language awareness task question

Hi,

I'm in the process of completing my language awareness task in order to apply for a CELTA course and have got stuck on one of the questions. It does say you can refer to grammar book but I can't find one to buy (I'm in Indonesia) I hope this is not cheating but can someone help me with the following exchange

"Is John ill? He's lost a lot of weight."
"Yes, he's rather slender these days, isn't he?"

I have to identify, correct and explain the mistake. I had no problem with the rest of the task but am having a mental block with this.

Thanks

[A.Russell]

Is there really a mistake in that?

I did wonder that, The others are quite straightforward stuff like tense changes, past continuous instead of simple past, difference in meaning of words etc.

If you guys don't know maybe it's a trick question!

Thanks

[Tdol]

'slender' has a positive connotation, and doesn't go with illness. Try thin/underweight

[hashoomer]

Hi
I don't think that it is a trick question. I think that "He's lost a lot of weight."

He's is the shortened version of HE IS. Here the situation is that he has already lost the weight and so should read; "He has lost a lot of weight"

I would be grateful if you could email your other ones to compare as i am also doing this.

Thanks

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[RonBee]

Originally Posted by hashoomer

Hi
I don't think that it is a trick question. I think that "He's lost a lot of weight."

He's is the shortened version of HE IS. Here the situation is that he has already lost the weight and so should read; "He has lost a lot of weight"

I would be grateful if you could email your other ones to compare as i am also doing this.

Thanks

No, I don't think that's it. In the context "He's" would be understood to mean "He has".

As for the example conversation, I would need more context to decide that somebody has somehow made an error.

~R

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by hashoomer

He's is the shortened version of HE IS.

It can be 'he is' or 'he has'.

[soltiss1]

It's possible that the mistake is lexical. I don't think you would say that someone looks slender if they lost weight due to being sick. I think a better word would be thin. One would look slender if they had been going to the gym or dieting.
In any case, good luck!

[RonBee]

Positive connotations: slim, slender
Neutral or negative connotations: thin, underweight, anorexic




(This thread was started in 2005)

[Monticello]

Originally Posted by trainee

Hi,

I'm in the process of completing my language awareness task in order to apply for a CELTA course and have got stuck on one of the questions. It does say you can refer to grammar book but I can't find one to buy (I'm in Indonesia) I hope this is not cheating but can someone help me with the following exchange

"Is John ill? He's lost a lot of weight."
"Yes, he's rather slender these days, isn't he?"

I have to identify, correct and explain the mistake. I had no problem with the rest of the task but am having a mental block with this.

Thanks

OK, so this thread is now close to 4 years old and "trainee" has probably long since moved on to other concerns. Nonetheless, in the interest of putting this one to its final rest, may I suggest the following grammatical correction?

"Is John ill? He's lost a lot of weight."
"Yes, he's rather slender these days. Isn't he?"