Alternative answers 2

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Here is another series of alternative answers. Are they grammatically correct ? Are there other possibilities ?

III/ One afternoon Chris and I went up the valley to the gold workings to search out wood for the boat he was planning. A century BEFORE (“before” here is an adverb or a preposition ?), the upper valley 1) a) HAD BEEN / b) WAS well populated with men looking for gold and above the stream bed we came upon a collection of derelict huts and their complicated arrangement of wooden parapets and sluices.
We worked on a sluice run until we 2) a) COULD FREE / b) WERE ABLE TO FREE (may be not “BE ABLE TO” since they could do it with EASE ?) its boards with ease, digging to loosen the framework from the earth. Then Chris stopped and stood up, he held in his hand a long tapered bone from which he shook the remaining traces of soil. “What's this ?” Leaning forward, he pointed the bone 3) a) AT / b) TO my chest; he 4) a) WAS FROWNING / b) FROWNED heavily. “You 5) a) ARE CONDEMNED / b) WILL BE CONDEMNED to take this boat we build and sail in her to the west for all eternity,” he said, and I said, “Don't joke, what kind of animal is it anyway ?”
We scraped at the earth at the base of the frame and came upon other bones, they 6) a) WERE LAID OUT / b) WERE LAYING OUT / c) HAD BEEN LAYING OUT (?) in a pattern that twisted in under the frame posts, and after a while Chris said, “I think it's a man. Maybe the miners 7) a) BURIED / b) HAD BURIED people alive under their buildings for luck, like the Melanesians.” But the skeleton was too large to be human, the bones of the legs were exceptionally long and AS (= subordinating conjunction ?) we uncovered more of it, we could see that the creature had a thin, curved neck like a swan, but much longer and more powerful. Then I said, “It's a moa.” We both stopped digging and sat back from the skeleton. “We shouldn't move it,” I said and Chris said, “But who is there to show it to ?” We sat and looked at the bones for a while, a little afraid aware that the great bird had remained undisturbed for a thousand years. Then Chris said that we 8) a) SHOULD COLLECT / b) OUGHT TO COLLECT the bones and take them to the house where we 9) a) COULD PIECE / b) WOULD BE ABLE TO PIECE the skeleton together again, it would be safer there though safer 10) a) AGAINST / b) THAN (?) what he 11) a) DID NOT SAY / b) WOULD NOT SAY.

A thousand thanks,
Hela

[Marylin]

[quote=hela]Dear teachers, [color=black][font=Verdana]

Here is another series of alternative answers. Are they grammatically correct ? Are there other possibilities ?

One afternoon Chris and I went up the valley to the gold workings to search out wood for the boat he was planning. A century BEFORE (“before” here is an adverb - meaning at any time before then) the upper valley HAD BEEN well populated with men looking for gold and above the stream bed we came upon a collection of derelict huts and their complicated arrangement of wooden parapets and sluices.
We worked on a sluice run until we COULD its boards with ease, digging to loosen the framework from the earth. Then Chris stopped and stood up, he held in his hand a long tapered bone from which he shook the remaining traces of soil. “What's this ?” Leaning forward, he pointed the bone AT my chest; he WAS FROWNING heavily. “You are conemned to take this boat we build and sail in her to the west for all eternity,” he said, and I said, “Don't joke, what kind of animal is it anyway ?”
We scraped at the earth at the base of the frame and came upon other bones, they WERE LAID OUT in a pattern that twisted in under the frame posts, and after a while Chris said, “I think it's a man. Maybe the miners BURIED people alive under their buildings for luck, like the Melanesians.” But the skeleton was too large to be human, the bones of the legs were exceptionally long and AS ( it is a subordinating conjunction) we uncovered more of it, we could see that the creature had a thin, curved neck like a swan, but much longer and more powerful. Then I said, “It's a moa.” We both stopped digging and sat back from the skeleton. “We shouldn't move it,” I said and Chris said, “But who is there to show it to ?” We sat and looked at the bones for a while, a little afraid aware that the great bird had remained undisturbed for a thousand years. Then Chris said that we SHOULD COLLECT the bones and take them to the house where we COULDthe skeleton together again, it would be safer there though safer 10) a) AGAINST / b) THAN (?) what he 11) a) DID NOT SAY / b) WOULD NOT SAY.

I don't quite understand 10 &11, Hela.