absence, disappearance

[Pyae-sone-naing]

Hello!
Which ones are the most acceptable answers for the following questions?
The sentence given:
The earrings were GONE for a long time before I noticed.
The question:
The earrings were in ............for a long time before I noticed.
1) the absence
2) absence
3) disappearance
4) going
5) departing
Thanks in advance,

 

[V.Predoev]

Not a teacher.

In my opinion the right answer is absence. I`ll support my words. Absence means that something is not present and it is the state for a while at least. The object`s present location cease to be known before the moment of speaking. Disappearance however denotes the act of becoming absent i.e. at or around the moment of speaking. In the sentence it is clearly marked that the location of the earrings is unknown long before the moment of speaking. This leads us to absence, i.e. the state of being gone, rather than disappearance, i.e. the act of becoming gone.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's not a good question. We wouldn't say something was "in absence."

 

[emsr2d2]

This BrE speaker agrees entirely with the AmE speaker above. None of those fit. Perhaps the writer of the question got confused with the Latin term "in absentia".

There is also no logic. How does the speaker know the earring were gone/missing for a long time before they noticed​? When you notice something is missing, you can only be certain that it has been missing since you noticed it was missing!

 

[Rover_KE]

V.Predoev, please state that you are not a teacher when answering a question, in accordance with the forum rule.

 

[V.Predoev]

Not a teacher

emsr2d2 let`s discard the given at the first post example. Pretend that you know that you lost your earrings last weekend and you don`t know where they are since then. Is your relative comes and inquires about them - you know that they are already gone i.e. absent. Pretend now that you have your earrings in hand and the phone is ringing. You pick the phone up and converse with someone. When you hang up you notice that the earrings are no longer in your hand and you have no idea where they currently are. So they disappeared. If a relative ask you about them at that moment wouldn`t you say that the earrings disappeared rather than they are absent from a few minutes?

I`m just being theoretical.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree that none of the choices work.

 

[emsr2d2]

emsr2d2, let`s discard the example given [STRIKE]at[/STRIKE] in the first post. [STRIKE]example.[/STRIKE] Pretend that you know that you lost your earrings last weekend and you don`t know where they [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] have been since then. [STRIKE]Is[/STRIKE] If your relative comes and inquires about them, you know that they are already gone i.e. absent. Pretend now that you have your earrings in your hand and the phone is ringing. You pick the phone up and converse with someone. When you hang up you notice that the earrings are no longer in your hand and you have no idea where they currently are. So they have disappeared. If a relative asks/asked you about them at that moment, wouldn`t you say that the earrings had disappeared rather than they [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] had been absent [STRIKE]from[/STRIKE] for a few minutes?

I`m just being theoretical.

In both cases, I'd say "I've lost my earrings" or "I can't find my earrings". I wouldn't use "My earrings are absent" or "My earrings have disappeared"

Why should we discard the example given in the first post? It was a post made by a learner who wants help. We are trying to explain to the OP why those answers don't work. Let's not hijack the thread with other suggestions for a question.

Please see my corrections to your post above, in red. In addition, V.Predoev, you will have noticed that a moderator has added the words "Not a teacher" to your post #2. This is a requirement of the forum rules when one English learner tries to help another. Please edit post #6 and add "Not a teacher" to the top, and then ensure that you add it to the beginning of all your posts (unless you are the person writing post #1 of a new thread). Thank you.

 

[V.Predoev]

Not a teacher

Thank you for your corrections. I agree on that both sentences with "absent" and "disappearance" sound really odd and maybe a bit more formal. Nobody uses them in everyday English, I guess. I`d not use them either.