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Children Mistakes

by goelmohit2002 » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:01 am
Hi All,

In the below question the OA is [spoiler]"C"[/spoiler]. Can somebody please tell why [spoiler]"C"[/spoiler] is better then [spoiler]"A"[/spoiler] ? Is it because of verb "do". If yes, they why ?

The mistakes children make in learning to speak tell linguists more about how they learn language than the correct forms they use.
(A) how they learn language than
(B) how one learns language than
(C) how children learn language than do
(D) learning language than
(E) their language learning than do

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by PinkBox » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:31 am
in A the pronoun is ambiguous; it could refer to "linguists" or "children"
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by goelmohit2002 » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:27 pm
If suppose we would have to choose between the Modified "A" and "C"...then which one we would have chosen and why ?

Modified ....(A) how children learn language than
(C) how children learn language than do

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Mohit
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by karmayogi » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:50 am
goelmohit2002 wrote:If suppose we would have to choose between the Modified "A" and "C"...then which one we would have chosen and why ?

Modified ....(A) how children learn language than
(C) how children learn language than do

Thanks
Mohit
Good question. I also have the same doubt.
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by kobel51 » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:00 am
C would still be better than A if we had

A) how children learn language than
C) how children learn language than do

The intent is to compare two actions. The key is do figure out the subject of "do", or at least to know which verb "do" stands for. The sentence could be rewritten as:

"The mistakes tell more about how shildren learn than the correct forms tell about how children learn."

We are comparing what the mistakes tell linguists to what the correct forms tell linguists. Since we're comparing two actions, there must be a verb in both elements -- that's why the "do" is necessary. It stands for "tell"

By removing the "do" the meaning is no longer clear as the sentence without "do" could mean something illogical.

"The mistakes tell more about how children learn than the mistakes tell about the correct forms children use."
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by karmayogi » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:49 pm
kobel51 wrote:C would still be better than A if we had

A) how children learn language than
C) how children learn language than do

The intent is to compare two actions. The key is do figure out the subject of "do", or at least to know which verb "do" stands for. The sentence could be rewritten as:

"The mistakes tell more about how shildren learn than the correct forms tell about how children learn."

We are comparing what the mistakes tell linguists to what the correct forms tell linguists. Since we're comparing two actions, there must be a verb in both elements -- that's why the "do" is necessary. It stands for "tell"

By removing the "do" the meaning is no longer clear as the sentence without "do" could mean something illogical.

"The mistakes tell more about how children learn than the mistakes tell about the correct forms children use."
Got it! "do" stands for tell.

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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:35 am
here's an analogy:

i know more about shakespeare than my brother.
--> wrong, because it's ambiguous.
this could mean that my knowledge of shakespeare is superior to my brother's, but it could also mean that i know more about shakespeare than i know about my own brother.

to fix this, you must insert a helping verb or preposition:
i know more about shakespeare than does my brother / than my brother does --> the former meaning
i know more about shakespeare than about my brother --> the latter meaning.

substitute "i know" for "the mistakes ... tell", "shakespeare" for "how ____ learn language", and "my brother" for "the correct forms they use", and the same discussion applies here.

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and, yes, as another poster mentioned above, there is also a pronoun issue with "they", which could, technically, also stand for "mistakes".
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by karmayogi » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:50 am
lunarpower wrote:here's an analogy:

i know more about shakespeare than my brother.
--> wrong, because it's ambiguous.
this could mean that my knowledge of shakespeare is superior to my brother's, but it could also mean that i know more about shakespeare than i know about my own brother.

to fix this, you must insert a helping verb or preposition:
i know more about shakespeare than does my brother / than my brother does --> the former meaning
i know more about shakespeare than about my brother --> the latter meaning.

substitute "i know" for "the mistakes ... tell", "shakespeare" for "how ____ learn language", and "my brother" for "the correct forms they use", and the same discussion applies here.

--

and, yes, as another poster mentioned above, there is also a pronoun issue with "they", which could, technically, also stand for "mistakes".
Awesome analogy and equally awesome explanation.
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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:06 am
karmayogi wrote:
lunarpower wrote:here's an analogy:

i know more about shakespeare than my brother.
--> wrong, because it's ambiguous.
this could mean that my knowledge of shakespeare is superior to my brother's, but it could also mean that i know more about shakespeare than i know about my own brother.

to fix this, you must insert a helping verb or preposition:
i know more about shakespeare than does my brother / than my brother does --> the former meaning
i know more about shakespeare than about my brother --> the latter meaning.

substitute "i know" for "the mistakes ... tell", "shakespeare" for "how ____ learn language", and "my brother" for "the correct forms they use", and the same discussion applies here.

--

and, yes, as another poster mentioned above, there is also a pronoun issue with "they", which could, technically, also stand for "mistakes".
Awesome analogy and equally awesome explanation.
thanks.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

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Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.

Yves Saint-Laurent

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