[Grammar] to preserve something unaware

[BlackMelon]

Hello,

Here I provide two attachments. One is the question; the other is the passage. In the passage, the red-underlined sentences are the parts used for answering the question 1 and 2 in my opinion. The answer key says it is "preserve" in no.1 and "unaware" in no.2.

I don't understand the whole sentence's word structure. What is the meaning of "to preserve something unaware"? Is "preserve" a linking verb? Why it can be followed by adjective like "unaware"?

Many Thanks,
BlackMelon

 

[Spiral]

Re: IELTS Reading: Cloze Test Problem.

Good questions. Preserve is an action verb that means to keep or to conserve.

The sentence you showed us should really have a comma after charcoal, just for clarity's sake. You may not be the only test taker who was confused by that sentence. The idea of the sentence is "They tried to preserve burning logs or charcoal, because they didn't know that they could create fire themselves."

Hope that helps.

 

[BlackMelon]

Re: IELTS Reading: Cloze Test Problem.

Oh! your "because" helps me understand the meaning much! Thank you ^_^

Somehow, I am still curious in the word structure "unaware that....". I know the structure like "She is unaware that she has lit a fire in her kitchen". But for this sentence, is it considered as grammatical error? Why can we place the adjective "unaware" in the position like that?

If it is not an error, please provide me some links to read. So, I'll be able to know what kind of phrase it is.

 

[Spiral]

Re: IELTS Reading: Cloze Test Problem.

I can see why this confuses you. As I said, the comma would have added some clarity. So it's not a grammatical error, but the sentence was not written as clearly as it could have been.

With the comma, the sentence reads, "They tried to preserve burning logs or charcoal, unaware that they could create fire themselves." You are correct that unaware is an adjective. Since you know it's an adjective, you now need to look for the noun or pronoun it modifies. Who or what is unaware? It modifies the pronoun they.


I'm newer here, but I'd look in the Using English resources for clauses.

 

[Rover_KE]

Re: IELTS Reading: Cloze Test Problem.

Oh! Your "because" helps me understand the meaning better! Thank you. [STRIKE]^_^[/STRIKE]

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