Failed to find

[Nurana Guliyeva]

Test No. incompl/inter-6 "The Farmer and his Sons", question 9

However long they dug and however hard they worked, they ......... to find the smallest bit of treasure.

(a) lacked
(b) missed
(c) avoided
(d) failed

Test No. incompl/inter-6 "The Farmer and his Sons", answer 9

However long they dug and however hard they worked, they failed to find the smallest bit of treasure.

Correct answer: (d) failed
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i couldn't find an answer to this question, please exlpain this for me.

THX

[Alan]

This means they didn't succeed in finding.
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story New year resolutions

[Dilmon]

Hi,
I really don't understand why they failed and not missed?
Thanks in advance.

[Alan]

Hi,

'They failed to find' means they didn't succeed in finding. 'Missed' wouldn't make sense in this sentence. 'Miss' followed by another word usually has the sense of regretting that you don't do something any longer as in: When we moved to the town from the seaside, we missed going swimming every day. You will see also that after 'miss' in that sense the verb is in the 'ing' form.

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

[Dilmon]