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the person leaving and the person to leave

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
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SMickey
 
Reply Tue 28 Jul, 2015 06:42 pm
How are you?

I had a test days ago, and one question is still bothering me.
Could you take a look at this?

The person ( ) the classroom last should turn off the light.

The choices given were,
A. leaving
B. to leave

The answer was A - leaving.

And I wondered 'Why not B? What makes 'to leave' sound awkward there?
My guess is 'the person to leave' is 'the person who is supposed to leave' or 'the person who is going to leave', so the sentence could be understood

The person who is supposed to leave the classroom last should turn off the light.
Does this sound still rather weird?

Would you please let me know if the sentence - The person to leave the classroom last should turn off the light - sounds awkward?

I'd appreciate any comment from you.
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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 474 • Replies: 3
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Ragman
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  2  
Reply Tue 28 Jul, 2015 08:10 pm
@SMickey,
A is a better choice, IMHO. Perhaps you should ask your teacher/prof why B is wrong.

This is not one of the test choices but ..the way it is most likely to be spoken is the following:

"The last person leaving the classroom should turn off the light."

I disagree that B is a wrong choice; however, I'm not grading your test.

SMickey
 
  1  
Reply Thu 30 Jul, 2015 07:41 pm
@Ragman,
Thanks for then answer.

I'm thinking of going to the teacher, a Korean, and say
what makes you decide B is wrong
when a native speaker says he finds nothing wrong with it.
I hope he might not slap me in the face out of shame, lol.

Thank you again Ragman.
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ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 13 Aug, 2015 08:25 am
@SMickey,
SMickey wrote:
Would you please let me know if the sentence - The person to leave the classroom last should turn off the light - sounds awkward?


yes, it sounds awkward

it does not sound like native English - it looks like a translation test trick. all the right words for the sentence are there - but in the wrong order.
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