Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - Please, people who know much about the English language..

uss · 04-19-2004, 05:39 AM

I'll try to be brief since I'll have to go back to school in 10 minutes.

In our English lessons, we have word tests. This is probably done everywhere, but our English word tests with this teacher actually contain sentences and longer expressions.

I got my word test results just today. The grade was 3=(two minuses) in the Estonian scale of 1-5. 2 is the smallest grade you can get for a test that you have done, and thus, 2 is the equivalent of F, so 3= means that I was very close to getting one!

What I wanted to talk about were the flaws in it.

First, how correct is it to write 'To watch in amazement to march them into the mist?' I wrote 'To watch them march into the mist in amazement,' which she said was very wrong.

Expression nr. 29, I wrote 'To work on a memorial.' The correct one was 'To start work on the memorial.' I asked about that one, assuming both 'a' and 'the' should apply. She said "You see, if you start working on a memorial, you *know* what memorial you are working on."

OK, then I asked about Nr. 25. I wrote 'To disappear into a wayside inn.' The correct way to write it was 'To disappear into the wayside inn.' She said "Well, usually there isn't more than one inn in a countryside." "But there CAN be more than one," I replied. "Don't start arguing." Grr!

Then I asked about Nr. 20. The sentence was 'To carve a giant sculpture into a mountain' and I wrote it correctly. I asked why that one was correct. She said "It's an exception." I asked how, to which she said "Understand, I took these expressions from the English book. Go ask an Englishman, if you really want to know!"

So here I am. This is crazy! I always get 3's on my English word tests, but 5's(A's) on my English Unit Tests. I'd really like to know which one of us is the idiot. She has been an English teacher for more than 10 years, but what she thinks seems so.. incorrect. My stupidity or her senility?

It's about the British English which very few people use. i don't know close to anything about that, since I mostly learnt the English language by watching American TV shows, so she *could* be right.

So, who is right?

Thanks.

04-19-2004, 05:39 AM	#1
uss 20th Level Warrior Join Date: November 16, 2001 Location: Estonia Age: 35 Posts: 2,775	I'll try to be brief since I'll have to go back to school in 10 minutes. In our English lessons, we have word tests. This is probably done everywhere, but our English word tests with this teacher actually contain sentences and longer expressions. I got my word test results just today. The grade was 3=(two minuses) in the Estonian scale of 1-5. 2 is the smallest grade you can get for a test that you have done, and thus, 2 is the equivalent of F, so 3= means that I was very close to getting one! What I wanted to talk about were the flaws in it. First, how correct is it to write 'To watch in amazement to march them into the mist?' I wrote 'To watch them march into the mist in amazement,' which she said was very wrong. Expression nr. 29, I wrote 'To work on a memorial.' The correct one was 'To start work on the memorial.' I asked about that one, assuming both 'a' and 'the' should apply. She said "You see, if you start working on a memorial, you know what memorial you are working on." OK, then I asked about Nr. 25. I wrote 'To disappear into a wayside inn.' The correct way to write it was 'To disappear into the wayside inn.' She said "Well, usually there isn't more than one inn in a countryside." "But there CAN be more than one," I replied. "Don't start arguing." Grr! Then I asked about Nr. 20. The sentence was 'To carve a giant sculpture into a mountain' and I wrote it correctly. I asked why that one was correct. She said "It's an exception." I asked how, to which she said "Understand, I took these expressions from the English book. Go ask an Englishman, if you really want to know!" So here I am. This is crazy! I always get 3's on my English word tests, but 5's(A's) on my English Unit Tests. I'd really like to know which one of us is the idiot. She has been an English teacher for more than 10 years, but what she thinks seems so.. incorrect. My stupidity or her senility? It's about the British English which very few people use. i don't know close to anything about that, since I mostly learnt the English language by watching American TV shows, so she could be right. So, who is right? Thanks.