Vocabulary Question

The clue word is "thin" implying "ripped" (which can be used for an inanimate object even if there is an unstated animate agent involved at some stage of a process over time. For example, the redistribution of sharp objects in the bag as it was placed on the chair could have caused the ripping)

I hate tests that require you to guess what the teacher was thinking.

If the contents fell to the ground, or something like that, I would probably go with ripped, especially as they noted that it was thin.

When they say "everything fell down from the chair", it's at least as likely that it slipped. As I suggested, we are guessing what the teacher had in mind.

Many verbs can be used transitively (with an object) or intransitively (no object).

Transitive:
John ripped the plastic bag.
Someone snapped the string.
I burned the paper bag.
Mary broke the glass.

Intransitive:
John's plastic bag ripped because it was full of heavy things.
The string snapped because somebody pulled it too hard.
The paper bag burned when I threw it in the fire.
A glass broke when Mary dropped it on the floor.



... clear this up for me.

Good for you Vic

There's nothing within the expression suggesting any such miracle unless there's something special about the bag we don't know. For instance it might be made of a substance which vaporizes in the presence of carbon monoxide. However even then it wouldn't be said to rip itself, but that the CO ripped it

I think there's some sort of grammatical rule bouncing around in your quizzical mind, Vic, and I congratulate you for airing it. There are at least two kinds of verbs, one merely suggesting an occurrence and another, your understanding of "rip" expressing the action of one object upon another. However it qualifies in either category

Of course! Now I see what the teacher meant. Thanks a lot!

Thanks Contrex, yours was the most helpful comment by far. I'm a freshman student, so my grammar is improving little by little. Thanks for the correction

I couldn't guess when I was doing the exam and I went for 'chose'. I'll take it into account for the next time. Thanks

Yea con, now remember--"transitive" v "in……." so thanks

Technically, there is nothing implicit in the wording that renders either anwer right or wrong or even better. The action that caused the food to fall is external of this sentence and Is not well implied. Id argue that either ripped or slipped is correct

At the risk of this getting turgid about that word "technically", we should remember these language games with forced choice alternatives are not very sophisticated. The teacher obviously indicated his preferred answer by usage of the word "thin" which would have been superfluous if not as there as "a clue".

As usual, these discussions tend to stray from the situational context in which the question is embedded. Some linguists have made a good living by writing books on contextual influences on single sentences.

Then Id argue that contextual information needs to be much better developed in order to force a selection.
If the teacher is also an ESL , its comprehension of context and how many native English speakers, like attorneys for instance, derive much of their incomes from asking such questions and arguing the result in court to benefit it client, is woefully inadequate.

A lot of my exams are like that. Having to answer questions like that, ambiguous and confusing, gets on my nerves. Thanks for your comment

I would have said the thin bag tore.

Unfortunately, that was not one of the options we were given. Had it been there, I would have also chosen "tore".

Tore, ripped, split, all would be fine.

Or burst. We say that about paper bags. "The bag burst".

"Ripped" is normally used for fabrics, not plastic, I think.

You can rip a page out of a book, or a sheet of paper in two, and paper is not a fabric, and you can rip bark from a tree. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary just says (of the usage under discussion) "to become torn, often suddenly or violently".

......aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh !

Sorry, I feel much better now !