English language survey - immediate help needed!

[amelina]

Hi, everyone. I need help from English native speakers. I would be extremely grateful if you would conduct the survey from the following links
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G2YGBWK

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LGKHJXW

Any additional comments or suggestions are more than welcome! Many thanks in advance ;-).

 

[emsr2d2]

I have answered both surveys. It is unfortunate that you chose the words "acceptable/unacceptable". Had you chosen "natural/unnatural" it would have been much easier to answer the ones which are technically grammatical but would never be said by a native speaker.

 

[amelina]

Dear emsr2d2,
Thank you for doing the surveys. My supervisor insisted that I should use the exact word acceptable or unacceptable. Could you please quote some sentences you found technically grammatical but nonusable in speech? Some of the sentences in the survey are marked as perfectly acceptable/ grammatical in the literature, e.g. (1-3) below, but are marked as totally unacceptable by my informants. Do you find these examples perfectly grammatical but unnatural?
(1) Beans, never in my life will I eat.
(2) This book, to ROBIN I gave (but not to Anne)
(3) A university is the kind of place in which that kind of behaviour we cannot tolerate.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[amelina]

Thank you very much. Your comments are very helpful, since the third sentence has been marked as perfectly acceptable/ grammatical by Radford. Not being a native speaker makes the matter rather complicated

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.


It is completely unacceptable.


These are acceptable.
A university is the kind of place in which that kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated.
A university is the kind of place in which we cannot tolerate that kind of behaviour.

 

[amelina]

Thank you for such a good explanation! Hoewever, if the sentence is used in the context you've just mentioned, the constituent that kind of behaviour should have stronger emphasis and should be contrasted with some other previously mentioned element, I suppose?
For example: in which that kind of behaviour (=alcohol and drug abuse) we cannot tolerate (but some other kinds of behaviour are, on the other hand, tolerated. I really appreciate your help and your very useful explanations.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I don't usually take surveys. It is said that many survey sites collect data on the responders.

 

[amelina]

I've never even thought about that, but maybe you're right MikeNewYork. However, since we (non-native speakers) have no close contact with English native speakers, we resort to conducting surveys (the only option available ).

 

[SoothingDave]

I am not a teacher.


It is completely unacceptable.


These are acceptable.
A university is the kind of place in which that kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated.
A university is the kind of place in which we cannot tolerate that kind of behaviour.

Replacing "in which" with "where" is more natural to me.

 

[amelina]

Could you possibly tell me how you'd rate the following sentences? Are they acceptable, but unnatural or unacceptable and thus unnatural?
1. Mary wonders why under no circumstances at all would John volunteer.
2. Lee wonders why only then would Robin volunteer.
3. I wonder on which table only with great difficulty would she put the big rock.
4. Lee wonders which students under no circumstances at all would Robin talk to.
5. Syntax is the kind of subject which only very rarely will students enjoy.

Your comments are very valuable and I greatly appreciate your help...

 

[amelina]

Is there anyone willing to help me at least with the first and the third sentence? Native speakers' help is much needed....