Help! I am confused..

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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Help! I am confused..

Help! I am confused..

azuree

Help! I am confused..

Please help me with this question.

In 1912, a German called Wegener declared that all the continents of the world had once been joined together and were now drifting around like giant rafts. His claim attracted very little interest. In 1915, he published a book on continental drift. No one took it seriously. But яПНяПНяПНяПНяПН the early 1960s, geologists were beginning to realize that molten rock was seeping from under the oceans and pushing the continents further away from each other at around two and a half centimeters a year.

a) under b) by c) over d)at e) from

The correct answer is by. It is quite sensible, but why not over? As far as I know one of the meanings of over is during. And it also makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help.

5 Apr 2011

eng789

by or possibly from the early 60"s

5 Apr 2011

savvinka

By the early 1960 means ... very close to beginning of 1960s.. I think the idea is this.

5 Apr 2011

essam35

if it is (by) that means by the beginning of the 60s if it is (over )it means during the 60s
in fact if you hadn яПНt told the answer i would have chosen over because 60s plural giving the indication of many years but i believe both work with a slight different in meaning as shown

5 Apr 2011

nazo82

It яПНs actually connected with the meaning. яПНby яПН because people realized this fact before the early 60s . The sentence begins with яПНbut яПН to introduce a contrasting situation. Although they didn яПНt take him seriously in 1915, just before 1960s they discovered it was true.

5 Apr 2011

azuree

Thanks a lot for your replies. They are really helpful.

I will try to explain it to my student.

5 Apr 2011

ldthemagicman

Deat Azuree,

Oxford Dictionary of English. (The underlining is mine. LD)

"BY" 4. Indicating a deadline or the end of a particular time period: "I яПНve got to do this report by Monday".

"OVER" 5. Expressing duration: "You яПНve given us a lot of heartache over the years".

"FROM" 2. Indicating the point in time at which a particular process, event, ot activity starts: "The show will run from 10.00 a.m.to 2.00 p.m."

The author is indicating the final dates at which the knowledge about the theory changed, --- "in 1912"; "in 1915". The author could have continued: "In the early 60 яПНs ... ... ".

The author is describing deadlines, ("by the early 60 яПНs"), ("by the time of the end of the early 60 яПНs").

"From the early 60 яПНs" is very imprecise. It is not a point in time, because it covers several years. Consequently, "from" is not suitable.

"Over the early 60 яПНs" is unsuitable, because the author is describing deadlines, but is NOT describing the period over which the event occurred.

Indeed, I think that if an English writer had wished to convey the impression of duration, he/she would have written: "during the early 60 яПНs".

My experience, as a British English speaker, was that the answer jumped off the page at me. In my opinion, "by" is the most suitable answer.

Les

5 Apr 2011

Jayho

IMHO The only options that grammatically fit the text are by and from.

Over does not grammatically fit - you don яПНt use over with a specific year. If this was to be used the author would write Over the next few years. Yes, during does mean over and this grammatically fits but it is not an option.

6 Apr 2011