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rewrite
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Hi everybody! I am marking exams and I have got a question in the following rewrite: 1. Do you want to eat out tonight? Would ...........................................? I wanted my students to write: Would you like to eat out tonight?, but some of therm have written: Would you eat out tonight? Shall I give them half a point? a point? I want to be fair. Thanks |
30 Nov 2015
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cunliffe
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Well, I �m dead soft, so I would give them some credit. It makes perfect sense...The meaning is clear, although it �s slightly different. Both are polite enquiries... The �would you eat� might more usually take an �if clause� with it... �Would you eat out tonight if I paid?� Btw, in my neck of the woods, we would say �Do you fancy eating out tonight? � That little phrase is music to my ears.  |
30 Nov 2015
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mjpa
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Have you explained them this structure in the lessons? Have they worked on it? Then, their answer is incorrect. If you haven´t, if you have just included it in the exam by chance, but it´s not something you have worked on before, then just give them half punctuation. My opinion. |
30 Nov 2015
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yanogator
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Fed-up wife to aggravating husband: Would you eat out tonight? Brice |
30 Nov 2015
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Tapioca
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@ Bruce: Love it!! 
That�s a tough one. I was going to say give them a whole point because it�s a grammatical and possible answer, but in fact your example says "Do you want to", so it�s about personal wishes.
If we take another example, maybe the difference would be clearer:
�Would you like to wear these shoes?� ---> �Do you want to wear these shoes?�
�Would you wear these shoes?� ---> �Please wear these shoes� OR �If you knew all your fashionista frenemies were going to be at this party, you wouldn�t even consider wearing those!�
Of course, in the real world, a lot depends on the tone of voice and the context, so you can create scenarios in which �Would you go out for a meal?� might be (kind of) equivalent to �Do you want to go out for a meal?� but I think �would you + verb� is more useful as a request to do something than as an alternative to making an offer or a question about your wishes.
As Bruce suggested, if someone asked me �Would you eat out tonight?" I think my reply wouldn�t be �Oh yeah, that sounds great, thanks!� but �Why? Are you sick of my company?�
So maybe half a mark? Raises a useful teaching point for a follow-up.
Tap
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1 Dec 2015
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[email protected]
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thank you for your comments. I´d like to know what the coordinator of this kind of exams would say  |
1 Dec 2015
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Tapioca
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She �d probably say "Drat, I didn �t think of that answer! Now I �ll have to issue a supplementary note to all the examiners for that mark scheme!" For international tests, questions like that are pre-tested so you are less likely to get unexpected responses that are not on the mark scheme, but if you are writing a test in-house, we are all human, we have limited time and we can �t think of all the ingenious possibilities that go through our students � minds :-p Tap |
1 Dec 2015
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