Question:
I
still found some areas in English grammar/syntax I'm not familiar
with:
1) "A black cloth hung over the bird cage, where it had been placed
many evenings ago." My test-prep book corrects it to "Many evenings
ago, a black cloth had been placed over the bird cage." However, this
new sentence shifts the tense from simple past to past perfect and
thus alters the meaning. How would you convey the same idea while
maintaining the simple past tense?
2) "In the coming elections, we citizens are asked to vote on the sale
of state bonds." My book says the conditional tense "are being asked"
should be used instead. What is the "conditional tense"?
3) "I know that my sister has and will always be my champion." The
book claims the sentence is correct, but shouldn't it be "...has been
and will always be..." instead?
4) "Number of workers" is correct while "amount of workers" isn't,
correct?
5) Which is preferred: "had proved" or "had proven"?
6) "Johnson's main point in the article in the newspaper was his
belief that the corrupt politicians would never be prosecuted for
their misdeeds." The book claims, "The possessive pronoun 'his'
cannot refer to the possessive proper noun Johnson's." Is the book
correct?
Answer:
This is a terrible revision by the book. If this is a description
from a story, for example, the author is focusing the reader's
attention on the black cloth hanging over the birdcage, not when it
was hung over the bird cage.
It doesn't change the meaning of the sentence. We learn no more or
less that a black cloth was hanging over the bird cage and that it
had been placed there "many evenings ago" (a strange locution here,
I think). It changes the style, the tone, the feeling, the focus. It
ruins whatever power that sentence had (very little, I'll admit, but
still more than the "corrected" version).
It also takes the first sentence out of the active voice and puts it
into the passive voice for no good reason. Assuming the author wants
the black cloth mentioned first, it should read: "A black cloth hung
over the bird cage, where it had been placed many evenings before".
If this is someone's verbatim speech, then it might informally be "A
black cloth hung over the bird cage, where it was placed many
evenings ago".
The first sentence is two clauses, one simple past and one past
perfect. By shifting the focus of the sentence from the black cloth
to when when the cloth had been placed over the bird cage, the book
has reduced the number of clauses to one. Why the book didn't change
it to "Many evenings ago, a black cloth was placed over the bird
cage" is as much a mystery to me as what the book did change it to.
Pay no attention to the book in this case. The writer(s) were asleep
while doing that exercise
There is no "conditional tense". The tense is present and the aspect
is continuous/progressive.The only condition implied in that
sentence, as far as I can see, are the two conditions that the
citizens will be alive and able to vote in the coming elections and
the condition that the coming elections are indeed held as
scheduled.
The author(s) of this book know nought of what they speak.
"my sister" has kidnapped the speaker's champion and is feasting on
his or her flesh. Soon the sister will become that champion.
Yes, you are correct. The book is wrong again. It should be "is" or
"has been"
Yes. Workers are individuals and can be expressed numerically. Work,
OTOH, is expressed in amountsAnother poorly written sentence: "Johnson's main point in the
newspaper article was" is far better.
I suppose that to be absolutely pedantic about this point, it would
have to be "was {that he believed / an expression of his belief}
that the corrupt". It is more than likely standard and acceptable in
most places, though.
Can you tell us more about this book? Like the author(s), the
publisher, the date of publication, the purpose of the book?
After these questions, I am ready to say that you should put it in
the nearest round file with a healthy dose of lighter fluid and a
match or ten.
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