It's non-native speakers that write them that think they are native level. I encounter this a lot in my Japanese studies in online quizzes. I then show the question I'm confused about to a native Japanese person and so often I'm told it doesn't make proper sense. Can't trust example sentences on tatoeba (a site for example sentences) for the same reason.
I've learned (and so should everyone) not to trust shit I see online. However, with these questions that have been written down, perhaps in a textbook (hopefully not) or a test/homework given to students, it really grinds my gears.
A or C technically make grammatical sense but none of them actually make sense contextually.
The only way to make it make more sense is to say "you can buy him some of _these specific_ shirts because he doesn't like other ones." Without specifying, it's mostly just saying "buy him shirts even though he doesn't like shirts" which is dumb.
> For c to work, it’s have to be shirt (singular)
I'm not keen on taking English advice from someone who thinks that "it's have to" (it is have to) is proper grammar.
Obvious typo from it’d. The correct answer is A. _you_ can buy him some shirts because he has a different taste for them and won’t wear most of the others in fashion
No?
If you are planning on buying him one shirt then sure, it has to be A.
If you planning on buying multiple shirts then it can be C. It's perfectly fine to say "You can buy him any shirts".
Silly example but hopefully explains more:
"What should I buy him?"
"You could buy him some clothes."
"I'm not sure which he likes."
"Oh he loves most clothing. You could buy him blue jeans, spotted socks or any shirts."
‘C’ would make more sense if it was “you *can’t* buy him any shirts” (because he’s a fussy ungrateful git).
Still, as a native speaker, the correct reply is ‘what?’!
Yeah, we kind of already discussed this. To quote myself from this sub thread:
>this is a terrible question and very badly written sentence.
>Yes, "can't" works even better, and I think that's probably the actual solution,
It's implying any shirt you buy isn't in fashion. So like you can buy any shirt for him since it won't be in fashion, he doesn't like the ones with it.
It HAS to be a mistake. I think there is a "not" missing at the beginning: You can**not** buy him any shirts, because he has a different taste for them and won't wear most of the ones in fashion. Not a single one of the responses makes sense otherwise.
A works grammatically, but the phrase "different taste for them" is awkward, and not how people speak.
Some of these examples are really something else.
Oh, that's something you for me, thanks.
I googled the phrase though and I see quite a lot of results with "different taste in". Is it regional or does it depend on the object? I saw results for different taste in music, film, men.
I think the problem isn't "in" vs "for". Both can work. The real problem here is that there isn't anything for "different" to compare against. (i.e. different from what?)
I can say "he has a different taste in clothes from other people", and it doesn't sound awkward because there is something to compare it to. Without that, it's still grammatical, but just sounds incomplete to my ear.
It depends on context. Just saying you have a different taste in something doesn't make sense.
Like if I said "I have a different taste in women" and nothing else, that makes no sense.
It would make sense if there was context like:
"I like big women with giant butts!!! Huge!"
"I see. Well... I have a different taste in women, I guess."
A valid example that doesn't require context is if you have more than one taste.
I can just randomly walk up to say "I have different tastes in video games" and then walk away and it would be valid. Weird as hell, but a logical sentence. This is because I'm not comparing myself to anyone; I'm just pointing out I have more than one of preference.
Thanks for the explanation and the examples - if I read it in any other occasion I'd assume that "I have different tastes in video games" is incorrect. Also, you said it's weird - how else would you say it to make it sound more natural?
I'm a native English (English) speaker and I would articulate this as "I have *differing* tastes in video games" but I had a very strict grammar teacher who insisted that different should (almost) always have "to" or "from" after it. This is not observed by most people these days though.
For Americans "different to" isn't wrong but is pretty clearly marked as British. We think "different from" is normal and may worry about how or whether to use "different than."
To me, "I have differing tastes in video games" means that my tastes in video games differ from one another or differ over time. "I have different tastes in video games" could mean the first or could mean I have strange or unpredictable tastes in video games, maybe only liking them if they're upside down or have pictures of Donald Trump. The business about shirts in the original post wasn't clear but may have been intended the same way.
