peer and gaze

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

I have two questions:

No.1

Being somewhat short-sighted, she had the habit of _____ at people.
a. glancing b. peering c. gazing d. scanning

The key is "b". But I think it should be "c". Is that right? If it is not could you please explain where I am mistaken?

No.2
Fog is one of the sailor’s ______ enemies.
a. deadly b. deadliest c. fatal d. fatalist
The key is "b". But I think both "a" and "b" are correct. Is that right?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

 

[vil]

Attention: I'm not a teacher.

Hi Jctgf,

Nr 1 = Being somewhat short-sighted, she had the habit of peeringat people.
gaze (v) = to look steadily, intently, and with fixed attention.
Gaze is often indicative of wonder, fascination, awe, or admiration: gazing at the stars.
peer (v) = to look intently, searchingly, or with difficulty.
To peer is to look narrowly, searchingly, and seemingly with difficulty: peered at us through her glasses.


Nr 2 = Fog is one of the sailor’s deadliestenemies.

The persence of a "the" is a hypothetical cause for usage of the superlative degree deadliest.



Regards.

V.

 

[jiang]

Dear Vil,
Thank you very much for your explanation. I think I understand No.1 now.
No.2
In most cases "one of the " should be followed by superlative but there are examples of "one of the + adj. + noun". That's why I don't understand this.
The following is from the website:

1. Australian War Memorial: One of the world's great museums
2. One of the bad seeds

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

Attention: I'm not a teacher.

Hi Jctgf,

Nr 1 = Being somewhat short-sighted, she had the habit of peeringat people.
gaze (v) = to look steadily, intently, and with fixed attention.
Gaze is often indicative of wonder, fascination, awe, or admiration: gazing at the stars.
peer (v) = to look intently, searchingly, or with difficulty.
To peer is to look narrowly, searchingly, and seemingly with difficulty: peered at us through her glasses.


Nr 2 = Fog is one of the sailor’s deadliestenemies.

The persence of a "the" is a hypothetical cause for usage of the superlative degree deadliest.



Regards.

V.

 

[vil]

Hi jctgf,

What is right is right. That is really funny, there are many other examples besides the mentioned above two ”ungrammatical” examples.


The British Library, one of the world's great reference resources,
In the Gobi desert, he discovered some of the world's great fossil fields,..

Keep in mind that I am not a teacher and formulate my ideas on the grounds of the different English grammar books.


You shouldn’t hold me responsible for mistakes and errors that are no fault of mine.

There are many “proper” examples below:

The Australian War Memorial's newest galleries

In fact, three of the world's 10 tallest buildings are located in Chicago,

Museum, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of art.

The city is also home to the Plaza de Toros México – the world's largest bullring

The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, .

What’s the world's rarest car?

Originally built as a fortress in the twelfth century, the Louvre is one of the world's foremost museums of art. ...

JR Central Towers and Nagoya Station, the world's largest train station by floor
area.

Every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hannover, the world's largest ...

In April 1906, the world's greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, and members of the ...

Among the world's wealthiest art institutions, it is best known for the J. Paul Getty Museum, which primarily displays pre-20th-century works of art by ...

completion, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world's longest suspension bridge. ...


Regards.

V.

 

[banderas]

Dear Vil,
Thank you very much for your explanation. I think I understand No.1 now.
No.2
In most cases "one of the " should be followed by superlative but there are examples of "one of the + adj. + noun". That's why I don't understand this.
The following is from the website:

1. Australian War Memorial: One of the world's great museums= there are more great museums of this kind and The Australian War Memorial is one of them.
Fog is one of the sailor’s ______ enemies.
a. deadly b. deadliest c. fatal d. fatalist
The key is "b". But I think both "a" and "b" are correct. Is that right?Yes. it depends on what you want to emphasize.
B. sounds more natural though.

Jiang

d

 

[jiang]

Dear vil,

I feel very uneasy because it seems you think I offended you. I think you misunderstood me. I didn't blame you. The only thing I felt confused is that there are exceptions and how should I understand them or explain them.

Jiang

Hi jctgf,

What is right is right. That is really funny, there are many other examples besides the mentioned above two ”ungrammatical” examples.


The British Library, one of the world's great reference resources,
In the Gobi desert, he discovered some of the world's great fossil fields,..

Keep in mind that I am not a teacher and formulate my ideas on the grounds of the different English grammar books.


You shouldn’t hold me responsible for mistakes and errors that are no fault of mine.

There are many “proper” examples below:

The Australian War Memorial's newest galleries

In fact, three of the world's 10 tallest buildings are located in Chicago,

Museum, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of art.

The city is also home to the Plaza de Toros México – the world's largest bullring

The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, .

What’s the world's rarest car?

Originally built as a fortress in the twelfth century, the Louvre is one of the world's foremost museums of art. ...

JR Central Towers and Nagoya Station, the world's largest train station by floor
area.

Every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hannover, the world's largest ...

In April 1906, the world's greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, and members of the ...

Among the world's wealthiest art institutions, it is best known for the J. Paul Getty Museum, which primarily displays pre-20th-century works of art by ...

completion, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world's longest suspension bridge. ...


Regards.

V.

 

[jiang]

Dear banderas,

Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I see.

Jiang

d

 

[RedMtl]

Dear teachers,

I have two questions:

No.1

Being somewhat short-sighted, she had the habit of _____ at people.
a. glancing b. peering c. gazing d. scanning

The key is "b". But I think it should be "c". Is that right? If it is not could you please explain where I am mistaken?

No.2
Fog is one of the sailor’s ______ enemies.
a. deadly b. deadliest c. fatal d. fatalist
The key is "b". But I think both "a" and "b" are correct. Is that right?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

In the first instance, while the reply in your key is "B" I do not personally feel it is a good choice. Of the options you have, it is the best one. However, were I to write such a sentence, I would use the word "stare."

". . ., she had the habit of staring at people."

"Peering" is an option, and rather more UK English I'd say.

"Gazing" is not really a good choice. It implies an abstractness to the staring, which is rather like daydreaming. Hardly what someone who was near-sighted would be doing if trying to pick out and/or identify a person.

As for your question #2 -- you are absolutely correct that either A or B is a possible choice.

Have fun!

 

[jiang]

Dear RedMtl,

Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I see.

Best wishes,

Jiang

In the first instance, while the reply in your key is "B" I do not personally feel it is a good choice. Of the options you have, it is the best one. However, were I to write such a sentence, I would use the word "stare."

". . ., she had the habit of staring at people."

"Peering" is an option, and rather more UK English I'd say.

"Gazing" is not really a good choice. It implies an abstractness to the staring, which is rather like daydreaming. Hardly what someone who was near-sighted would be doing if trying to pick out and/or identify a person.

As for your question #2 -- you are absolutely correct that either A or B is a possible choice.

Have fun!