Thread: What is wrong with these...

Originally Posted by Gallowspole

The teacher wrote her 'correct' answers in my daughter's book.

It's not unusual, as DD likes to point out a good proportion of the foreign teachers in this country are uneducated morons.

Marking people wrong for things that are right is normally a trait of Thai (and sometimes Filipino) teachers, as they can normally only accept that there is one answer and all other answers must be wrong. Maybe the teacher has been in Thailand too long.

Problem is if you tell your daughter her answers were right and the teacher is wrong then she will lose respect for the teacher and maybe take less care in her work.

Originally Posted by NickA

It's not unusual, as DD likes to point out a good proportion of the foreign teachers in this country are uneducated morons.

That's true. I often cringe when I see what some of my American colleagues think is correct English.

^and don't forget the Thais have yet to make it illegal for the Welsh, Australians and Irish to teach here.

Problem is if you tell your daughter her answers were right and the teacher is wrong then she will lose respect for the teacher and maybe take less care in her work.

Thats what I was trying to say as well. I remember even to this day having an essay marked with naive & rubric scrawled across it which made me lose confidence in a teacher I hugely admired.

Nothing is wrong with the answers!

I always tell my Ss that teachers do make mistakes and please point out the problem politely.

Had the teacher previously been dealing with the structure of a sentence and wanted the answers phrased in this particular way - which gets back to just learning by rote what the teacher tells you - a Thai educational method not practised in Europe for many decades.

Really, if the teacher was a native-English speaker, I cannot see why these answers were marked down.

Bu' then I wuz learnt to speek proper in the Saaarff of Englan'.

Our household is split on this one, but I'm going to put my four pence worth in anyway. This may have been an example of taking a specific line from a book and expecting it to be remembered exactly. If the line in the book says " The most common pets are Dogs, Cats and Parrots ", then from a reading exercise point of view, this is the only correct answer.

However, this should have been made clear at the time that the questions were set. Personally I believe that the young lady, in question, has a much better grasp of English than her tutor. Access to the book would, maybe, confirm my theory.

Although I am new here, and this might be a dead thread, and it is touchy to get involved with someone else's kids, but...

I do prefer the corrections the teacher made to 1. and 3.

Yes, it is true that we can understand (semantics and pragmatics) the meaning in a less-than-ideally formed (syntax) sentence; the Thais certainly put up with my Lego approach to speaking Thai!

But, it is important for formal students to learn "correct" grammer, if for no other reason than to have a wider scope of styles with which to communicate as adults.

Think of questions 1. and 3. relative to the following examples:

What is your name?
Zipcode is my name OR My name is Zipcode


Where do you live?
Wormwood Scrubs is where I live OR I live in Wormwood Scrubs.


What do you want for dinner?
Porridge is what I want for dinner OR I want porridge for dinner.



Native speakers would certainly understand the first set of answers, but these do sound awkward (to my ears, anyway).

As others have posted, the teacher might be expecting the "correct" format due to instructions given or the syllabus.

I am going to hazard a guess that your daughter is analytical, and enjoys math and science. The reason being is that she has (intuitively) treated questions 1. and 3. as an equation to be solved, substituting valid values for the unknown (the word "what").

It is easy for me to say "No big deal", but I understand your concern. I didn't like it when my first-grader got less than 100% marks on his latest test because of sloppy handwriting ("What do you mean the 6 looks like a 0? Isn't it obvious that Zip Jr. knows addition based on his other answers, so why do you think he would write 4+2=0???")

If you honestly are concerned, I can put this issue to the 5th grade teachers at my kids' school tomorrow, and report back what they think.


Once again, am not intending to heat up the matter, so apologies in advance for being contrarian.

/\ All input is welcome Zipcode!

In Q1, isn't the 'what' a subject question word, therefore why can't the answer follow the subject + be/copular verb + complement rule ?

With regards to:
Where do you live?
Wormwood Scrubs is where I live OR I live in Wormwood Scrubs.

and

What do you want for dinner?
Porridge is what I want for dinner OR I want porridge for dinner.

The question words here refer to the object of the verb, so the answers should follow the subject +verb+ object word order.

Originally Posted by zipcode

It is easy for me to say "No big deal", but I understand your concern. I didn't like it when my first-grader got less than 100% marks on his latest test because of sloppy handwriting ("What do you mean the 6 looks like a 0? Isn't it obvious that Zip Jr. knows addition based on his other answers, so why do you think he would write 4+2=0???")

Did you ever write or recieve a check? I have. While some of mine were rubber, the few others I recieved the bank said were unreadable.

Math is not only Math, Math is also readable English...

Originally Posted by Gallowspole

For the second one, 'dirty pets' should have been 'dirty insects' or just plain 'dirty'

That would be factually not correct.
Cockroaches keep themselves meticulously clean. This and more to be found here: http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kun...roach_faq.html

One of the local police officers has been calling in to get me to help out with his homework/test from an English college course he's doing. All of the questions have multiple choice answers which were very similar to that described by the OP.
After some thought we went through the book and I found a website from the college, looked it up and there was the test with the answers.
I hope he remembers me when his results get him his promotion.

Originally Posted by zipcode

it is important for formal students to learn "correct" grammer

There is nothing incorrect about her grammar in answers 1 and 3.

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Math is not only Math, Math is also readable English...

So if Einstein's handwriting were difficult to read then in today's world we would presumably consider him stupid.

Originally Posted by benbaaa

There is nothing incorrect about her grammar in answers 1 and 3

Should that be "with"???

Originally Posted by Thormaturge

So if Einstein's handwriting were difficult to read then in today's world we would presumably consider him stupid.

You should see Stephen Hawkings'ssessis

Having taught in the states and here in BKK for a year or so, this is my belief.



Is a 7 a 1, or is a 9 a 4? Sometimes an 8 can be a 9. A sloppy 5 could be a 9 or even a 6. Now was the answer an 11, 77, 71 or 17?

Originally Posted by Thormaturge

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Math is not only Math, Math is also readable English...

So if Einstein's handwriting were difficult to read then in today's world we would presumably consider him stupid.

Einstein WAS considered stupid at school. I forget why, but I have a feeling it was cos his writing WAS bad and he had attention problems.