Are presents and presence homophones?

[Hardys]

English Error, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #21 "Thank you letter", question 2

You are really a very kind uncle and I must say it was one of the best presence I have received this year.

(a) uncle
(b) presence
(c) received

English Error, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #21 "Thank you letter", answer 2

You are really a very kind uncle and I must say it was one of the best presents I have received this year.

Correct entry: presents
The error was: (b) presence
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You are really a very kind uncle and I must say it was one of the best gift I have received this year.

Hardys

[Mister Micawber]

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Yes, present=gift.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Mister Micawber

Are presents and presence pronounced in more or less the same way so you can't tell them apart in speech, or do you usually emphasize that t letter in presents?

[Mister Micawber]

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Yes, same pronunciation.

Did you change the thread title, LS? I don't think that is a good idea when a new member or visitor has started the thread-- especially in this forum-- because then s/he may have trouble finding it.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Lost_Soul]

I'm afraid I don't have such power - to change titles (except when a thread is mine, i.e. I started it).

[Mister Micawber]

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Very strange. I wonder who did it? I'll check.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Conchita]

A whodunnit -- great!

Please keep the suspense a little longer!

[Conchita]

[Yankee]

I think the question the original poster probably wanted to ask was why or whether 'gift' is an acceptable way to correct the error ('presence').

Obviously, the singular ('gift') would be incorrect, but I do hope that 'gifts' has been programmed in as being just as correct as 'presents'.
.

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

You are right -- "gifts" would work as a correct answer as well and we've just added this word. Thanks a lot for pointing this out.
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary