Test her ability

[Guest]

Test No. incompl/inter-24 "What now?", question 10

As Mr Andrews was about to leave he found a note pinned to his door. It was from Mary Smith advising him to be careful because she has just bought a ......... young guard dog.

(a) severe
(b) ferocious
(c) harsh
(d) spiteful

Test No. incompl/inter-24 "What now?", answer 10

As Mr Andrews was about to leave he found a note pinned to his door. It was from Mary Smith advising him to be careful because she has just bought a ferocious young guard dog.

Correct answer: (b) ferocious

Your answer was: correct
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for A9 why test

[Alan]

This is a story about a woman who said she could tell the future. Mike Andrews wanted to test her ability and here this means he wanted to find out how good she was at telling the future. If you test someone, you want to see how good they are at doing something.

Hope this helps
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Kimdung9210]

hir.sir.
what means spitefull and ferocious?
thank you.

[Beeesneees]

Dictionaries are a very useful means of allowing learners to develop independence.
Learner's Dictionary

http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/spiteful

http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/ferocious
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Cheers m' dears!

[Alan]

Yes, they may well be but presumably someone who asks a question here also wants some help in finding out the meaning from the forum.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Beeesneees]

Unfortunately it has been shown over and over that some people who ask haven't even bothered trying to find an answer for themselves. If, having looked in a dictionary, they wish to clarify something I'm more than happy to try and help.

I try to promote independent learning.
That's part of my take on the best method of education.
You may reproach me for it, but I won't stop suggesting that people use a dictionary first and foremost.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Alan]

There is no question of a reproach in what I said above. The question is why does anyone arbitrarily choose a word or words in the first place? Surely they must have heard the word, seen it or even read it. Likewise they would possibly have had the curiosity to look the word up in a dictionary themselves. Perhaps they should be challenged about where they saw the word and in what context. I agree the spoon feeding isn't the answer. Back in the distant past when I stood up in front of a live class, my response to that question: What means ..? was first to correct the phrasing of the question and then ask where they had seen the word. By the way the illustrative sentences for the words in the links you gave didn't really help much.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Beeesneees]

They didn't arbitrarily choose words in this instance. They are the words they read in the test as indicated in the first message in this thread.
As I said above, far too many learners don't have the curiosity to try looking the words up for themselves before asking here.
The definitions on those links would have indicated why 'ferocious' was an appropriate word to complete the sentence, whereas 'spiteful' relating to the dog, was inappropriate.
Perhaps you could take up the usefulness of the exemplar sentences with Oxford Publishing. I have no control over them.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Alan]

Yes, you are right. This isn't an arbitrary selection of words and I didn't read the first point in the list of questions, which I should have done especially since I think it was one of my tests! In a way that strengthens my point that directing someone to look up the word in a dictionary only doesn't really answer a question. I don't understand why when I posit an alternative, you invariably rush to the defensive and assume a personal comment is implied. Your tongue in cheek suggestion that I take up my criticism with the OUP missed the point. I wanted a reaction. In other words, I wanted to know whether you thought the illustrative sentence was adequate' I don't. Isn't it possible to have a discussion?

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Prepositions