exercise on modal verbs

[teacherhoney]

Hi!
I've just finished an exercise I used as classwork but I had a go myself before....
I did one wrong----shame on me!
It was the ....difficult thing was communication
I put most rather than more but the test beared "it depends on how many things there were"....I'm still puzzled ...
Could you explain why????
Thanks a lot

[bhaisahab]

Hi!
I've just finished an exercise I used as classwork but I had a go myself before....
I did one wrong----shame on me!
It was the ....difficult thing was communication
I put most rather than more but the test beared "it depends on how many things there were"....I'm still puzzled ...
Could you explain why????
Thanks a lot

The most likely answer is "the most difficult thing was...". However a case could be made for "the more difficult..." If it's a question with only one correct answer, it's a bad question.

[Coolfootluke]

Hi!
I've just finished an exercise I used as classwork but I had a go myself before....
I did one wrong----shame on me!
It was the ....difficult thing was communication
I put most rather than more but the test beared "it depends on how many things there were"....I'm still puzzled ...
Could you explain why????
Thanks a lot

I am not a teacher.

You copied it wrong, I think. I'm guessing it was: The ___ difficult thing was communication.

It is a good rule of thumb to use "more" with two things and "most" with more than two, but "most" would not be wrong in your example even if there were two "things". In fact, "more" usually sounds strained there to me. The distinction is too prissy, and it asks too much of "more" to make it tell us how many things there were.

[teacherhoney]

Thanks for your reply but as you said It was as i also wrote at first so i didn't copy it wrong
I mean : The statement (it) was : the_difficult thing etc....
Anyway, it sounds strained to me too....
That's why I asked.
Thanks for your explanation
------------------------------------

You copied it wrong, I think. I'm guessing it was: The ___ difficult thing was communication.

It is a good rule of thumb to use "more" with two things and "most" with more than two, but "most" would not be wrong in your example even if there were two "things". In fact, "more" usually sounds strained there to me. The distinction is too prissy, and it asks too much of "more" to make it tell us how many things there were.[/QUOTE]