I find these sentences a bit distant from each other...

[Tom]

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #145 "Short Idioms Exam", question 10

Before Tom headed into the forest, he made sure he had packed his bow and ..........

(a) shotgun
(b) back pack
(c) canteen
(d) arrows

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #145 "Short Idioms Exam", answer 10

Before Tom headed into the forest, he made sure he had packed his bow and arrows.

Correct answer: (d) arrows

Your answer was: correct
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I find these sentences a bit distant from each other and the "comma" too weak to join them.

Would you agree?

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Seems all right to me.

A
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Word Story: Health

[James]

.
...I share the same feeling with you, Tom. They are constrained each other from two events that are distant both in time and space.
.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

The sentence seems OK to me, too. Maybe you're just reacting to the fact that it's just a tiny piece of some larger (but never-to-be-known) story about Tom's archery adventures in the forest.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[James]

.
...I agree..., to a certain extent. Maybe this tiny and larger were one more factor of what Tom meant by distant. It could be an OK sentence but not a good one.
.

[Yankee]

Hi James and Tom

Why not put your money where your mouths are? What would you suggest as better alternatives for testing the expression "bow and arrow(s)"? Perhaps a sentence about Robin Hood rather than "Tom (the) Archer" would provide a more obvious connection between bow and arrows and forest.

I have to say, the idea of someone going into a forest and hunting with bow and arrows is not a stretch of the imagination to me. To me this is something people have done in the past and still do today.

Tom, is that what you meant by distant -- you think there is too much "distance" between the idea of forest and bow and arrows?

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi,

I am beginning to think that this is some kind of April Fool ruse but then it's the middle of December. The comma as far as I know is not a joining device. There was this guy called Tom, who was just about to go into the forest and being a cautious guy he made sure he'd got his bow and arrows with him. After all you never know who(m) you might bump into. And that's a problem?

A
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Yankee]

[Tom]

Oops, I am extremely...

I must have suffered from dyslexia while reading this post...

I have been reading the test--and would you believe at least the tenth time?-- as:

Tom headed into the forest, he made sure he had packed his bow and ..........

Could simply not see the "Before" at the start of the sentence. Sorry again.

Tom

[Mister Micawber]

.
I know how you feel, Tom-- I've done the same thing innumerable times: read what I 'thought' to read and not what was on the screen.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Yankee]

.
I'm relieved to hear your question was simply a result of a passing visual disturbance, Tom. Maybe you were just so enthused about the idea of "Tom (the) Archer" that your eyes raced to read the end of the sentence before the beginning was fully taken in.

By the way, one of the things I'm doing today is filling out customs forms. Although they're written in English, I've got two problems:

1) The English used in forms provided by the US Government is often completely unintelligible.
2) Some of the print is so small I can't read it even with my reading glasses on. Fortunately, I have copies of the forms as a PDF file and thus I've been able to double and triple the size as necessary. So, although some of the sentences are still unintellible, I can at least see the words.

Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English