multiple choice question

Status
Not open for further replies.

羡鱼-Xianyu

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care.
He did not marry again and I was brought up ______.
a. without a care of women
b. without care by a woman
c. without a woman to care for me
d. careless of a woman

Dear all,
The right answer to this question is C, but in my opinion, B is more suitable because it is more concise. Could you help me clear my doubt up, please? Why is B wrong? Thanks a lot!:)

Xianyu
 

corum

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
羡鱼-Xianyu;607083 said:
He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care.
He did not marry again and I was brought up ______.
a. without a care of women
b. without care by a woman
c. without a woman to care for me
d. careless of a woman

Dear all,
The right answer to this question is C, but in my opinion, B is more suitable because it is more concise. Could you help me clear my doubt up, please? Why is B wrong? Thanks a lot!:)

Xianyu

More concise but even more ambiguous.

I was brought up (without care) by a woman.
I was brought up by a woman, and incidentally without care.

I was brought up [without a care by a woman].
I was brought up without a woman taking good care of me.
I was brought up thus.

Both interpretations are possible. You see, that is the problem with B.
 

羡鱼-Xianyu

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
More concise but even more ambiguous.

I was brought up (without care) by a woman.
I was brought up by a woman, and incidentally without care.

I was brought up [without a care by a woman].
I was brought up without a woman taking good care of me.
I was brought up thus.

Both interpretations are possible. You see, that is the problem with B.
Hi corum, thank you for your help. Indeed what your said makes sense, but I have one more question.
1. I was brought up (without care) by a woman.
2. I was brought up [without a care by a woman].

To me, 1# and 2# have same meaning. I can not detect difference between them. Could you tell somethin more about it, please? Thanks.:)
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
More concise but even more ambiguous.

I was brought up (without care) by a woman.
I was brought up by a woman, and incidentally without care.

I was brought up [without a care by a woman].
I was brought up without a woman taking good care of me.
I was brought up thus.

Both interpretations are possible. You see, that is the problem with B.
There's actually quite a simple rule of grammar to disambiguate defining and non-defining clauses and phrases. If it meant the first, it should have commas where you have parenthesis markers:
"I was brought up, without care, by a woman."
That's a different sentence. So that's not a problem with B.
But I suspect that could be the official reason.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
羡鱼-Xianyu;607100 said:
Hi corum, thank you for your help. Indeed what your said makes sense, but I have one more question.
1. I was brought up (without care) by a woman.
2. I was brought up [without a care by a woman].

To me, 1# and 2# have same meaning. I can not detect difference between them. Could you tell somethin more about it, please? Thanks.:)
1. means "I was brought up by a woman. And I received no care."
2. implies "I was brought up by a man. And I received no care from a woman."
corum is asserting that b. could mean either.
 

羡鱼-Xianyu

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
1. means "I was brought up by a woman. And I received no care."
2. implies "I was brought up by a man. And I received no care from a woman."
corum is asserting that b. could mean either.
Thank you, Raymott. I've got it.:)
 

羡鱼-Xianyu

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
There's actually quite a simple rule of grammar to disambiguate defining and non-defining clauses and phrases. If it meant the first, it should have commas where you have parenthesis markers:
"I was brought up, without care, by a woman."
That's a different sentence. So that's not a problem with B.
But I suspect that could be the official reason.
I was brought up without care by a woman.
:-( Oh, my god. How stupid I was. I just realized the this sentence is so ambiguous, if without commas.
To me, it might have two meanings:
1. As corum said, I was brought up by a woman, but I received no care.
2. I was brought up by my father who did not marry again, so there is no a woman take care of me. (or I never received care from a woman, while I was growing up)
Raymott, colud you tell me which one on earth is right, please? How can I comfirm that?
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
羡鱼-Xianyu;607121 said:
I was brought up without care by a woman.
:-( Oh, my god. How stupid I was. I just realized the this sentence is so ambiguous, if without commas.
To me, it might have two meanings:
1. As corum said, I was brought up by a woman, but I received no care.
2. I was brought up by my father who did not marry again, so there is no a woman take care of me. (or I never received care from a woman, while I was growing up)
Raymott, colud you tell me which one on earth is right, please? How can I comfirm that?
See my posts 4 and 5 in which I explain that the sentence is not ambiguous.
b. means the same as c, that is, 2.
With commas, it means 1.

You could only confirm whether the question-writer meant what they wrote by asking the question-writer. My guess was that the question-writer mistakenly thought that b. was ambiguous, so assumed that c. was the only correct answer. That's not true.

A better answer would be "without the care of a woman" - but that's not a choice.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top