ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Tenses

CalifJim — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:47:32 GMT

HexFumes1
Is the answer B or D?

D. have been making (because of still and continue).

Otherwise it would have been something like this:

In some villages ... there are people who have recently taken up again an old practice which was thought to have been lost in the mists of history -- making cheese they way they made it hundreds of years ago.

Re: Tenses

RayH — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:08:38 GMT

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."

Re: Tenses

optilang — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:51:50 GMT

"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.

Re: Tenses

Seraphin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:44:53 GMT

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

Re: Tenses

optilang — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:31:16 GMT

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.

Re: Tenses

Seraphin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:16:28 GMT

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.

Re: Tenses

HexFumes1 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:11:04 GMT

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.

Re: Tenses

HexFumes1 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:58:39 GMT

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?

Re: Tenses

optilang — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:52:58 GMT

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.

Tenses

HexFumes1 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:47:39 GMT

<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?