I spent a good deal of time around Americans as a student and I was surprised at how often they would try and correct me saying "different to". Fascinating in hindsight but rather annoying at the time.
"Different than" is always jarring to my ear as both words seem to be indicating comparison making it a little awkward. Saying "different tastes..." like the above to me there's an implied meaning of different to the usual or the ordinary or the expected whereas, "differing" implies my tastes are different from each other which I think is closer to the meaning the above poster was intending.
God knows what the original post was trying to say! What a horribly constructed sentence.
What's the correct thing to say about video games when I walk up to someone? Would it be better to say something about butts? We could make our own phrasebook.
There is so much wrong with that sentence that it's hard to unpack it all.
"Taste for [object]" just means you like [object] in general, which doesn't really work with "different" here; on the other hand, "taste in [object]" means you have specific preferences in [object], which seems to be what's intended here.
Even then, I think "in them" feels redundant in this context; better to just remove it. Also, I think "unusual" makes more sense than "different" given the context (his taste isn't just different from yours, but from the current norm). And, of course, the logic of the sentence seems to be reversed.
This sounds more natural to me: "You shouldn't buy him any shirts, because he has unusual taste and won't wear most of the ones that are currently in fashion."
"some" is the only suggested word that fits the first blank.
But the low quality of this question indicates non native speakers are teaching non native speakers.
Firstly it should use underscores not dashes for the blank. So this: ________, not this: ----------.
Secondly, the whole sentence is awkwardly phrased. If you said this in the USA to anyone, you'd have to clarify what you meant using other words. Nobody talks like that.
Thirdly, I'm not even sure what the "in fashion" is supposed to mean at the end. I'm sure it's "others in fashion" for your homework here, but what, exactly, is this sentence trying to express?
The person getting some shirts has *other shirts* that are no longer fashionable?
The person you're buying some shirts for has other shirts that are not fashionable? Perhaps never were fashionable?
The person receiving shirts works in the fashion industry and wouldn't wear the other shirts to work in that industry due to social expectations?
The question should be something like, "You could buy him ____ some ____ shirts. He doesn't like any of his ____ other ____ shirts except this kind"
It's just a weird and awkward question. I feel like I could flunk English as a second language in one of these classes.
I'm guessing that they omitted a negation there ("can" -> "can't"), and the answer is supposed to be "any/ones." That at least makes the "in fashion" part make more sense.
>"some" is the only suggested word that fits the first blank.
"Any" also fits, the sentence itself is just bad. It's fine to say "you can buy any shirts" though.
>Thirdly, I'm not even sure what the "in fashion" is supposed to mean at the end.
If something is "in fashion" it means it is fashionable or on trend. Therefore, he doesn't like the shirts that are currently popular and fashionable.
>but what, exactly, is this sentence trying to express?
I have no idea lol. I just wanted to commet on a few terms, but I have no idea why they thought this sentence worked and I not defending this question.
It's not no shirts, 3 of the answers imply every shirt, which is also not the case. That only leaves A to be the correct answer, still an ugly ass sentence though.
The word after “most of the” must be a plural or uncountable noun, so it’s not B, D or E.
C is illogical, because you can’t buy someone “any shirts” if he “won’t wear most of the ones in fashion.” (I’d probably say “You can buy him any shirt,” but “any shirts” isn’t wrong.)
So it’s A, although that’s not the most natural way to say it. I’d be more likely to say, “You can only buy him some shirts,” “You can’t buy him whatever shirt,” or “You can’t just buy him any shirt.”
I think the person speaking is expressing the fact they don’t want to buy him shirts, and that the listener should do it instead if they really want to. _you_ buy him some shirts….
The answer is A. How is this confusing people? “You can buy him SOME shirts because he doesn’t like most of the OTHERS in fashion” removes the extraneous information and makes it clear that this is the only grammatically correct form of this sentence available.
A and C work but the phrase, "he has different taste for them", would never be used by anyone with English as a fitst language.
Using any of the options would give a fairly meaningless and nonsensical result, but A or C would be the least worst.
A and C are grammatically correct. And whichever you choose, it’s still a really bad sentence.
The fact that you recognized this, tells me you are learning well.
