Dilemmas

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ESL forum > Ask for help > Dilemmas

Dilemmas

zvonka.rink

Dilemmas

Dear colleagues,

I �m an English teacher , non-native speaker and sometimes I am challenged how to assess certain answers in a test paper. I want to do what is right and sometimes I feel only native speakers can really give the right answer- although this is probably not true.

Here are my questions. Which prepositions or words are correct?

1)... with a number of short stories by / from /of the same author.

The expected answer is BY, are the other two also possible?

2)...a novella is a work given/ referring/ related to a work that is longer than a short story ...

The expected answer is GIVEN, what about referring and related?

Finally, what do you think about this sentence:

3) Typically, most novellas can / would/ must / usually range from between 50 to 100 pages.

The expected answer is can; i would accept also other modal verbs, but I � not sure about usually.

I thank you for your help and effort. My students are very demanding and if I decide not to accept an answer as correct I need good arguments.

I wish you a nice day and thank you once more.

10 Mar 2015

cunliffe

1) �From � is also acceptable. Not �of. �

2) �Given � doesn �t really work here. It would if it read, �novella is a name given to a work... �

3) Well, you don �t really need �can � but it is OK to put it in. �Typically, most novellas range from... � is fine. You don �t need usually, because you �ve already stated typically. You can �t have must because you �ve said typically.

I don �t feel I �ve been very helpful!:-(

10 Mar 2015

zvonka.rink

Dear Cunliffe,

Oh yes, you have been very helpful- thank you. I kind of feel what is right and what is not, Sometimes I find it difficult to explain and my students are so hard on me as they are interested only in good marks and don �t really care if the structures are right or wrong and I often spend a lot of time explaining why something is not right, which I often find unnecessary, since we should focus on what is right.

In the second example there is a slip of the pen. It should be

........... a novella is a name given/ referring/ related to a work that is longer....

Which of the three answers in bold are correct? I wouldn �t use related.

Thanks a a million. It is great to have a chance to get answers- advice- hints- from you guys.

11 Mar 2015

jean-in-japan

I think �referring � is fine.

11 Mar 2015

douglas

IMHO:

a novella is a name given to... (referring and related aren�t really right, but I don�t think I would take away points for them)

novella is a word referring to...

11 Mar 2015

Lubna Tahir

Dear ZVonka,

Here is an easy way to find out if your collocation is correct or not. Use the corpus. Enter your word here and click look up. You can find how the word is used in different context by Britisher

http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

I hope it helps

Lubna Zia

11 Mar 2015

cunliffe

I agree with Douglas. Again though, none of the choices is really necessary. �A novella is the name for a work that is... �

Lynne

I am a linguistic minimalist ;-)

11 Mar 2015

zvonka.rink

Thank you all for your suggestions and help.

12 Mar 2015