So finally, I’m writing
I have been thinking about this all week, so I am finally going to write to show my shock at the state of the Junior High School Graduation Exam (Hui-Kao).
Question 15: “I’ve wanted to read the Diary of a Young Girl for months, ________ today I finally borrowed the book from the library.” (Answers: a. and b. since c. so d. until.)
The question is clearly not only wrong, it is embarrassingly so. This would be a non-issue except for the refusal to recognize the mistake.
From the time I was a little tyke in an American elementary school, teachers pounded the idea in our head that “so” is the natural opposite of “because.”
“Because I was a bad student, I didn’t always listen carefully,” or: “I was a pretty bad student, so I didn’t always listen carefully.”
Nonetheless, I know answer “c” is correct.
While answer “a” (“and”) is also grammatically correct, we are unfortunately always given the duty of trying to force students to choose the better of two correct answers.
Putting aside that this is the antithesis of learning and enjoying the freedom of language, the testmakers have not only gotten the answer wrong, they have made a fool of themselves in the process.
Somehow, they are using the addition of “finally” as an excuse, which has absolutely no effect on the conjunction. I could write examples until blue in the face, but I’ll stop at three:
“I’ve wanted to lose weight, so I finally joined a gym.”
“I’ve been thinking about my parents, so I finally called them on Saturday night.”
“I’ve seen so many mistakes like the one on this test, so I finally decided to write to show my disapproval.”
Here is my prediction: The government will stick to its guns and say a. is correct and c. is wrong.
This action will make them look foolish and further embarrass them, but if they admit the mistake, they would have to acknowledge that all the students who wasted minutes staring at this blaringly bad exam question lost additional points because they were so flustered by such a ridiculous question.
Finally, it is hard to believe the test makers deserve to be the arbiters of good grammar when question 13 also had a cringeworthy grammatical error: “Tomorrow we are all going back home and get ready for school.”
I’m not saying my grammar is flawless. (I may include grammar mistakes in this letter just to see who is paying attention.) However, in the event of a national exam, it is unthinkable that one qualified person couldn’t have given the test a once-over.
I’ll try to hide my eurocentric bias by saying: You didn’t even need to find a Westerner. I’m lucky to work with a dozen Taiwanese who would never have made such a mistake.
If this is the best we can do, should we be surprised that Taiwanese are falling behind in international English rankings and consider this essential world language a burden to learn?
I’ve said everything I have to say on the matter, so I will finally finish with this: Shame on you responsible for this and for not owning up to the mistake.
Aaron Andrews
Taichung
What began on Feb. 28 as a military campaign against Iran quickly became the largest energy-supply disruption in modern times. Unlike the oil crises of the 1970s, which stemmed from producer-led embargoes, US President Donald Trump is the first leader in modern history to trigger a cascading global energy crisis through direct military action. In the process, Trump has also laid bare Taiwan’s strategic and economic fragilities, offering Beijing a real-time tutorial in how to exploit them. Repairing the damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure could take years, suggesting that elevated energy prices are likely to persist. But the most
In late January, Taiwan’s first indigenous submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), completed its first submerged dive, reaching a depth of roughly 50m during trials in the waters off Kaohsiung. By March, it had managed a fifth dive, still well short of the deep-water and endurance tests required before the navy could accept the vessel. The original delivery deadline of November last year passed months ago. CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the lead contractor, now targets June and the Ministry of National Defense is levying daily penalties for every day the submarine remains unfinished. The Hai Kun was supposed to be
Most schoolchildren learn that the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000km. They do not learn that the global economy depends on just 160 of those kilometers. Blocking two narrow waterways — the Strait of Hormuz and the Taiwan Strait — could send the economy back in time, if not to the Stone Age that US President Donald Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran back to, then at least to the mid-20th century, before the Rolling Stones first hit the airwaves. Over the past month and a half, Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz, which is about 39km wide at
There is a peculiar kind of political theater unfolding in East Asia — one that would be laughable if its consequences were not so dangerous. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on April 12 returned from Beijing, where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and spoke earnestly about preserving “peace” and maintaining the “status quo.” It is a position that sounds responsible, even prudent. It is also a fiction. Taiwan is, by any honest definition, an independent country. It governs itself, defends itself, elects its leaders, and functions as a free and sovereign democracy. Independence is not a
RSS