Basic vs. fundamental

[Isabelle]

Test No. incompl/inter-12 "At the Restaurant", question 1

The food here is quite good although the menu is quite ..........

(a) elementary
(b) basic
(c) easy
(d) fundamental

Test No. incompl/inter-12 "At the Restaurant", answer 1

The food here is quite good although the menu is quite basic.

Correct answer: (b) basic

Your answer was: incorrect
The food here is quite good although the menu is quite fundamental.
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what is basic?

Isabelle

[Torsten]

The restaurant does good food but the choice is very limited.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[wanglaoshan]

[janzar]

Hi there...

i would like also ask what?s the main difference between "basic" and "elementary". Is really "elementary" not suitable in this case?

thanks a lot for explanation ...

jan

[Pond969]

In many situations, 'basic' and 'elementary' can be used synonymously, but in the example above only 'basic' would commonly be used by native English speakers. The meaning, when specifically relating to the choices on the menu, is that the available food is well-known, common, home-style cooking as opposed to being comprised exotic, uncommon, or unusual dishes. It doesn't neccessarily mean that the skill or complexity of the dishes is less than you might find in other restaurants, but this would neccessarily be implied if one described the menu as 'elementary.'

[janzar]

Many thanks for explanation.

best regards,

Jan

[Torsten]

Hi Jan, your sentence would sound better if you put a word before 'explanation':

Many thanks for your explanation.
Many thanks for the explanation.
Many thanks for this explanation.

Let me know what you think,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary