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The... the ... structure?


proxer

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So which one is the answer. It was quoted from the Cambridge T. Prep. book and answer is B on it. Confusedddd....:crazy:

 

However, from your explanation - ellipsis - "The lower the temperature and longer " is correct. Thus, "tough" is wrong, isn't it? Must be tougher?

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Thus, "tough" is wrong, isn't it? Must be tougher?
Yep, that's what I said in my post. ;)

 

Notice that, again, because of ellipsis, I didn't repeat the word necessary:

Because of ellipsis,
the
isn't necessary, but the comparative form of
tough
(
tougher
) is
necessary
.

HTH :)

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The lower the temperature and longer cooking time used for a baked potato the crunchier and tough the skin will be.

 

I found this one quite interesting but had kept out of it as I wasn't sure how helpful my comments would be.

 

However it's a quiet Sunday evening and I'm in need of mental stimulation, so here goes.:devil:

 

What Erin says is grammatically correct, but it actually produces a very strange sentence to UK ears. We would normally say 'The lower the temperature and (the) longer the cooking time….

 

The crunchier/tougher thing is also right grammatically, but I have a suspicion that we would accept tough as it stands.

 

Michael

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Michael, I agree with you--the sentence does sound awkward to me. But since TOEFL doesn't test awkwardness, I didn't feel a need to point that out.

 

I also agree that the choice of the word crunchier doesn't sound quite formal enough for the TOEFL, but this sort of error is common in non-official test materials. For what it's worth, I've always assumed the the Cambridge TOEFL book was written and edited in the UK, but I could be wrong.

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That's why I made the comment about degree of helpfulness. I'm the one being awkward.:evil:
And I know you use those smilies only when you really feel the need, eh? :D

 

But seriously, you might actually be more helpful than you realize--TOEFL is phasing out this type of grammar from its test and is making the transition to a more realistic English test, so comments like this are in fact helpful for the new iBT, IMHO.

 

Questions like the one in, um, question look to me like questions verily engineered to trip up unwary test takers, which is another thing that the TOEFL grammar section does not do. In other words, practice tests might do this, but the real TOEFL doesn't--it uses realistic-sounding sentences if only to be able to avoid such criticisms it might receive from people. :2cents:

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And I know you use those smilies only when you really feel the need, eh? :D

Erin,

 

Absolutely. Smilies are for the cerebrally challenged.

 

But while I have your attention (and seeing as how you were good enough to give me my own grumpy smilie) could we please have a puzzled smilie? There are occasions when :question: and :confused: don't quite fit the bill. Here is an example:

 

iBT

:question: :confused:

 

Michael

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