To put it another way VERSUS put another way

[Kay LM]

Common Errors in English, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Latin Words", question 2

Are you in agreement with the new proposal or put it another way are you in flavour of it?

(a) in agreement
(b) proposal
(c) put
(d) in flavour

Common Errors in English, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Latin Words", answer 2

Are you in agreement with the new proposal or put it another way are you in favour of it?

Correct entry: in favour
The error was: (d) in flavour
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There is also a problem with put.
... proposal, or to put it another way, .... OR
... proposal, or put another way, ...

Kay

[Torsten]

Hi Kay,

Both expressions are fine -- put it another way as well as put another way.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

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It seems to me you may have missed Kay's point, Torsten. While I agree that "put it another way" would work as a separate (imperative) sentence, that's not what we have in the test sentence. In my opinion, the sentence needs to be edited so that it ends up worded one of these ways:

- "... or to put it another way..." (i.e. add the word 'to')
- "...or put another way ..." (i.e. delete the word 'it')

(These were Kay's suggestions, and I wholeheartedly agree with them.)

-OR-

- Possibly change the test sentence to multiple sentences so that "Put it another way" becomes or starts a new, separate sentence.

PS
I also agree with Kay's suggested use of commas, but I guess there's little hope of convincing the author of this particular test about a need for commas, is there?
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Surely 'put it another way' in this sentence is not an imperative but an understood condition - if you put it another way.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/hold

[Yankee]

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Well, Alan, all I can say is that obviously neither Kay nor I understood it that way. Judging by the way Kay wrote her post, I wouldn't be surprised if she is also a native speaker of English. Kay's suggestions would both be completely natural and correct, wouldn't they? The way the sentence currently stands only suggests "typo" to me. I realize that you don't like commas, but the dearth of punctuation really doesn't help anything either. That is my opinion and input for you.

I assume you agree that either of Kay's alternatives would be completely acceptable and correct.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English