Jose Carillo's English Forum

English Grammar and Usage Problems => Use and Misuse => Topic started by: maxsims on June 10, 2009, 09:00:14 AM

Title: Misplaced modifiers
Post by: maxsims on June 10, 2009, 09:00:14 AM

Joe,

I've just returned from a flying visit to your country.    While there, I was helping my ward with her English studies.    A sample answer to one of the questions included the phrase "the synthetic production of silk".

This sample answer was contained in....wait for it...an IELTS study guide!

Title: Re: Misplaced modifiers
Post by: maxsims on June 19, 2009, 07:56:37 AM

Another classic from the IELTS study guide is the sentence: "Indeed, according to the American Wind Energy Association, an independent organisation based in Washington, Denmark, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands will each surpass the US in the generating capacity of wind turbines installed during the rest of the decade."

The more I look at this guide, the more I realise how unfair it is to non-English speakers (or nonnatives, if you will).     Not only is the grammar of dubious quality but the layout and exercise instructions are often confusing.    My ward in your fair land got one exercise horribly wrong, not because she didn't know the subject but because the "how to answer" instructions were muddy.