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#2 (permalink) Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:16 am Optional test (Can the word "involve" ever be used with "on"? |
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. 1--What's your answer? 2-- Offhand? No. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach
Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 13015
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#3 (permalink) Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:20 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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For the first question, I choose "expectant" but my teacher said I was wrong.What do you think?
For the second question, excuse me but what do you mean by "Offhand? No."? Thanks a lot Nessie _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#4 (permalink) Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:37 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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| expected |
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Molly I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4017
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#5 (permalink) Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:52 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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could you please explain why we should choose "expected" and not "expectant" please? Thanks a lot Nessie _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#6 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:22 am Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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please explain more abour your option _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#7 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:51 am Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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Expecting a baby Expectant mother/ father/ parents Expect (that) We call it collocation. |
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Theresa I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 27 Location: Vietnam
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#8 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:03 am Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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I know but your explaination concerns nothing about my question (+_+) _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#9 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:38 am Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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| Quote: |
1/ It is not ... to learn a foreign language in a week
a. expected b. expectant c. expecting |
I'd say the writer of the test is looking for (c) expected, but I really don't like the sentence very much at all.
This is what I would find more natural for a sentence beginning with "it is not expected":
It is not expected to rain this week. (= They do not expect it to rain this week.) . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#10 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 16:32 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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Thanks for your help, Amy. I understand your explaination, but I think the writer of this sentence does not mean that they do not expect (hope,want) to learn a foreign language in a week but they mean learning a language in a week is not possible. In this case, is it not very suitable to say "It is not expected to learn a foreign language in a week" (I mean: it sounds like they don't want/hope to learn it in a week, not stating the idea of impossibility)
What do you think? _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#11 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 16:59 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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. I understood the same thing, Nessie. Nevertheless, the sentence does not sound natural to my ear. I consider the usage of "it is not expected" to be incorrect in your sentence.
You could say something like this, however:
He is not expected to learn a foreign language in a week. -OR- Nobody is expected to learn a foreign language in a week.
Sorry, the word 'it' just doesn't work in the context -- unless you're talking about a thing or an animal (rather than a person) learning a foreign language. . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#12 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 17:19 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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Thanks Amy, now I understand it. So here which option should we choose? If expectant is not correct, then there must be no correct answer for this as we can't use expecting here. "Expecting" has the meaning of "likely, probably", and I assume we can just say "it is not likely that we can learn a foreign language in a week" but not "it is not likely to learn a foreign language in a week", right?
That's just my idea,what's yours, Amy? _________________ :(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(
Sorry seems to be the hardest word... |
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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#13 (permalink) Sun Apr 06, 2008 17:31 pm Optional test (Can the word 'involve' ever be used with 'on'?) |
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Hi Nessie
As far as I'm concerned, the test sentence is simply a bad test sentence. . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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| strike a flint? | Usage of "be involved on" |