invites/invited

[diamondcutter]

A: Oh, no! My phone just died. Could I use yours?
B: Of course! Here you are.
A: Thanks! I’ll only be a minute.
(Some minutes later)
A: A lot of thanks again. I was calling my mom. ________.
B: Great! I hear your mom is really nice.
A: Yes, she really is. But my mom is talkative. She talks to everybody, even people who she doesn’t know.
B: Wow! That’s interesting. OK. What about your father?
A: My dad is very funny. But I don’t think he knows he’s very funny.
B: He’s really funny. Sounds like a nice family.
A: Yeah. I think so too.

(English Test, Senior High School Entrance Examination, Henan Province, China)

The answer key for the blank is this: She invites you to have dinner together.
I wonder if we could also use the past tense: invited.

By the way, does this dialogue sound natural to your native ears?

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Invites is not grammatically incorrect, but it definitely does not sound natural. A more natural present tense verb would be wants, as in: She wants you to come to dinner. Your choice of invited is much better in this case.

A lot of thanks again. Should be simply: Thanks again.

In the final exchange,B just heard from A that A's father is funny, so it's unnatural for B to say, "He's really funny."

 

[teechar]

By the way, does this dialogue sound natural to your native ears?

No. The following is the line that particularly sticks out.

A: A lot of thanks again.

 

[diamondcutter]

No. The following is the line that particularly sticks out.

Could you tell me why it's not appropriate?
Is it unnecessary to say that much to a close friend?

 

[teechar]

I've never heard any native speaker of English say "A lot of thanks again" to anyone.

 

[teechar]

I wonder if Red5 can add a Cringe button beside Like/Thank. :turn-l:

 

[Tarheel]

A: Oh, no! My phone just died. Could I use yours?
B: Of course! Here you are.
A: Thanks! I’ll only be a minute.
(Some minutes later)
A: A lot of thanks again. I was calling my mom. ________.
B: Great! I hear your mom is really nice.
A: Yes, she really is. But my mom is talkative. She talks to everybody, even people who she doesn’t know.
B: Wow! That’s interesting. OK. What about your father?
A: My dad is very funny. But I don’t think he knows he’s very funny.
B: He’s really funny. Sounds like a nice family.
A: Yeah. I think so too.

(English Test, Senior High School Entrance Examination, Henan Province, China)

The answer key for the blank is this: She invites you to have dinner with us.
I wonder if we could also use the past tense: invited.

By the way, does this dialogue sound natural to your native ears?

Are you supposed to put a whole sentence in the blank?
:-?

 

[diamondcutter]

Are you supposed to put a whole sentence in the blank?
:-?

Not necessarily.

 

[emsr2d2]

How on earth were you supposed to guess that you were meant to write "She invites you to have dinner with us"? The speaker could have said almost anything after "I was calling my mum".

 

[diamondcutter]

How on earth were you supposed to guess that you were meant to write "She invites you to have dinner with us"? The speaker could have said almost anything after "I was calling my mum".

That's just one of the reference answers, which I had question about.

 

[emsr2d2]

That's just one of the reference answers, which I had question about.

What were the other choices?

 

[diamondcutter]

What were the other choices?

It's not a multiple-choice question. It’s a blank-filling question. And these are the other reference answers.

She is coming later.
I told her I would be back soon.
She is getting better.

 

[Tarheel]

That's just one of the reference answers(,) which I had a question about.

 

[Tarheel]

It's not a multiple-choice question. It’s a blank-filling question. And these are the other reference answers.

She is coming later.
I told her I would be back soon.
She is getting better.

That looks like multiple choice to me. And now it's starting to make sense.

 

[jutfrank]

That looks like multiple choice to me. And now it's starting to make sense.

But it's not a multiple choice question, right diamondcutter?

The task is: you're presented with the dialogue containing the gap and you have to fill it in a way that makes sense given the context. Is that right? You have to come up with something that would elicit the response Great! I hear your mom is really nice.

What do you mean by 'reference answers'? Do you mean that the answer key provides a set of example answers?

 

[diamondcutter]

Yes, it's a blank-filling question without any options. Maybe I misused the phrase 'reference answers'. I mean the answers are the possible ones provided by the test-maker. The test-maker also says any answer which makes sense in the context is acceptable.

 

[Tarheel]

In that case:

My mom says you should come by some time

Would also work.

 

[diamondcutter]

Let's go back to my first question in #1.

I think the answer to my first question in #1 is yes. That is to say, both “She invites...” and “She invited...” are correct in the context. What do you say?

 

[5jj]

both “She invites...” and “She invited...” are correct in the context.

Both are grammatically possible. Neither sentence is very natural.

 

[jutfrank]

They're both poor options in this context. Present perfect or present continuous are better.

She's invited you to dinner.
She's inviting you to have dinner with us.