Errors in the tests

[Torsten]

[Yankee]

As you requested, I have now reposted three of my last comments directly in the tests forum. (I hope you don't need the urls posted here again.)

In addition, the questions raised in the following thread have already been posted in both places:
expressions: 'to stand in a queue' vs. 'stand in line' vs. 'stand in a line'
As far as I can tell, this one has basically been ignored. I don't think the test should be left as it is. Alan has plenty of information about American usage now and should be able to reformulate the sentence.

[Yankee]

http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic23454.html#77944
I have posted my editing suggestions for question 7 of this test directly in the English Teacher Explanations forum.
.

[Yankee]

http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic23116.html#78086
My suggestion for repairing this test sentence was to change the distracter 'brain' to some other word.

As the test stands, two of the possible four choices could be and are used (head and brain) in such a context.
.

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

Thanks a lot for notifying us of your findings. I'll discuss your suggestions with Alan as soon as he comes back online and we'll make the changes where appropriate.
Regards,
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

If any of my suggestions are rejected, I hope there will at least be feedback as to why. I'm also looking forward to some sincere discussion about the way the tests are reviewed and edited prior to posting, etc.

By the way, the questions that are going on now in the "head vs brain" thread illustrate one of the reasons I think there ought to be a way to discuss at least a few things "behind the scenes" (in a "moderator forum", for example). It's confusing when Alan parses the words "out of my head" together and then calls it "the accepted expression". That's because those words CAN be used as a fixed expression, but they are NOT a fixed expression in the context of the sentence!

Personally, I think Alan might not have been paying close attention to the rest of the sentence when he posted his response. Maybe he was just in a hurry. Maybe there really is some fixed expression (other than the one I know) that is used in the UK but not used here. However, I haven't been able to find a fixed expression (other than the one I know) in any dictionaries. Whatever the reason for Alan's post, the meaning of the fixed expression that I know doesn't fit the context of the test sentence.

So, as I see it, the fact of the matter is the words "out of my head" are not used as a fixed expression in sentence. And the fact of the matter is that I have heard plenty of native speakers use the word 'brain' in exactly the same sort of sentence as the test sentence. Therefore, I see my suggestion to change the word 'brain' to something that is really impossible as an easy solution.

Man oh man oh man!
.

[Yankee]

A good example of why I 'harp' on fixing the tests can be found here:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic23510.html#78522
.

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

This one needs tweaking, too:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic23673.html
.

[Linda]

Yes, we're fixing that typo right now.
_________________
One Way of Learning English Grammar
Learn English with Linda Arlia

[Yankee]

Thanks for the feedback, Linda.
.

[Yankee]

[Yankee]