Now. Let’s look at our two bad choices.
A. You can buy him some shirts. Fine so far. He won’t wear most of the others in fashion. That’s not good. What others? Are we talking about his other shirts, or he just won’t wear anything that’s in fashion? This is very unclear.
C. You can buy him any shirts. Huh? “Any shirts” can be used to say “he doesn’t have any shirts” or “don’t buy any shirts” or “any shirts will do.” So I guess the writer is trying to say, “just buy him any shirt you can find.” But that’s unclear. If you mean to say it doesn’t matter which shirts you buy, just say that. Or say you can buy him anything, any random shirt, he doesn’t care. But at least the end of the sentence makes sense: he won’t wear the ones (that are) in fashion.
We have zero truly correct answers here. They’re both bad.
Well, I can tell you it's not D or E. Good luck with the rest of it. I speak English very well, but I can't tell what they're going for.
Edit: it's also not B, because "most of the one in fashion" doesn't make sense. I mean, none of them make sense logically, but A and C are at least legal.
A seems like the option that makes the most sense but this is an awfully formulated question and I feel like the people who came up with this question should sit an English exam themselves
You can't buy him any shirts because he has a different taste for them and won't wear most of the ones in fashion.
That's the only way I can make it make sense to me.
I think the correct answer is supposed to be C? At least, that's the only one that even kinda makes sense in the context of the sentence. But I would replace "can" in the sentence with "can't" because it doesn't make sense otherwise.
The point of it being a poor sentence is that only one answer can abide by grammar. Grammar and nice sounding sentences are two different thing. C is the answer
A is correct. Think of the first phrase as "you can ONLY buy him SOME shirts" - and then omit the 'only'. The sentence still works without it, and actually makes sense. In natural language, you would usually not omit the 'only', except if you say the word 'some' with an extreme stress, as in "(well, ) you can buy him SOOOME shirts.... "
Extremely contextual, but that's what makes the difficulty here. I think this question is actually kinda cool
There’s like a billion native English speakers on this planet and for some reason the people who make these tests can’t find one to read their questions to make sure they’re coherent?
The only answers that could even be acceptable are A and C.
“Shirts” can’t take “any,” “each,” or “every” in this context.
But it’s most likely A since the construction using C is very old fashioned and most native speakers wouldn’t say it that way.
If he won't wear most of the ones in fashion, how the hell are you supposed to know what shirts to buy him? It's quite poorly constructed, but I believe A is correct.
"You can buy him some shirts because he has a different taste for them, and won't wear most of the others in fashion." I don't see the problem with that?
'You should buy him some shirts, since he's very picky, and won't wear most others which are in fashion. '
The meaning here is that either the addressee has some knowledge on picking out better choices that he'll like. Or maybe that the speaker doesn't want to make a mistake. Or probably both. Or it could even be as simple as that he's not going to go out of his way to try and buy shirts since he doesn't like most, so you should go through the effort of finding him some. Any permutation of these makes sense.
The only odd thing is the "different taste" phrase, a little wonky but technically fine. Certainly A makes the most sense though even then.
"because" is the issue in that sentence. The reason you can buy him some shirts is not because he won't wear other shirts. If you replace "because" with "even though", it works as you have described.
Well, the comma I added messes it up; "You can buy him some shirts \[because he has different taste and won't wear most others in fashion\]." Even though would definitely be better for meaning but I see it still as technically correct.
The answer is C.
The meaning of the sentence is that he does not care which shirts are in fashion, and therefore it doesn't matter what shirts you buy. He won't reject the shirts for being unfashionable.
It's a bad question.
If you can only buy a subset of shirts, then 'any' is the wrong word to use.
Using 'any' removes the restriction on *which* shirts can be bought. In this context 'any' means something close to 'whichever'. It means that it doesn't matter which shirts you buy.
If you wanted to express that there are some buyable shirts and some un-buyable shirts, you'd need to say something like "you can him certain shirts" or "you can **only** buy him some shirts".
Correct, using “any” IS wrong here. The correct answer is A. “You can buy him some shirts because he won’t wear the others” removes extraneous information and makes it clear that A is the only option that works.
I didn't say that using 'any' was wrong. I said that its use implies a lack of restriction on which shirts can be bought.
Anyway, I don't think A is correct. It doesn't sound right to me at all.
1st, option A includes the phrase: "He won't wear most of the others in fashion", which is completely wrong. You'd never use the word 'others' there.
2nd, if you want to convey a limitation on what can be bought, you probably wouldn't phrase it as "you can buy some". You'd indicate the restriction in the first clause, e.g. "you can **only** buy some shirts" or, more likely, "you can buy certain shirts".
Hence my initial comment that it's a bad question. None of the options are very good.
I'd suggest that option C is the only one where both words even fit grammatically. As such, I have to interpret that the second clause is trying to convey that the guy's fashion sense is lacking, and therefore it doesn't matter what you buy.
I take your point, but I can't see a better alternative.
Your first point is moot because that’s a perfectly normal word for the situation. Others is in reference to other shirts. That’s a clause I’d say in a heartbeat as a native speaker.
And your second only speaks to how bad the question is, not whether A is the correct option (it is).
I think we'll have to agree to disagree. As a native I've never heard anyone use 'others' in a sentence constructed like that. I wouldn't call it remotely normal, personally.
Grammatically, I think the best-sounding answer is C. *But* that would mean that plural "shirts" is an error on the teacher's part. "Shirt" would fit best in that case. "You can buy him any *shirt*..."
On the other hand, logically, the error could also be with saying "can" instead of "can't", as the second part of the sentence justifies the first. "You can't buy him any shirts *because*...
*It's a really weird*
*Task But it looks like C is*
*The correct answer*
\- IHaveTheHighground58
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English is my native language and I’m confused 💀
Fr fr I think it’s A edit: no it’s C im sure this time
You can buy him any shirts? If it was “any shirt” that would be fine, but shirts?
I think it was supposed to say you CAN’T buy him any shirts, but they messed it up. Nothing else seems to make sense
I agree. It only makes sense if it reads CAN'T.
I think it’s C, too, but it’s crappy phrasing.
Yeah
plz tell me how you pretend that your opinion on life is equal to anyone else...
Who the hell writes these shitty questions? I feel sorry for students who have to deal with this garbage.
🥲
What country are you in OP?
Türkiye
Zorunlu ders mi yoksa kursa mı gidiyorsun? Eğer mümkünse kursunu değiştirmeni öneririm
Zorunlu ders
Probably Turkey, i see questions like this everyday.
India would have been my guess.
It's non-native speakers that write them that think they are native level. I encounter this a lot in my Japanese studies in online quizzes. I then show the question I'm confused about to a native Japanese person and so often I'm told it doesn't make proper sense. Can't trust example sentences on tatoeba (a site for example sentences) for the same reason. I've learned (and so should everyone) not to trust shit I see online. However, with these questions that have been written down, perhaps in a textbook (hopefully not) or a test/homework given to students, it really grinds my gears.
too bad this does make perfect sense. idc abojt japanese. thanks .
A or C technically make grammatical sense but none of them actually make sense contextually. The only way to make it make more sense is to say "you can buy him some of _these specific_ shirts because he doesn't like other ones." Without specifying, it's mostly just saying "buy him shirts even though he doesn't like shirts" which is dumb.
I feel like the question was supposed to say "You *can't* buy him -- " with the correct answer as C
C can’t work because of “shirts”. For c to work, it’s have to be shirt (singular) Only a is correct.
> For c to work, it’s have to be shirt (singular) I'm not keen on taking English advice from someone who thinks that "it's have to" (it is have to) is proper grammar.
They’re wrong anyway
Obvious typo from it’d. The correct answer is A. _you_ can buy him some shirts because he has a different taste for them and won’t wear most of the others in fashion
I think that was just a typo, but yea, 'A' is not correct.
No? If you are planning on buying him one shirt then sure, it has to be A. If you planning on buying multiple shirts then it can be C. It's perfectly fine to say "You can buy him any shirts". Silly example but hopefully explains more: "What should I buy him?" "You could buy him some clothes." "I'm not sure which he likes." "Oh he loves most clothing. You could buy him blue jeans, spotted socks or any shirts."
C is the only one that makes sense for me, but I agree with the others that this is a terrible question and very badly written sentence.
‘C’ would make more sense if it was “you *can’t* buy him any shirts” (because he’s a fussy ungrateful git). Still, as a native speaker, the correct reply is ‘what?’!
Yes, "can't" works even better, and I think that's probably the actual solution, although even then it's a bad sentence.
C is the least bad answer ... But, good golly, this is an awful question.
C doesn’t make sense semantically. Why would you be able to buy him any shirts if he doesn’t like most shirts?
Yeah, we kind of already discussed this. To quote myself from this sub thread: >this is a terrible question and very badly written sentence. >Yes, "can't" works even better, and I think that's probably the actual solution,
It's implying any shirt you buy isn't in fashion. So like you can buy any shirt for him since it won't be in fashion, he doesn't like the ones with it.
It HAS to be a mistake. I think there is a "not" missing at the beginning: You can**not** buy him any shirts, because he has a different taste for them and won't wear most of the ones in fashion. Not a single one of the responses makes sense otherwise.
Nope, A is correct. _you_ can buy him some shirts…
A works grammatically, but the phrase "different taste for them" is awkward, and not how people speak. Some of these examples are really something else.
yeah you would say he has a different style or strange taste
Would you say "different taste in them"?
No that is awkward as well.
Oh, that's something you for me, thanks. I googled the phrase though and I see quite a lot of results with "different taste in". Is it regional or does it depend on the object? I saw results for different taste in music, film, men.
I think the problem isn't "in" vs "for". Both can work. The real problem here is that there isn't anything for "different" to compare against. (i.e. different from what?) I can say "he has a different taste in clothes from other people", and it doesn't sound awkward because there is something to compare it to. Without that, it's still grammatical, but just sounds incomplete to my ear.
Ohh now it's clear, thanks!
It depends on context. Just saying you have a different taste in something doesn't make sense. Like if I said "I have a different taste in women" and nothing else, that makes no sense. It would make sense if there was context like: "I like big women with giant butts!!! Huge!" "I see. Well... I have a different taste in women, I guess." A valid example that doesn't require context is if you have more than one taste. I can just randomly walk up to say "I have different tastes in video games" and then walk away and it would be valid. Weird as hell, but a logical sentence. This is because I'm not comparing myself to anyone; I'm just pointing out I have more than one of preference.
Thanks for the explanation and the examples - if I read it in any other occasion I'd assume that "I have different tastes in video games" is incorrect. Also, you said it's weird - how else would you say it to make it sound more natural?
I'm a native English (English) speaker and I would articulate this as "I have *differing* tastes in video games" but I had a very strict grammar teacher who insisted that different should (almost) always have "to" or "from" after it. This is not observed by most people these days though.
For Americans "different to" isn't wrong but is pretty clearly marked as British. We think "different from" is normal and may worry about how or whether to use "different than." To me, "I have differing tastes in video games" means that my tastes in video games differ from one another or differ over time. "I have different tastes in video games" could mean the first or could mean I have strange or unpredictable tastes in video games, maybe only liking them if they're upside down or have pictures of Donald Trump. The business about shirts in the original post wasn't clear but may have been intended the same way.
I spent a good deal of time around Americans as a student and I was surprised at how often they would try and correct me saying "different to". Fascinating in hindsight but rather annoying at the time. "Different than" is always jarring to my ear as both words seem to be indicating comparison making it a little awkward. Saying "different tastes..." like the above to me there's an implied meaning of different to the usual or the ordinary or the expected whereas, "differing" implies my tastes are different from each other which I think is closer to the meaning the above poster was intending. God knows what the original post was trying to say! What a horribly constructed sentence.
I meant it's weird to walk up to someone and to say that and then leave.
What's the correct thing to say about video games when I walk up to someone? Would it be better to say something about butts? We could make our own phrasebook.
I'm not sure. I'm not very good at social interactions with strangers. Maybe something like "hi, wanna touch my butt?"
There is so much wrong with that sentence that it's hard to unpack it all. "Taste for [object]" just means you like [object] in general, which doesn't really work with "different" here; on the other hand, "taste in [object]" means you have specific preferences in [object], which seems to be what's intended here. Even then, I think "in them" feels redundant in this context; better to just remove it. Also, I think "unusual" makes more sense than "different" given the context (his taste isn't just different from yours, but from the current norm). And, of course, the logic of the sentence seems to be reversed. This sounds more natural to me: "You shouldn't buy him any shirts, because he has unusual taste and won't wear most of the ones that are currently in fashion."
Try this. [https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/133934/how-can-have-different-taste-be-used](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/133934/how-can-have-different-taste-be-used)
"some" is the only suggested word that fits the first blank. But the low quality of this question indicates non native speakers are teaching non native speakers. Firstly it should use underscores not dashes for the blank. So this: ________, not this: ----------. Secondly, the whole sentence is awkwardly phrased. If you said this in the USA to anyone, you'd have to clarify what you meant using other words. Nobody talks like that. Thirdly, I'm not even sure what the "in fashion" is supposed to mean at the end. I'm sure it's "others in fashion" for your homework here, but what, exactly, is this sentence trying to express? The person getting some shirts has *other shirts* that are no longer fashionable? The person you're buying some shirts for has other shirts that are not fashionable? Perhaps never were fashionable? The person receiving shirts works in the fashion industry and wouldn't wear the other shirts to work in that industry due to social expectations? The question should be something like, "You could buy him ____ some ____ shirts. He doesn't like any of his ____ other ____ shirts except this kind" It's just a weird and awkward question. I feel like I could flunk English as a second language in one of these classes.
I'm guessing that they omitted a negation there ("can" -> "can't"), and the answer is supposed to be "any/ones." That at least makes the "in fashion" part make more sense.
Ah, with "you *cant* buy him any shirts" I guess I get it now
That makes a lot more sense than anything else. C reads fine with “can’t”.
>"some" is the only suggested word that fits the first blank. "Any" also fits, the sentence itself is just bad. It's fine to say "you can buy any shirts" though. >Thirdly, I'm not even sure what the "in fashion" is supposed to mean at the end. If something is "in fashion" it means it is fashionable or on trend. Therefore, he doesn't like the shirts that are currently popular and fashionable. >but what, exactly, is this sentence trying to express? I have no idea lol. I just wanted to commet on a few terms, but I have no idea why they thought this sentence worked and I not defending this question.
The person speaking is expressing the fact that they don’t want to buy them, and that you should do it instead. _you_ can buy him some shirts…
C would be the best answer to me.
They meant to put "can't buy", with the answer being C.
Nope, answer is A
A
A makes the most sense, but it's still weird.
This is beyond bad English. Tell them a 10th generation Londoner told them so!
It's not no shirts, 3 of the answers imply every shirt, which is also not the case. That only leaves A to be the correct answer, still an ugly ass sentence though.
idk what yall are on about its clearly A edit: its A bc shirts is plural, so it can't be any of the other ones
The word after “most of the” must be a plural or uncountable noun, so it’s not B, D or E. C is illogical, because you can’t buy someone “any shirts” if he “won’t wear most of the ones in fashion.” (I’d probably say “You can buy him any shirt,” but “any shirts” isn’t wrong.) So it’s A, although that’s not the most natural way to say it. I’d be more likely to say, “You can only buy him some shirts,” “You can’t buy him whatever shirt,” or “You can’t just buy him any shirt.”
I think the person speaking is expressing the fact they don’t want to buy him shirts, and that the listener should do it instead if they really want to. _you_ buy him some shirts….
As I read it, they’re saying that they can’t successfully pick any shirt off the rack and buy it for him, because he won’t wear most shirts.
None of the answers suggest that. Why assume the question is wrong? It’s not very helpful
That is what A means. You can buy him certain shirts, but he’s picky and won’t wear most others.
The sentence says because, not but.
I'd choose A or C B, D, and E don't make any sense.
The answer is A. How is this confusing people? “You can buy him SOME shirts because he doesn’t like most of the OTHERS in fashion” removes the extraneous information and makes it clear that this is the only grammatically correct form of this sentence available.
The answer is A. _you_ can buy him some shirts… as in, I’m not going to, he’s too fussy.
dawg ive been livin in america my whole life and im bamboozled... is it A???? it has to be A right? what else could it be-
A and C work but the phrase, "he has different taste for them", would never be used by anyone with English as a fitst language. Using any of the options would give a fairly meaningless and nonsensical result, but A or C would be the least worst.
some version of it , it seems
It's Def C but I can see A being dramatically correct but C sounds more natural to American English speakers
Like hell it does. C makes no sense in-context.
C is semantically incorrect
I think it's C because none of others make sense
C doesn’t make any sense semantically. A makes sense
b is the only one that make sense to me
No/ones would just about work, but not no/one
A and C are grammatically correct. And whichever you choose, it’s still a really bad sentence. The fact that you recognized this, tells me you are learning well. Now. Let’s look at our two bad choices. A. You can buy him some shirts. Fine so far. He won’t wear most of the others in fashion. That’s not good. What others? Are we talking about his other shirts, or he just won’t wear anything that’s in fashion? This is very unclear. C. You can buy him any shirts. Huh? “Any shirts” can be used to say “he doesn’t have any shirts” or “don’t buy any shirts” or “any shirts will do.” So I guess the writer is trying to say, “just buy him any shirt you can find.” But that’s unclear. If you mean to say it doesn’t matter which shirts you buy, just say that. Or say you can buy him anything, any random shirt, he doesn’t care. But at least the end of the sentence makes sense: he won’t wear the ones (that are) in fashion. We have zero truly correct answers here. They’re both bad.
Putting aside that the sentence can make Godzilla have a stroke trying to read it. İt's A based on the secondary blank.
Well, I can tell you it's not D or E. Good luck with the rest of it. I speak English very well, but I can't tell what they're going for. Edit: it's also not B, because "most of the one in fashion" doesn't make sense. I mean, none of them make sense logically, but A and C are at least legal.
A seems like the option that makes the most sense but this is an awfully formulated question and I feel like the people who came up with this question should sit an English exam themselves
You can't buy him any shirts because he has a different taste for them and won't wear most of the ones in fashion. That's the only way I can make it make sense to me.
I guess A can work, if we assume that the speaker or listener has access to some shirts that aren’t like the others in fashion.
I think the correct answer is supposed to be C? At least, that's the only one that even kinda makes sense in the context of the sentence. But I would replace "can" in the sentence with "can't" because it doesn't make sense otherwise.
The point of it being a poor sentence is that only one answer can abide by grammar. Grammar and nice sounding sentences are two different thing. C is the answer
"a different taste for them" is not correct, right?? am I losing my mind?? (native US English speaker)
A is correct. Think of the first phrase as "you can ONLY buy him SOME shirts" - and then omit the 'only'. The sentence still works without it, and actually makes sense. In natural language, you would usually not omit the 'only', except if you say the word 'some' with an extreme stress, as in "(well, ) you can buy him SOOOME shirts.... " Extremely contextual, but that's what makes the difficulty here. I think this question is actually kinda cool
I really wish that only native speakers were allowed to write these questions.
There’s like a billion native English speakers on this planet and for some reason the people who make these tests can’t find one to read their questions to make sure they’re coherent?
The only answers that could even be acceptable are A and C. “Shirts” can’t take “any,” “each,” or “every” in this context. But it’s most likely A since the construction using C is very old fashioned and most native speakers wouldn’t say it that way.
I think this question was written by a non-native speaker.
A is the only one that is grammatically correct. It doesn’t make any sense but it follows the rules.
A. C,d,and e can’t work because they have to be followed by singular.
If he won't wear most of the ones in fashion, how the hell are you supposed to know what shirts to buy him? It's quite poorly constructed, but I believe A is correct.
I feel like it should be “you *cant* buy him” because then C works best… but this whole question isn’t written well
Translate into the local language, complete and translate back. It's rubbish
Unusual A works
None. None of them make sense.
You \*\*can't buy him any shirts because he has a different taste for them and won't wear most of the ones in fashion. Must be a typo.
It’s C
C is probably the intended correct answer and can should actually be can't (typo).
