Is the question and answer correct?

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learning54

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Hi teachers.
According to this sentence, 'Twenty minutes later he stood in front of Eva Hine's desk'.
Besides 'a', is question and answer 'b' correct?
a) Where did he stand twenty minutes later? He stood in front of Evan Hine's desk.
b) Where was he twenty minutes later? He was in front of Eva Hine's desk.

Thanks in advance.
 
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White Hat

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Grammar-wise, it's not incorrect.
 

learning54

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Hi,
Thank you for your reply. If it is not incorrect grammatically speaking, is it correct acording to the sentence given?
 

5jj

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I can't speak for Bennevis, but I think he may have had in mind a situation in which the question and answers might have been:

Frimpup minutes later he snerdled in front of the pipplesequat.

a) Where did he snerdle frimpup minutes later? He snerdled in front of the pipplesequat.
b) Where was he frimpup minutes late? He was in front of the pipplesequat.


Nothing is grammatically incorrect. We know that the students can recognise a question form and deliver an appropriate answer correctly. We do not know if they have understood anything of the meaning of the original sentence.
 

learning54

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Hi 5jj,
Thank you for making me thinking. The students understand each word from the sentence and both questions. As usual these are questions, 'direct questions', for a listening exercise. The sentence is what they will hear. I just wanted to know if question 'b' could be asked according to the sentence given. I want to know if I can ask such a question without putting my foot in it. Why? Because the verb 'be is not in the sentence given.

By the way, if the students have some new vocabulary during the listening, it is always explain before the exercise.
 

5jj

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I just wanted to know if question 'b' could be asked according to the sentence given. I want to know if I can ask such a question without putting my foot in it. Why? Because the verb 'be' is not in the sentence given.
Generally, yes, as we see in this example:

Smith worked in his study while his wife entertained her friends.

It's fine to ask:

Where did Smith work/Where was Smith/What did Smith do ... while his wife entertained her friends?
By the way, if the students have some new vocabulary during the listening, it is always explained before the exercise.
That may be, but the type of question I suggested in post #4 does not test whether the students have understood the words. It's possible to answer my questions correctly while having no idea of what my made-up words might mean.
 

learning54

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Generally, yes, as we see in this example.
Thank you for your example. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

That may be, but the type of question I suggested in post #4 does not test whether the students have understood the words. It's possible to answer my questions correctly while having no idea of what my made-up words might mean.
You're right about it; it doesn't test them. That's why I always try to make sure that they know what they are answering about. Is there another way to do it?

By the way, what do you do in order to have multiple ballons including the words?
 

5jj

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By the way, what do you do in order to have multiple ballons including the words?
I'll answer that part first, You can either:

1. Write QUOTE inside square brackets before the words you want to enclose in a speech balloon and /QUOTE inside square brackets after them,

or

2. Click on the 4th symbol from the right in the lower row of symbols at the top of your post - If you hover your cursor over it, it says "Wrap
tags around selected text". Then type your text in between the QUOTE tags that appear miraculously on your page.
 

5jj

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I always try to make sure that they know what they are answering about. Is there another way to do it?
As I have suggested in other threads, your questions check that the students have heard certain words, but do not generally check that they have understood anything. Let me give you another example. Let’s suppose the students hear a text containing the words “Lord Muffin snatched the derringer and shot his nephew”. I have given below two sets of questions. The A group questions, the sort you tend to compose, test only the ability to hear what has been said. You could ask this type of question about “Tork Grotth whippled the blesefuf and mattled his goolidoofa” and find that students give correct responses. The B group questions test whether the students have actually understood what is going on.

Lord Muffin snatched the derringer and shot his nephew


Group A:
Who snatched the derringer?
Who shot his nephew?
What did Lord Muffin snatch?
What did Lord Muffin do before he shot his nephew?
Who(m) did Lord Muffin shoot?
etc

Lord Muffin snatched the derringer and shot his nephew
Group B:
Lord Muffin ...... the derringer?
a. took..... b. pushed..... c. loaded ...d..... painted

When Lord Muffin snatched the derringer, the action was .....
a. slow.....b. quiet..... c. funny..... d sudden

A derringer is a type of .....
a. knife.....b. medicine..... c. gun..... d. hammer

Lord Muffin was his nephew’s .....
a. father..... b. aunt. ..... c. uncle. ..... d. cousin

The nephew was a .....
a. girl..... b. boy..... c. pet..... d. we don’t know.

Lord Muffin killed his nephew. Is this statement
a. true..... b. false ..... c. silly ..... d. we don’t know.....?




...
 
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learning54

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Hi 5jj,
Thank YOU for your reply. I'm astonished! :shock: I really am. It's excellent this kind of exercise. I would have never think about it on my own. The thing is that this exercise requires an excellent understanding of the English language and unfortunately it is beyond my grasp. But nevertheless I'll try my best in doing them and my hope is that you and the other teachers, will help me and have patience. It is a big challenge for me.

Learning
 

5jj

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The thing is that this exercise requires an excellent understanding of the English language and unfortunately it is beyond my grasp.
I can't judge that, but I suspect it may seem so simply because you have not been exposed to this tyoe of question before.

They are certainly not easy to compose, especially for a non-native speaker, but you have the facility here at usingenglish.com to try out some of your questions and see how we react to them. I have tried again with some different Group B questions - ones that I am fairly sure you could create:


Lord Muffin snatched the derringer and shot his nephew

Group B ( some slightly different):

Lord Muffin ...... the derringer?
a. took..... b. pushed..... c. lost...d. dropped

Lord Muffin snatched the derringer ......
a. slowlyy.....b. quietly..... c. intelligently..... d. quickly

A derringer is a type of .....
a. knife.....b. medicine..... c. gun..... d. pencil

Lord Muffin was his nephew’s .....
a. father..... b. aunt. ..... c. uncle. ..... d. brother

The nephew was a .....
a. girl..... b. boy..... c. animal..... d. it is not clear

Lord Muffin killed his nephew. Is this statement
a. true..... b. false ..... c. it is not clear.....? [/QUOTE]
 

learning54

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They are certainly not easy to compose, especially for a non-native speaker, but you have the facility here at usingenglish.com to try out some of your questions and see how we react to them.

Hi,
I sure will and thank you once again for your class and new Group B questions.

Learning
 

5jj

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Another point. If I am playing a short passage only once, I always give my students the questions before they hear the passage, so that they know what they are listening for.

Or, for a longer and/or more difficult passage:

1. I play the passge in full once, without pauses, so that they have the general idea of what it's about.
2. I give them the questions, with time to read them, so that they know what they are going to be listening for. (At this stage, some of the bright ones may already be able to answer some of the questions.)
3. I play the whole passage again, with pauses at appropriate times so that they have a chance to circle/write in the answers.
4. (optional) I play the passage a third time, without pauses, so that they have a chance to check their answers.

Part of the point of this is that I am trying to check their comprehension, not their memory.
 

learning54

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Another point. If I am playing a short passage only once, I always give my students the questions before they hear the passage, so that they know what they are listening for.

I always do that too.


1. I play the passge in full once, without pauses, so that they have the general idea of what it's about.
2. I give them the questions, with time to read them, so that they know what they are going to be listening for.
3. I play the whole passage again, with pauses at appropriate times so that they have a chance to circle/write in the answers.
4. (optional) I play the passage a third time, without pauses, so that they have a chance to check their answers.

I also do that, except for point 4. It is not an optional point, I always play it again.

As I have suggested in other threads, your questions check that the students have heard certain words, but do not generally check that they have understood anything.

One more question please, for them to check that they have heard certain words and are able to write them, is already a step. Since that is a challege for them, what if I mix this kind of questions with the ones that check their comprehension, the ones you have proposed to me. Will that be a good exercise to begin with?

Ooops! It seems that I did something wrong to enclose your words in a ballom.
 
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5jj

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Don't forget that each QUOTE and /QUOTE needs a [ before it and a ] after it, so that they look like this:
and [/QU0TE]
 

learning54

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Hi 5jj,
Thank you! I was missing that part.
One more question please, for them to check that they have heard certain words and are able to write them, is already a step. Since that is a challenge for them, what if I mix this kind of questions with the ones that check their comprehension, the ones you have proposed to me. Will that be a good exercise to begin with?
It seems that you don't agree with my idea, do you?
 
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