Please advise, teachers! Thanks ^o^
My name is Mark. There are four people in my family - there's Dad, Mum, Steven - my little brother and me. There used to be five people in our family. I used to have an older sister, Melissa, who died in a traffic accident.
Q: How many family members did Mark have before Melissa died?
Five, counting Mark himself OR
Four, excluding Mark himself?
Please advise, teachers! Thanks
Re: Please advise, teachers! Thanks ^o^
Quote:
Originally Posted by Helped Wanted
My name is Mark. There are four people in my family - there's Dad, Mum, Steven - my little brother and me. There used to be five people in our family. I used to have an older sister, Melissa, who died in a traffic accident.
Q: How many family members did Mark have before Melissa died?
Five, counting Mark himself OR
Four, excluding Mark himself?
Please advise, teachers! Thanks
Well Mark, I'm not a teacher, but I think your family counted five, because you're one of the family too, aren't you? :wink:
And I'm sorry about your sister...
Re: Please advise, teachers! Thanks ^o^
Quote:
Originally Posted by Helped Wanted
My name is Mark. There are four people in my family - there's Dad, Mum, Steven - my little brother and me. There used to be five people in our family. I used to have an older sister, Melissa, who died in a traffic accident.
Q: How many family members did Mark have before Melissa died?
Five, counting Mark himself OR
Four, excluding Mark himself?
Please advise, teachers! Thanks
I was wrong. :(
Thanks Mike :) :) You're right on the money. :)
Notice the use of the pronoun 'our' in "There used to be five people in our family". 'our' includes Mark.
There used to be five people in our family.
Ronbee is also correct in noting the very strange use of what appear to be hyphens used as dashes (-...-):
There are four people in my family - there's Dad (1), Mum (2), Steven - my little brother (3) and me (4).
The hyphens/dashes are used incorrectly. They shouldn't separate 'my little brother and me' from the family list.
All the best,
Re: Please advise, teachers! Thanks ^o^
Quote:
Originally Posted by Helped Wanted
My name is Mark. There are four people in my family - there's Dad, Mum, Steven - my little brother and me. There used to be five people in our family. I used to have an older sister, Melissa, who died in a traffic accident.
Q: How many family members did Mark have before Melissa died?
Five, counting Mark himself OR
Four, excluding Mark himself?
Please advise, teachers! Thanks
I have to disagree with Cas on this one. The sentence that says there are now four people in the family includes you (Mark). The dash between "Steven" and "little brother" suggests to me that it is one person, a little brother named Steven.
Therefore, the number of family members was 5 and is now 4.
If this is supposed to be a brain teaser and I had to choose between your OR choices, I would go with Four (excluding Mark) on the grounds that a person can't have himself as a family member, even though a family can have him as a member.
If this is not a brain teaser, you may have to tell us what it was. :wink: