RECENT C & G 2382 question

[JohnW2]

"How many pennies in an old pound?" ....
The answer they said was 240.
I disagree it is 100

I don't really think there is much wrong with the question, and I feel sure that most people who knew about old UK currency would answer '240'.

There are two reasons I think this. Firstly, unlike the case with the 'old money' it is pretty rare to hear people talking/thinking about our present currency as being 'pennies'; for the first few years after decimalisation, it was called 'New Pence', and subsequently just 'Pence'.

Secondly, and much more importantly, I think it very reasonable to interpret the 'pennies' in context, and I'm sure that's what most people would do. If a question asked "how many cents are there in a US dollar", only those with very twisted minds would think that they were talking about Canadian, Australian, Euro etc. etc., cents (which is the equivalent of what I assume was the reasoning which resulted in your '100' answer)!!

I dare say I'll get some flack for taking the bait and responding to your question .

Kind Regards, John

 

[edzblue]

FFS! How often do you ever contact the local distributor for anything? Get real, what are you wiring? EXPERIENCE and PROPER training negate the need to post stupid questions like this. If you did contact the local distributor it would be highly likely you'd end up speaking to someone in Bangladesh, who'd have about as much of an idea about electrics as some of the people on here.

 

[ebee]

"One last try ......

I think it is extremely likely that answer B is the one they wanted."

I couldn't agree more with the whole of your answer on this one.
They wanted B as the answer but made such a cock up of the question that brought D into it.

Not being pedantic about the wording of D because a supply undertaking could be read as a distributor or supplier or DNO .
We must do a D to find out whether or not B applies. So the answer is D or D and B but seeing as you are only allowed one answer then D it must be.

...................................................................................
Having sad that I agree weith your very good answer on that JohnW2
I regret I disagree with you about the pennies.

If the question was "how many pennies in a pound?" then what would you have answered?

The question referes to an old pound of which there is no such thing as an old pound or new pound it is just as always a pound.

We used to have a penny (singular) or pence (plural) or pennies (another allowed plural). When we went decimal we invented a "New Penny and new pence". A lot of time went by and the original penny/pence was long forgotten so the new was deducted from the name so the new ones are known as simply penny or pence.

The original ones were never actually known as old ones but I feel we would being a bit too pedantic to rule out the use of the word old penny or old pence.

So, if the question was "how many old pennies in a pound?" I would say 240 , but "how many pennies in an old pound?" I would say 100

ie the "Old " should be refering to the penies not the pounds. That is where the questioner has gone wrong.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Some people are answering '240' rather than retorting 'There is no such thing as an old pound: do you mean old pennies?'

This is because we have become so accustomed to very poor speech and even poorer grammar, by people on radio and television whose only job it is to speak but they cannot do it properly, that we instantly translate what they actually said to what, obviously, they really meant - assuming we can do that. I suggest most people don't notice. These probably don't know how many pennies there are in pound anyway.

It is quite apparent that these reporters did not go to university and achieve a degree in English and apparent that some of them did not even achieve a GCSE so what qualification do you need to get a job on the BBC where you will be speaking English (doing nothing else) without the knowledge to do it.

 

[dingbat]

FFFFFFS.

 

[ebee]

Talking about the English language "For Free" is another of my pet hates rather than "free of charge" or "for no cost" etc

My local council got some reet stick a few years back for some new street signs with "Shopper's Car Park" printed on 'em.

Ha ha crocers apostrophy as we used to call it

 

[JohnW2]

I couldn't agree more with the whole of your answer on this one.
They wanted B as the answer but made such a cock up of the question that brought D into it.

Glad we are agreed on that.

Not being pedantic about the wording of D because a supply undertaking could be read as a distributor or supplier or DNO.

Agreed. As I've been saying, if they were being that pedantic in their thinking, it would be effectively a 'trick question'.

We must do a D to find out whether or not B applies. So the answer is D or D and B but seeing as you are only allowed one answer then D it must be.

Not necessarily, and that's the problem with the question. Again, it's all pedantic, but you do not need to do D in order 'to find out whether or not B applies'. Rather, you need to do D in order to find out whether the body of Table 54.8 applies. Answer B refers just to "Table 54.8", not only the body of 54.8 - so it can be taken to refer to all of 54.8, including the note. In other words, the entirity of Table 54.8 (Answer B) includes a statement that implies you have to consult with the 'supply undertaking' in order to determine whether the figures in the body of the table applies. It can therefore be argued that answer B includes 'everything', including the implied need to check with the supplier. IIRC, that was Sgt Trojan's point, way back in this thread.

Not Having sad that I agree weith your very good answer on that JohnW2
I regret I disagree with you about the pennies.
.....The question referes to an old pound of which there is no such thing as an old pound or new pound it is just as always a pound.
....So, if the question was "how many old pennies in a pound?" I would say 240 , but "how many pennies in an old pound?" I would say 100
ie the "Old " should be refering to the penies not the pounds. That is where the questioner has gone wrong.

Yes, you're right - I wasn't being pedantic enough! Mind you, I still think my bottom line was probably right - since I think that the majority of people would read the question as saying what it should have said, rather than what it did say - and hence would answer '240' anyway! It's really a matter of what I said before about 'context'. Having interpreted 'old pound' (which, as you say, is technically meaningless) as meaning a pound in the pre-decimalisation era, I think most would then automatically think about the corresponding 'pennies' in that era!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Some people are answering '240' rather than retorting 'There is no such thing as an old pound: do you mean old pennies?'
This is because we have become so accustomed to very poor speech and even poorer grammar, by people on radio and television whose only job it is to speak but they cannot do it properly, that we instantly translate what they actually said to what, obviously, they really meant - assuming we can do that. I suggest most people don't notice. These probably don't know how many pennies there are in pound anyway.

I couldn't agree more - and as you and I have both said, the consequence is that we often 'make allowances' by (often subconsciously) hearing/reading what we think was intended, rather than what was actually said or written.

I'm not sure that I agree that one can necessarily apportion too much 'blame' to the people who actually do the speaking on TV/radio - since they are generally reading from a script or teleprompter - the culprit is probably further up the chain!

Kind Regards, John

 

[dingbat]

You are still fricking wrong.

The question is as simple as it appears and the answer is as obvious as day, if you read it properly.

FFS

 

[SgtTrojan]

dingers, pint or a stiff whiskey?

 

[dingbat]

dingers, pint or a stiff whiskey?

With you there, bro.

 

[holmslaw]

D,D,D,D,D,D,D,D.

 

[B67BU]

Yes they waffled about feeding it back thru the tutor but i'd already shown the Tutor who saw my point and ran it thru his other tutor friends. They were split 50/50.

poor quality of question, you pay good money for the course and exam and thgey let you down with this question.

"You pay good money"
I don't think it was the question that let you down

 

[ebee]

Well if it split the class 50/50 and split the tutors 50/50 (ten of them) do you think it was a good question?

 

[londonboy]

Well if it split the class 50/50 and split the tutors 50/50 (ten of them) do you think it was a good question?

Exactly.