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My effort:
You should read not only novels but also newspapers, so that you can see examples of … language.
(a) idiomatic
(b) automatic
© axiomatic
(d) symptomatic
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Hi Charles,
Thanks for your suggestion, we’ll make that change. As for ‘examples’, we corrected this a long time ago in test itself. The original version stays on the forum though.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: City view[YSaerTTEW443543]
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Aargh! What does that mean, exactly? And how universal is it?-- are we liable to be continually seeing long-corrected typos?
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Users take the test on the site, not on the forum so in order to see whether or not a typo has been corrected simply click on the appropriate link.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Boats on the beach[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Charles
I had the same thought about changing ‘don’t have to’ to ‘should’ and like your suggested change for option (d).
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Hi Amy and Charles,
Thanks for your suggestions, they’ll be online soon.
Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A well maintained garden[YSaerTTEW443543]
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Got it, thanks, Torsten. (Now all I have to do is try to remember that…)
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Though I realize that Alan has a fairly severe allergy to commas, I think this test could use some re-evaluation in the punctuation department:
english-test.net/esl/learn/e … l-test.php
I hope Alan will agree that sentence 8 needs a period/full stop after the word “example” (at the very least).
There is also a typo in sentence 4: haven should be haven’t
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Hi Amy,
Thanks a lot for your support, I’ve made both changes and they’ll go online tomorrow.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A river walk[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten
I’ve posted some questions about this test:
english-test.net/esl/learn/e … st.php#six
Sentence 8 needs repair. If I had my druthers, I’d also edit questions 6 and 7 (tense usage).
My specific questions are here:
english-test.net/forum/ftopi … html#64202
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english-test.net/esl/learn/e … l-test.php
In sentence 8 the word sportswear is misspelled:
The clothing manufacturer recently branched … into sportswear.
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Hi Amy,
Many thanks for pointing that typo, it will be corrected soon.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Ruins[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten
Did you (or anybody else) also look at this test?
english-test.net/esl/learn/e … l-test.php
There are apparently two correct answers for sentence 8: rope and tether.
‘Tether’ is given as the correct solution. The answer that I would consider to be much more typical and common (rope) is listed as incorrect. But why?
Look at definition 14 here: dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rope&r=66
Perhaps this is another case of BE vs AmE usage being different, but I think it is extremely misguided to categorize AmE usage as being incorrect simply because it is different from the usual usage in the UK.
I also asked further questions about this test:
The tense usage (especially the use of the present perfect) in questions 6 and 7 sounds quite odd to me. It sounds to me as if there might possibly have been some cutting and pasting done when the test was being written, with the result that the present perfect ended up being used inappropriately. Maybe this actually is a common usage in BE, but it simply sounds wrong to me.
If the author of the sentence believes the usage of the present perfect to be standard/normal in the context of the two test questions, don’t you think that it would be worthwhile to at least get some further input about it – especially in view of the fact that another native speaker ESL professional doesn’t understand the tense usage?
PS
The fact that I found it necessary to write another, much longer post about this test is a good example of why the tests are so prohibitively time-consuming to evaluate and/or edit.
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Hi Amy,
I agree with you – as you can see anybody is invited to share their opinion on English grammar issues here on the forum. That’s what you and many other users have been doing very actively. It’s important to ask grammar questions and discuss certain phrases and structures. We all know that there various versions of English such as US American, Canadian, New Zealand, Irish, Scottish, etc. and fortunately all these variations can coexist peacefully.
As for your remarks regarding ‘the end of my tether’ and the usage of the persent perfect, these are interesting questions and I’m sure we will find an answer to them.
Many thanks.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A woman wearing a headset[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten
“Find an answer”? Are you trying to ensure that I reach the end of my rope with respect to this test? 
english-test.net/esl/learn/e … l-test.php
Well, then, here is my answer for questions 6 and 7:
The easiest correction would be to change the present perfect to the past simple as follows:
b[/b] From the end of May until August I [color=blue]was away on business and was surprised that … that period
b[/b] no effort [color=blue]was made to write to me and keep me … to date.
In question 8, a test-taker has to choose one of the following options:
(a) tether
(b) line
(c) rope
(d) cord
This is what you tell a test-taker who chooses option (c):
Unfortunately, the test is wrong.
There is no question whatsoever that option (c) ‘rope’ is correct in sentence 8.
As the test sentence currently stands, there is no question whatsoever that you are providing test-takers with information which is not correct.
You could do one of the following:
Accept both option (a) and option (c) as correct.
-OR-
Change either ‘tether’ or ‘rope’ to a word that is actually incorrect.
Why are you reluctant to correct this particular test? :?
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Shall I interpret your silence to mean that the author of the test has disagreed privately with everything I’ve suggested? :?
[size=84](I made a point of using the word shall because I guess I know who may be disagreeing… 
Despite the differences in BE and AmE, I can’t understand why there would be any disagreement on the suggestions I made in my last post.)[/size]
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Hi,
For the record I have now changed ‘rope’ to ‘string’ so that there should be no doubt that the required answer is ‘tether’. At the time of writing the Letter of Complaint I was unaware of a similar expression using ‘rope’.
Alan
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How about clarifying the rest of the “record”, Alan?
Should it be assumed that it is typical in British English to use the present perfect when the definite, finished time of a past event is specifically stated in the very same breath? (In question 6, the time of the finished, past event was mentioned even before you got to the verb.)
If so, this isn’t just a case of the present perfect sounding awful to my American ear (in questions 6 and 7), but this also seems to fly in the face of other things that you yourself have posted. For example:
It’s not just that I would like an explanation of usage in questions 6 and 7, but I think it would be useful for other forum members as well (if it is indeed a common way to use the present perfect in the UK).
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Hi,
I’m touched that you have taken the trouble to dig out what I have written before. I think enough has been said about those particular sentences and tenses and I am sorry they sound so awful to you. I do not understand why you see it as your role to ask me to justify what I have written over the last three/four years. I see it as my role to write articles, tests, newsletters and answers concerned with the language English in order to help users for whom English is not their first language. By and large the users appear to have been satisfied with what I have written judging from their comments.
Alan
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Yes, you have written many, many fine things, Alan. But I fail to see that as a reason not to answer my question. Do you suppose I am the only person who doesn’t understand the usage in your test? I would certainly expect either an explanation or a correction to be valuable to quite a few forum members. Right now, though, we have only “my side” of the story. And mine comes from the American perspective on the use of English.
I have taken the time to post a number of different things to try to convince you that my question here is an honest one:
- I’ve told you that the sentence sounds awful to me with the present perfect
- I’ve acknowledged the possibility that this may be a case where British usage is different from American usage
- I’ve acknowledged the possibility of a simple “cut and paste” error
- I’ve posted my suggested “easy change”
- I’ve taken the time to find quotes of yours in the hope that you would finally understand why I don’t understand the usage in the sentence.
Your failure to address my question suggests to me that the usage of the present perfect in questions 6 and 7 is in fact not typical in the UK either. So why not just do a bit of editing there too?
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