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Md. Teacher Finds Botched PSAT Question
WBALTV ^
| May 14, 2003
| WBAL
Posted on 05/15/2003 4:07:50 PM PDT by ZinGirl
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To: ZinGirl
I'm confused. What's an 'African-American'?
21
posted on
05/15/2003 4:22:53 PM PDT
by
xrp
To: ZinGirl
That is, the NY Times paper itself had the hyphen missing from their run of this article. Typical NYT!
22
posted on
05/15/2003 4:23:02 PM PDT
by
MHT
To: ZinGirl
Keegan said pronouns should only refer to nouns and in this case Morrison's name is used as an adjective. I'm not buying that. If "Tom's job requires him to travel" is wrong, what's the correct form? There's no ambiguity with the pronoun.
Comment #24 Removed by Moderator
To: netmilsmom
What would have been a proper way to express the thought?
25
posted on
05/15/2003 4:24:24 PM PDT
by
MHT
To: Joe 6-pack
Hey JOE, whadya know?
26
posted on
05/15/2003 4:24:31 PM PDT
by
JOE6PAK
(Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder ...)
To: walkingman; GummyIII
" in this case Morrison's name is used as an adjective."
I don't understand how a person's name can be used as an adjective. I don't recall studying that when *I* was in college. ;-)
Let me think a second....
Oh hey, I can think of one.
That dude is a clymer! :)
27
posted on
05/15/2003 4:24:38 PM PDT
by
Freedom2specul8
(Please pray for our troops.... http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/)
To: ZinGirl
That plug for a living but somewhat controversial person is clearly improper.
I would feel the same way if there was a plug for Ronald Reagan who I think is a really great man, but a test is not the place for an editorial opinion.
28
posted on
05/15/2003 4:24:45 PM PDT
by
yarddog
To: So Cal Rocket
Can anyone tell I did time in a Comminity then into Urban college?
It took all these people explaining it for me to get it....
29
posted on
05/15/2003 4:25:23 PM PDT
by
netmilsmom
(Bush/Rice 2004- pray for our troops)
To: b4its2late
fer sure....we're purty much talkin' publik skool, anyhoo....
(I was more torqued by having a sentence constructed that makes sure we understand that African-Americans have been through injustice galore!....no matter how subconscious the method....)
30
posted on
05/15/2003 4:25:36 PM PDT
by
ZinGirl
To: CaptainJustice
"Toni Morrison's genius enables her to create novels that arise from and express the injustices African-Americans have endured."
I believe the correct construction should be:
"Genius enables Toni Morrison to create novels that arise from and express the injustices African-Americans have endured."
To: ThinkDifferent
If "Tom's job requires him to travel" is wrong, what's the correct form? Clearly, Tom should be on welfare...thus sparing us this confusion.
32
posted on
05/15/2003 4:27:08 PM PDT
by
ZinGirl
To: b4its2late
Isn't this question racially biased? It's saying black folks need the precondition of injustice to be a "genius."
Is there anyone I can sue?
33
posted on
05/15/2003 4:28:12 PM PDT
by
Desecrated
(A nickel of every tax dollar should go toward the defense of America)
To: ZinGirl
"Toni Morrison's genius enables her to create novels that arise from and express the injustices African-Americans have endured." . . . pronouns should only refer to nouns and in this case Morrison's name is used as an adjective
The usage is correct. The pronoun reference is to a continuing subject in the essay and is not a reference to Toni Morrison's . On top of that, Toni Morrison's is not an adjective, it is a noun in the possessive case. However, in spite of it's outstanding adequacies, the sentence is a poor item for a standardized test because the metaphor is reversed.
34
posted on
05/15/2003 4:28:28 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Post no Bills)
To: ZinGirl
"Toni Morrison" is a proper noun, and even if used to indicate the possessor of "genius" (a debatable proposition in my opnion, based on a reading of some of her writing), "Toni Morrison" remains a proper noun and can properly be the subject of a pronoun reference, even given the particular structure of this sentence.
Let's look at this one: "Bill's coat is red." Any problem? No even to grammar mavens, this is OK, because the referent of "red" is "coat", a noun. How about this: "Bill's coat was given to him by his grandmother." Fine, because Bill is still Bill, even when his name is used in the possessive, and the referent of "him" and "his", Bill, is clearly and unambiguously a thing, a person called Bill. Bill is not an adjective.
The grammar maven that found this sentence structure to be improper needs a lesson himself. He's wrong on the grammar issue, and he's wrong on the issue of common sense. He would be well advised to give up teaching and go into farming, assembly line work, or some other field where he will come into contact with the real world.
35
posted on
05/15/2003 4:29:03 PM PDT
by
John Valentine
(Writing from downtown Seoul, keeping an eye on the hills to the north.)
To: ZinGirl
create novels that arise from...the injustices African-Americans have endured
At first read, I thought the error was that the creation of a novel does not arise from an event, but from ideas and interpretations of the author inspired by that event.
My correction would be to delete the word create and insert "develop ideas for":
Toni Morrison's genius enables her to develop ideas for novels that arise from and express the injustices African-Americans have endured.
To: Desecrated
I'm dismayed that anger, angst, and self-pity are considered 'genius'.
To: ThinkDifferent
"Tom's job requires him to travel"
better? = "Tom's job requires that he travel"
38
posted on
05/15/2003 4:29:48 PM PDT
by
Mark Felton
(Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.)
To: Desecrated
Furthermore, is it a prerequisite to be a genius to be able to write about these injustices?
39
posted on
05/15/2003 4:29:53 PM PDT
by
So Cal Rocket
(Free Miguel and Priscilla!)
To: RightWhale
Right on Right Whale.....and YOU are in charge of explaining this to the Keegan doofus in the article. (You are chosen because you seem so enlightened!)
40
posted on
05/15/2003 4:30:44 PM PDT
by
ZinGirl
(darn....so "that" is OK?)
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