In the question "How many feet can be made with 24 inches?" how would you say the answer with correct English - just the number (ie 2) or do you have to repeat the measurement and say 2 feet? Do you think that saying "feet" in the answer would be the equivalent of saying "2 feet feet" because the feet was already said in the question?

Why not just say, "Twenty four inches is the equivallent of two feet."

How's 3rd grade working out for you?

We are not practicing writing in full sentences. What is the correct "non full sentence" way to answer the question?

Your teacher must be retarted. Are you telling me you aren't allowed to answer using a proper English sentence?

Oh, we are but it's not required. If someone asks you how many apples you want will you say "three" or will you answer in a full sentence? This was a test and there was a small space for the answer. You could answer however you like. My question is about a 'nonfullsentenceanswer'.

then say 2, if you want to be anal say 2 feet. Geez. Seriously, what type of class is this?

That's what I thought though I'm not sure why saying 2 feet is anal. I just think it is incorrect English. My teacher doesn't quite speak English and insists I am wrong (other English speakers seem to think both ways are correct though I think they are wrong which is why I posted it here). Sad as it is, this is a college science class and a similar question really did appear on the test.

Don't forget to use significant digits....

When I took Chem the teacher was makpid on using the correct units... otherwise they wouldn't cancel out or something like that.

2



and would the teacher mark either answer (2 or 2 feet) wrong? in the science class???

I have been marked off a point or two for not including the correct unit. It can be very important if it's a conversion problem (say, kilometers per hour to meters per second) to keep track of which units you're using, especially if it's a complex conversion requiring a number of steps.

What kind of school are you in?!?
Technically the correct answer would be :

2'  

Or maybe your teacher wanted to hear:
"It depend if guy has big feets or leetle feets."

of course, you should include them in your examples (conversion), but i don't see the big deal to it include or not in Cassandra's example.

It's different when you are doing an equation and when you are writing a final answer. Also, in a math/chem problem you have to figure out what the measurement is, so it is important to write it (unless it is obvious from the question what measurement you are answering). Either way this is not a chem class.


I got it wrong for not writing feet. She didn't mark it wrong, just marked -1 which is the total credit for the question.


This is as simple a conversion as simple conversions get, and measurement of the answer was clearly stated in the question, hence my thinking that answering "2 feet" would be like saying "2 feet feet".

this is completely bizzare! did she explain to you why she marked it wrong??

Ye, right before I explained that she should learn English. She insists it's correct to write measurements and incorrect not to. No one I asked thinks she is right about being incorrect to not write the measurements though some seem to think either way is correct and they all agree she should learn to gosh darn bleepin language.

I don't get it. Why are you being asked how many feet are in 24 inches? What kind of class is this? I thought my Chem class was sorta dumb but the questions were more like figuring out how many seconds in 250 years.

We need to know conversions like how much meds would you give a man who weighs x amount of pounds if you give x amount of grams per kilo and stuff like that. That comes up in medicine all the time and a quick review in college is ok though it's sad that we need in depth study of the stuff. Either way, that's what should have been on the test and all the nursing students should have been thrown out after not passing that quiz (which was open book). However, said teacher decided since it was open book she may as well ask what she wants and we had a question about the feet and a question about how many seconds are in 15 minutes (I think that's the one she took off for actually) and how many feet are in a mile which all have nothing to do with the subject matter.

I understand the importance of knowing how to do conversions properly. I'm just surprised she would choose such simple examples instead of more realistic ones.

(is she russian? ) i think i understand what it is. science teachers are very particular about writing measurements. to them, it has nothing to do with english, but the proper scientific way of writing it.

if this one point matters to you, i would fight a bit. if it's gonna really make a difference, then just remember for all future science classes.

I agree the concept of conversions is important but I think the ones mentioned are totally lucridous. You learn those when you learn the concept of conversions. Incidentally, she taught out of the book and the book said nothing about # of feet in a mile and stuff like that so we got to google our answers. How wonderfully smart that makes us!

The -1 refers to 1/10 so it brings my grade down ten points! I got this right in another science class last semester after pointing out my argument to the English speaking professor who agreed with me. Either way, she shouldn't be allowed here without knowing the language, certainly not teaching college, and no she is not Russian (she is Egyptian).

of course, you are smarter even if you got your answer from mr. google as oppsoed to the book. what difference does the medium make to you already knowing the answer (frumkeit aside), thus being smarter?



hm, 10 points is a big deal (for all i knew, there were 50 questions on the test, so -1 point didn't matter). was it a midterm?

nah, cuz I got the answer for the test and currently have no clue what that was!

It was just a quiz, but still. She doesn't know English so she asks things funny and it's hard to do well (like she'll make a T/F question where neither option is correct!) Whatever. If I don't get my A I'll complain about her, if not I don't care. So far I'm not worried about my grade so it's not an issue. Either way, my point of this post was to find out which is in fact correct English, and so far not one vote!

the same could have happened were you getting the answer from the book.

public announcement: more often than not, lately if i post in the poll thread it means i didn't vote in the poll.