Help with grammar

[zhongwen1]

Please help explain why my answers are incorrect for "select the most appropriate word to fill out the sentences. My answers are in alphabets.

1. 他来美国三年了,从来都 __b__ 用信用卡。

a. 不习惯 b. 不必须 c. 必须 d. 用不着

Correct answer is 不习惯

2. 阿美的飞机污点了, 阿毛 __d__ 等了一个多小时。

a. 才 b. 再 c. 又 d. 就

Correct answer is 又

3. 在中国买东西, 不 __a__ 不用现金。

a. 可以 b. 能 c. 会 d. 要

Correct answer is 能

[pianpianfengye]

I want answer the following questions from San Jose who from California ,USA .

1. 他来美国三年了,从来都 __b__ 用信用卡。

a. 不习惯 b. 不必须 c. 必须 d. 用不着

Correct answer is 不习惯

Because in Chinese there isn't "b.不必须", people don't use it.And "c.必须" means "must" in English,so you can not use it . And "d.用不着" means "you needn't use it" in English,so it's incorrect. But "a.不习惯" means "I haven't used to use it",so use "a" is the correct answer.

2. 阿美的飞机误点了, 阿毛 __d__ 等了一个多小时。

a. 才 b. 再 c. 又 d. 就

Correct answer is 又

Because "a. 才" means "a little" ;"c.又" means " twice" ;"d.就" means "as soon as " ,so use them is incorrect.And "c.又" means "another " in English,so you can use it .

[LeafAndSunshine]

Where did you get these question from? I'm a native speaker and I can only

pick the correct answer for the first question with a reasonable confidence.

1. 他来美国三年了,从来都 __b__ 用信用卡。

a. 不习惯 b. 不必须 c. 必须 d. 用不着

Correct answer is: d. 用不着 . The translation goes:

(a) He's been living in the U.S for 3 years and he's never been used to use credit

card --- the 3 years in US has nothing to do with "never been used to ...."

(B) and © are not grammatical

(d) He's been living in the U.S. for 3 years and he's never had to use credit card.

2. 阿美的飞机污点了, 阿毛 __d__ 等了一个多小时。

a. 才 b. 再 c. 又 d. 就

Correct answer is: both b 再, and c. 又 are acceptable to me, both have the

meaning of "waited for an additional hour"

3. 在中国买东西, 不 __a__ 不用现金。

a. 可以 b. 能 c. 会 d. 要

Correct answer is: both a. 可以 b. 能, they both mean the same thing.

[zhongwen1]

pianpianfengye and LeafAndSunshine,

Thank you for your help. These questions are from a test given by my Chinese class native-speaker teacher (from Beijing). The answers were also given by her. I can undertand her given correct answers, but I could not understand why my answers were incorrect until I get your explanation, such as "people don't use it". To me, being a beginner, 不可以 is the same as 不能。

[HashiriKata]

I'm inclined to agree with Leaf&Sunshine on 1 (in selecting d).

With 2, I think it should be 又, because 再 tends to be used for future.

Similarly, I'd go for 能 in 3. 不可以 sounds as if you're not permitted, whereas 不能 simply means you've got no alternative.

As always, anything is still possible in certain circumstances.

By the way, 阿美的飞机污点了 should be 阿美的飞机晚点了. Am I correct?

[Mugi]

should be 阿美的飞机晚点了. Am I correct?

Should be 误点

I agree with HashiriKata regarding the answers, however, could someone explain why 就 is not a possibility in 2?

[LeafAndSunshine]

With 2, I think it should be 又, because 再 tends to be used for future.

Both means an additional hour, the difference is too subtle for me to be

confident.

Similarly, I'd go for 能 in 3. 不可以 sounds as if you're not permitted, whereas 不能 simply means you've got no alternative

Again, the difference is too subtle for me to be confident.

Should be 误点

No, 误点 is almost grammatically incorrect and I've very rarely seen it used.

晚点 is the most common and grammatically correct, and it fits the sentence

perfectly well.

could someone explain why 就 is not a possibility in 2?

就 is barely acceptable, but not as acceptable as the b and c. One can interpret

is in two ways:

(1) only -- 阿毛 only waited for around an hour -- clearly doesn't fit the context

which says the flight was delayed.

(2) have to/is forced to -- 阿毛 was forced to/had to wait for around an hour -- this

would make sense if there was previous mention about how 阿毛 was a

patient/loyal/stubborn person, but otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

[skylee]

No' date=' 误点 is almost grammatically incorrect and I've very rarely seen it used.

晚点 is the most common and grammatically correct, and it fits the sentence

perfectly well.[/quote']

Really? I think 飛機誤點 is pretty common, and 阿美的飛機晚點了 is quite unacceptable.

[elina]

I think 飞机误点 and 飞机晚点 are both right, and I have heard them used very popular in daily life in Beijing.

In addition, according to 金山词霸：

误点

[be overdue;behind schedule;late;behind time] 晚点

飞机误点了

晚点

[(of a train,ship, etc.)late;behind schedule time] [车、船等]开出、运行或到达晚于规定的时间

So it shows they are synonym to some extent.

[pianpianfengye]

first ,thanks LeafAndSunshine.But i want to know that you say "I'm a native speaker",what't the "native " mean?Are you chinese or English? Ofcourse it's not important.I want to say that we use both "误点" and "晚点" .For examble,we take the train ,if the train comes here not on time ,we may call it "晚点" .But if we fly from placese to placese,we may use "误点" .Sometimes there isn't a correct answer.What do you think?

[HashiriKata]

I think 飞机误点 and 飞机晚点 are both right

I'd go along with elina.

