ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Yoong Liat — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:13:22 GMT

Lcchang

It's a real "TOEIC Testbook" for sure. Only the answer key is provided.

But then the answer key should tell you which verb should be used in place of the wrong verb. If it doesn't, I suggest you buy a good English usage or grammar book.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:06:19 GMT

Yoong Liat

Lcchang
No teahcer. I am studying the testbook myself.
No teacher. I am studying the textbook myself. But the book should provide the correct verb if I'm not wrong.

It's a real "TOEIC Testbook" for sure. Only the answerkey is provided.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Yoong Liat — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:17:48 GMT

Lcchang
No teahcer. I am studying the testbook myself.

No teacher. I am studying the textbook myself. But the book should provide the correct verb if I'm not wrong.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:34:23 GMT

Yoong Liat

Lcchang
It's D, but I don't know what it has to be corrected to. I believe New2Grammar's answer is the best, and yours too.

Thanks. But why is the correct answer not stated? Just 'D'! I'm interested in what, according to your teacher/lecturer, the correct verb should be.

No teahcer. I am studying the testbook myself.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Yoong Liat — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:20:21 GMT

Lcchang
It's D, but I don't know what it has to be corrected to. I believe New2Grammar's answer is the best, and yours too.

Thanks. But why is the correct answer not stated? Just 'D'! I'm interested in what, according to your teacher/lecturer, the correct verb should be.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:35:48 GMT

Yoong Liat

Lcchang
When the Research Department (A) started (B) working on a new shampoo, we (C) received phone calls from other researchers who (D) worked on the same kind of project.

Do you know which underlined part is incorrect? I can't.
Could you please let us know what the answer is once you get it from your teacher/lecturer?

It's D, but I don't know what it has to be corrected to. I believe New2Grammar's answer is the best, and yours too.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

New2grammar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:23:17 GMT

I would choose D. I would use the continous. Research is temporary in nature. Some research is very long but most is within a few years. Someday, it will end unlike some facts. Just my opinion.

Lcchang
What about, in this case, we have to make a decision to choose the wrong part in such a TOEIC question?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Yoong Liat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:01:21 GMT

Lcchang
When the Research Department (A) started (B) working on a new shampoo, we (C) received phone calls from other researchers who (D) worked on the same kind of project.

Do you know which underlined part is incorrect? I can't.

Could you please let us know what the answer is once you get it from your teacher/lecturer?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:50:23 GMT

New2grammar
Lcchang
We then received phones calls from them because they had been working on that for a while.
Yes. But we do not know who started first, your or them. The sentence simply doesn't tell you that piece of information.

Lcchang
Using continuous tense is clearer than past tense, am I right?
Not really. They are slightly different. The continous tense emphasizes their work was going on. The past tense simply says they worked on that similar research as a fact like I eat rice vs I'm eating rice. Do you see the difference?

Oh Yes, I do, What about, in this case, we have to make a decision to choose the wrong part in such a TOEIC question?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

New2grammar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:53:49 GMT

Lcchang
We then received phones calls from them because they had been working on that for a while.

Yes. But we do not know who started first, your or them. The sentence simply doesn't tell you that piece of information.

Lcchang
Using continuous tense is clearer than past tense, am I right?

Not really. They are slightly different. The continous tense emphasizes their work was going on. The past tense simply says they worked on that similar research as a fact like I eat rice vs I'm eating rice. Do you see the difference?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:45:10 GMT

New2grammar
Logically, you start/kick off the project, then you start receiving phone calls from interested parties (other researchers). Assuming you use the past continous, they may or may not have started similar projects before you did.

I see. So the project was started by the other researchers first. Then we started working on that too. We then received phones calls from them because they had been working on that for a while.

Using continuous tense is clearer than past tense, am I right?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Yoong Liat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:35:33 GMT

Lcchang
I can understand the change you've made, which sounds fine to me. In the meantime however, you seem to have taken out the word "who" which is not an underlined word and must stay in the sentence.

In any case, I'd just like to find out if (D) can keep its original tense. Please advise.

When the Research Department started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers who (D) worked on the same kind of project.

When the Research Department started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers (who were) working on the same kind of project.

I removed 'who were' so that you could have a clear picture of the usage. To me, you can remove 'who were' from the sentence without changing its meaning.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Seloc@n — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:44:02 GMT

what would you say past perfect tense in choice C ?

Re: Toeic/ Tense

New2grammar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:32:03 GMT

Logically, you start/kick off the project, then you start receiving phone calls from interested parties (other researchers). Assuming you use the past continous, they may or may not have started similar projects before you did.

Re: Toeic/ Tense

Lcchang — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:20:51 GMT

Regardless of the underlined words, I try to put the sentence in the following way:

When the Research Department was working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers who were working on the same kind of project.

But back to the original sentence, I was confused about which action goes first, second, and third. Do "started working on the shampoo" and "received phone calls" occur at the same time? Please advise.