The best question

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Dawood Usmani

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Dear teachers!
I'm writing some pieces of writing for you to better comprehend my question and then will be able to answer my questions. Here you go:
" One day an old gentleman walking slowly along a street when he saw a little boy who was trying to reach a doorbell which was too high for him. He was a kindhearted old man, so he stopped and said, " I'll ring the bell for you," and pulled the bell so hard that it could be herad all over the house.
The little boy looked up at him and said, "Now we'll run away. Come on." Before the old man knew what was happening, the naughty boy had run round the corner of the street, leaving the old man to explain to the angry owner of the house why he had run the bell.
Q1. Are the punctuations correct in the sentences coloured blue?
Q2. Is the word colour in red correctly used above?
Q3. What would be the best question if I want to write for comprehension?
(a) How do you think the angry owner of the house would react?
(b) How do you think the angry owner of the house would have reacted?
(c) How do you think the angry owner of the house reacted?
(d) How did the angry owner of the house would react?
Best regards!
Dawood
 

Anglika

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Dear teachers!
I'm writing some pieces of writing for you to better comprehend my question and then will be able to answer my questions. Here you go:
" One day an old gentleman walking slowly along a street when he saw a little boy who was trying to reach a doorbell which was too high for him. He was a kindhearted old man, so he stopped and said, " I'll ring the bell for you," and pulled the bell so hard that it could be herad all over the house.
The little boy looked up at him and said, "Now we'll run away. Come on." Before the old man knew what was happening, the naughty boy had run round the corner of the street, leaving the old man to explain to the angry owner of the house why he had run the bell.

Q1. Are the punctuation correct in the sentences coloured blue? Yes, it is fine

Q2. Is the word colour in red correctly used above? If the bell had something that needed to be pulled, yes. If it had a button to push, then ...pushed the bell...

Q3. What would be the best question if I want to write for comprehension?
(a) How do you think the angry owner of the house would react?
(b) How do you think the angry owner of the house would have reacted?
(c) How do you think the angry owner of the house reacted?:up:
(d) How did the angry owner of the house would react?
Best regards!
Dawood


:lol:
 

Dawood Usmani

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Urdu
Home Country
Pakistan
Current Location
Pakistan
Thank you very much for your answer but (in Q3) there's no mention of the reaction of the angry owner of the house in the text above and it's the whole story, so how can we ask a sure question with past simple? Shouldn't that be an imaginary question?
Regards!
Dawood
 

David L.

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If I might suggest:
and said, " I'll ring the bell for you", and
Also, if the question is to assess comprehension, shouldn't you have phrased it, 'What was the reaction of the owner of the house?', since the story states, "the angry owner of the house". To ask 'how do you think(=imagine) he (might have) reacted is not comprehension , but further creative storytelling: He didn't believe the old man and chased him off his property; and next day he disconnected his door bell.
Understand that we try to respond to what you provide, and what you ask for. Your story is in simple past tense, so any question as to comprehension of what happens in the story would be phrased accordingly. Of your choices, (4) was the best option: he reacted angrily. For a start, it would not be phrased, "How do you think..?" but "How did..?"
 
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Dawood Usmani

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Urdu
Home Country
Pakistan
Current Location
Pakistan
Dear David Thank you very much. Now, I'm satisfied and all my doubts are cleared up.
Regards!
Dawood
 
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