(Incidentally, I originally used 晚点 to correct only the original 污点(a typo) , and not 误点 )

[LeafAndSunshine]

first ,thanks LeafAndSunshine.But i want to know that you say "I'm a native speaker",what't the "native " mean?Are you chinese or English? Ofcourse it's not important.I want to say that we use both "误点" and "晚点" .For examble,we take the train ,if the train comes here not on time ,we may call it "晚点" .But if we fly from placese to placese,we may use "误点" .Sometimes there isn't a correct answer.What do you think?

I'm a native speaker of Mandarin, I grew up speaking Mandarin which is the only

Chinese dialect I speak. All my friends, most of my teachers and most of my

family members speak Mandarin.

I've very rarely seen or heard "误点", and the character "误" generally means

"miss" -- sure you can "miss" the right time but it's not precise enough. Whereas

"晚点" is much more precise about the flight being late. Yes, maybe they

are interchangable in oral Chinese, but if I was in a Chinese exam I would choose

"晚点" over "误点" without any hesitation.

I suspect that people whose Mandarin is influnced by a southern dialect maybe

inclined to use "误点".

LnS

[xiaocai]

I feel that there are more than one answer for q1 and q3.

Can you tell the rearon for choosing 就 in q2?

[xuezhongwen]

I really think both 误点 and 晚点 are fine. 班机误点了， 班机晚点了 are both used commonly.

Also for Q1,

1. 他来美国三年了,从来都 __b__ 用信用卡。

a. 不习惯 b. 不必须 c. 必须 d. 用不着

I disagree with LeafAndSunshine on his translation for (d)

(d) He's been living in the U.S. for 3 years and he's never needed to use credit card.

I think both (a) and (d) are grammatically correct, but I have to say (a) is more correct because it's not realistic that you never had a use of credit card in the US in 3 years.

[LeafAndSunshine]

I really think both 误点 and 晚点 are fine. 班机误点了， 班机晚点了 are both used commonly.

Also for Q1,

1. 他来美国三年了,从来都 __b__ 用信用卡。

a. 不习惯 b. 不必须 c. 必须 d. 用不着

I disagree with LeafAndSunshine on his translation for (d)

(d) He's been living in the U.S. for 3 years and he's never needed to use credit card.

I think both (a) and (d) are grammatically correct, but I have to say (a) is more correct because it's not realistic that you never had a use of credit card in the US in 3 years.

Well, you don't have to believe me, but I am a native speaker and my mark for

the Chinese exam of National Colleage Entrance Exams was pretty high.

For 误点 and 晚点, I've explained why 晚点 is grammatically and semantically

better, and my language intuition tells me that 晚点 is much more natural than

误点, I don't think I can offer more explaination on this issue, and you don't have

to believe me and I believe people will understand you if you use 误点, but that

in my opinion is poor Mandarin.

For q1, if I was in an exam, given the same question and same choices, I would

choose d. 用不着 without any hesitation. As I explained earlier, b and c are

not grammatical, and a. 不习惯 doesn't make sense -- it's as if saying credit

cards do not exist in another country other than the U.S. It's also possible that

a person can live a long period of time in the U.S/Europe/Australia without ever

using a credit card, a lot of people prefer dealing with cash.

[xiaocai]

"不必须" sounds really awkward to me. "无须", "不须" or "不必" are the negative forms of "必须".

[skylee]

I suspect that people whose Mandarin is influnced by a southern dialect maybe inclined to use "误点".

I believe people will understand you if you use 误点, but that in my opinion is poor Mandarin.

So influence of southern dialects means poor Mandarin in your opinion. I see.

I don't agree that 晚點 is better, by the way.

[HashiriKata]

In language, what we're not familiar with often sounds "poor", and it's always been this way.

[LeafAndSunshine]

So influence of southern dialects means poor Mandarin in your opinion. I see.

Yeah, pretty much, especially when one produces sentences which are

considered ungrammatical in Mandarin. A language is defined by its vocabulary,

grammar rules and equally important -- collocations. I don't make the rules, the

department of education does. If you use the vocabulary, grammar or multi-word

expressions influenced by any non-Mandarin dialects to write the essay in the

Chinese exam of NCEE, you will lose marks, similarly if you answer the

pronunciation questions based on your own non-Mandarin dialect, you will lose

marks too.

For example, in Cantonese, the word for "to get off the bus/train/car" is "落车", but

in Mandarin it's "下车". Both are totally understandable to a native speaker of Mandain

or Cantonese, but now if you use "落车" to describing someone getting off

a bus/train/car in a standard Chinese exam, you will lose marks for sure. Why? Because

it's ungrammatical to say 落车 in Mandarin.

You don't have to believe me, if you are in China, you can do a very simple

experiment on whether 误点 is as acceptable as 晚點, just go to any decent

highschool and ask a senior student which one he/she would prefer, and you

will get your answer.

In language, what we're not familiar with often sounds "poor", and it's always been this way.

Yes and no, the descriptive camp of linguists would define a language by what's

spoken by its native speakers. In this case, I'm a native speaker of Mandarin and

I'm telling you that 晚點 is much better than 误点. You are free not to believe me,

but then I'd say you are not using the language correctly.

[HashiriKata]

Yes and no, the descriptive camp of linguists would define a language by what's spoken by its native speakers. In this case, I'm a native speaker of Mandarin and I'm telling you that 晚點 is much better than 误点.

Yes and no, since linguists don't base their description on the evidence of one native speaker .

You may have also noticed that there are other native speakers who hold a different view from yours and one even substantiated her view with some objective evidence. This is not to say that you're wrong, by the way.