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[Alan]

Test No. errors/inter-3 "Sally and her Letter", question 5

A dangerous criminal who was last seen having a drink in a small restaurant is being searched by the police.

(a) criminal
(b) seen
(c) is
(d) searched

Test No. errors/inter-3 "Sally and her Letter", answer 5

A dangerous criminal who was last seen having a drink in a small restaurant is being sought by the police.

Correct entry: sought
The error was: (d) searched

You have found the error but your entry is incorrect.
A dangerous criminal who was last seen having a drink in a small restaurant is being wanted by the police.
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can't I put wanted?

thanks
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Hi Bruno,

I'm afraid that Narayanan has made what is a perfectly straightforward question into a total confusion and in addition has given some wrong information. Perhaps as the author of this and the other 306 tests on the site, I should explain. Your answer wanted is I am afraid not acceptable here because we need a past participle after is being and the verb want is not usually used in the continuous form. You could obviously say wanted by the police but then it wouldn't fit with the rest of the verb.The answer you need is sought, which is the past participle of the verb seek and is often used to mean look for in the active voice with abstract nouns like truth or information. In the passive continuous form (is being sought) it is very often used in official reports or news bulletins when referring to the police when they ARE (always PLURAL) looking for a suspect or potential criminal. Finally we come to the verb search,which very often means look for and is also used with the preposition for as in: I've misplaced my papers and I've been searching for them all over the house. It can also be used with a direct object again with reference to the police as in: The police searched everyone to make sure they were not carrying any guns - in other words they physically felt each part of their clothing to see if there were any guns. Obviously searched is wrong here because in my sentence I have said 'was last seen ..' and therefore if he is not there, he cannot be searched!

I am sorry you were given incorrect information. Clearly anybody can write comments on all our forums but when this information is incorrect, I have to comment

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[Goldhat]

Good explanation Alan, thanks.
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Joel Milne,
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