cheese)

is PART OF the second group (who have been making cheese). Then for me, there is NO NEED for such a comparison.

I hope I've explained myself well enough so that someone can understand and respond to my confusion.

Seraphin

Joined on Sat, Feb 9 2008

Full Member (146)

optilang

#552693 Fri, 08 Aug 08 10:31 PM

It is not about the people, it is about the process of making cheese. The process that is used today is the same process that was used two or three hundred years ago (possibly even longer). The process has remained the same throughout that time.

optilang

Seraphin

#552701 Fri, 08 Aug 08 10:44 PM

Thanks for the explanation.

Please bear with me a bit longer - I am just too anal to let go here.

If a process has remained throughout the time (from the past TO the present), it would indicate that CLEARLY there ARE

people who still make cheese the way their great great grandparents did. Why then is it such a surprise that

"In some villages, there are people who STILL continue to make cheese (in) the same way as people who have been making it for hundreds of years"

Unless, it is known that this "traditional" way of making cheese is common in other countries BUT England and Wales.

Also, just one grammar question, can we skip the "in" and say "make cheese the same way as ..."? Thanks

Seraphin

Grammar

optilang

#552703 Fri, 08 Aug 08 10:51 PM

"In some villages, there are people who STILL continue to make cheese (in) the same way as people who have been making it for hundreds of years"

It may be the case that not everyone in the villages follows the traditional cheese-making process. Also, STILL doesn't necessarily imply surprise. I believe it used here to emphasise the fact that people continue with the age-old process.

Also, just one grammar question, can we skip the "in" and say "make cheese the same way as ..."? Thanks

I can't give you a grammatical ruling on your second question, but it would not trouble me if in was omitted.

Hope that helps.

optilang

Grammar

RayH

#552720 Sat, 09 Aug 08 12:08 AM

In some villages in England and Wales, there are people who still continue to make cheese in the same way as people --it for hundreds of years.
A) had made
B) made
C) will make
D) have been making
E) are making

Is the answer B or D? I couldn't decide. Or is there anything wrong with the question?

In some villages in England and Wales, there are people who still ~~continue to~~ make cheese in the same way as people --it for hundreds of years. OR
In some villages in England and Wales, there are people who ~~still~~ continue to make cheese in the same way as people --it for hundreds of years.

Answer D) is the only one I would accept as correct. You might hear in spoken (not written) usage "have made."

RayH

Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008

CA, USA

Regular Member (796)

Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert.

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