His Spanish isn't very good - ... after three years in Spain

[Nonverbis]

Englysh Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy, second edition.

Ex. 111.4

Put if, even, even if or even thouth.

4. His Spanish isn't very good - ... after three years in Spain


My answer was "not even". The key gives "even".

Please, have a look at the pictures.




Could you tell me who is right: me or the key?

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

The key is correct. The Raymond Murphy books are used extensively by ESL teachers - you will rarely find an error in them.

 

[tedmc]

Your answer "not even" is not even among the answers given.

 

[Nonverbis]

But what is the difference from this example given in the theoretical part?

Nobody would lend her the money - not even her best friend.




^^^^^^ Press on the image here.

As far as I understand, we cannot omit "not" here. Am I right?

 

[emsr2d2]

If we change the word order of the sentence, it might be clearer to you.

1. Not even her best friend would lend her money.
2. Even her best friend wouldn't lend her money.

To put those back into your original word order, you get:

1. Nobody would lend her money - not even her best friend.
2. Impossible. You can't use the original word order and get a grammatical version using "wouldn't" and "even".

If you use "not even" and "wouldn't", you have an example of a double negative, which is something we try to avoid.