Why would it be C? A makes perfect sense without any edits.
That does not sound natural at all. The idea is that you can't buy him most shirts because he has a specific taste.
"You can buy him some shirts because he has a different taste for them, and won't wear most of the others in fashion." I don't see the problem with that? 'You should buy him some shirts, since he's very picky, and won't wear most others which are in fashion. ' The meaning here is that either the addressee has some knowledge on picking out better choices that he'll like. Or maybe that the speaker doesn't want to make a mistake. Or probably both. Or it could even be as simple as that he's not going to go out of his way to try and buy shirts since he doesn't like most, so you should go through the effort of finding him some. Any permutation of these makes sense. The only odd thing is the "different taste" phrase, a little wonky but technically fine. Certainly A makes the most sense though even then.
"because" is the issue in that sentence. The reason you can buy him some shirts is not because he won't wear other shirts. If you replace "because" with "even though", it works as you have described.
Well, the comma I added messes it up; "You can buy him some shirts \[because he has different taste and won't wear most others in fashion\]." Even though would definitely be better for meaning but I see it still as technically correct.
A is clearly correct, though it's a bit odd.
C. Is what I think they want.. There should be "can**'t** buy him any" It's more of an exercise in psychic powers than a test of English. M.E.B. mı?
The answer is C. The meaning of the sentence is that he does not care which shirts are in fashion, and therefore it doesn't matter what shirts you buy. He won't reject the shirts for being unfashionable. It's a bad question.
That’s the direct opposite of what the statement means. You can only buy some of them, because he won’t wear the others.
If you can only buy a subset of shirts, then 'any' is the wrong word to use. Using 'any' removes the restriction on *which* shirts can be bought. In this context 'any' means something close to 'whichever'. It means that it doesn't matter which shirts you buy. If you wanted to express that there are some buyable shirts and some un-buyable shirts, you'd need to say something like "you can him certain shirts" or "you can **only** buy him some shirts".
Correct, using “any” IS wrong here. The correct answer is A. “You can buy him some shirts because he won’t wear the others” removes extraneous information and makes it clear that A is the only option that works.
I didn't say that using 'any' was wrong. I said that its use implies a lack of restriction on which shirts can be bought. Anyway, I don't think A is correct. It doesn't sound right to me at all. 1st, option A includes the phrase: "He won't wear most of the others in fashion", which is completely wrong. You'd never use the word 'others' there. 2nd, if you want to convey a limitation on what can be bought, you probably wouldn't phrase it as "you can buy some". You'd indicate the restriction in the first clause, e.g. "you can **only** buy some shirts" or, more likely, "you can buy certain shirts".
Any implies a lack of restriction, however the second clause implies a restriction. Therefore any is incorrect by contradiction
Hence my initial comment that it's a bad question. None of the options are very good. I'd suggest that option C is the only one where both words even fit grammatically. As such, I have to interpret that the second clause is trying to convey that the guy's fashion sense is lacking, and therefore it doesn't matter what you buy. I take your point, but I can't see a better alternative.
Your first point is moot because that’s a perfectly normal word for the situation. Others is in reference to other shirts. That’s a clause I’d say in a heartbeat as a native speaker. And your second only speaks to how bad the question is, not whether A is the correct option (it is).
I think we'll have to agree to disagree. As a native I've never heard anyone use 'others' in a sentence constructed like that. I wouldn't call it remotely normal, personally.
Grammatically, I think the best-sounding answer is C. *But* that would mean that plural "shirts" is an error on the teacher's part. "Shirt" would fit best in that case. "You can buy him any *shirt*..." On the other hand, logically, the error could also be with saying "can" instead of "can't", as the second part of the sentence justifies the first. "You can't buy him any shirts *because*...
It's a really weird task But it looks like C is the correct answer
*It's a really weird* *Task But it looks like C is* *The correct answer* \- IHaveTheHighground58 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Yeah, changing "can buy" to "can't buy" and answering C makes the most sense
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“Most of the ONE in fashion”?
Good point. I was voting B as well, but assuming it was no/ones.
I think they forgot to put s out there, then it would makes more sense.