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eng789
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What would you accept????
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This is an exercise on a test:
On of the most successful movies in history _________was___ (be) "Jaws".
Do you remember_ (you/ remember) the monster shark from the movie?
It ____looked_______ (look) so scary but it ___was made_________ (make) out
of rubber and metal. The mechanical shark ___had_________ (have) huge jaws
and ugly teeth.
It ____was designed________ (design) to look like a real shark.
thanks
Barbara
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31 Jan 2010
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bienke
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I would write "It had been designed to look like a real shark". The rest looks okay.
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31 Jan 2010
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baiba
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The only mistake to my mind is
... it was made out of rubber and metal.
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31 Jan 2010
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cheezels
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I agree with bienke...
@ Baiba you can say that something was "made out of...."
I would accept the first one too. BUT
Without knowing exactly what has been taught...
One of the most successful movies in history _________IS___ (be) "Jaws".
In that it still is right now one of the most successful movies in history.
One of the most successful movies in history _________was___ (be) "Jaws".
It WAS one of the most successful but now other movies have been more successful so it used to be on the list of most successful but isn �t any more right now.
I could be wrong... but that is the way I sort of read it... depending on whether you use IS or WAS gives a slightly different meaning to it.. anyone else know?
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31 Jan 2010
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eng789
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I agree in principle to what you are saying cheezels about using is - but we teach them to look for time expressions and therefore since "in history" expresses past I expected to have them use was.
What surprised me was that I got this,
Do you remember_ (you/ remember) the monster shark from the movie?
It ____looks_______ (look) so scary but it ___is made_________ (make) out
of rubber and metal. The mechanical shark ___has_________ (have) huge jaws
and ugly teeth.
It ____was designed__ (design) to look like a real shark. (but they left this in past) |
31 Jan 2010
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RabbitWho
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You are right, it has to be past simple. The design process is a finished action in the past.
"It has been designed" would only be if the film was just out which happened in the past and related to now.
View the difference:
My daughther has been born! Let �s celebrate!
My daughter was born 15 years ago, I don �t know what to get her for her birthday.
So even though with both the child was born in the past and that event has a relationship with now, it �s nonsense to say "My daughter has been born 15 years ago" because it �s so long ago.
And as the others said if something is still true you can use the present simple or continuous as appropriate. (But you wouldn�t use present continuous while talking about a film.. unless you were talking over it.. which is bad manners! ;) )
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31 Jan 2010
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bienke
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You can �t say "My daughter has been born 15 years ago" because 15 years ago is a time indicator to use Simple Past. For your second example I would say "My daughter is born! Let �s celebrate!
But you can say "It had been designed" because the designing process comes before the monster was shown in the film.
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31 Jan 2010
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eng789
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Sorry - I confused you, the was designed is correct - my question is - would you accept the answers in blue? |
31 Jan 2010
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bienke
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If you keep "was designed" I would accept simple present for the other sentences as well.
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31 Jan 2010
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douglas
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Rule of writing: don �t change tense unnecessarily. They should all be either present or past tense, not a mix.
PS: the jaws still exist, so "is designed" is also acceptable.)
Douglas |
31 Jan 2010
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eng789
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Personally - except for - Do you remember...? , I think it should all be in past like my example in my first post. |
31 Jan 2010
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