Result!

[karohemd]

I scored 19/20 in the English test on the BBC News website. I got one question wrong because I was unsure of the difference between simile and metaphor. I have to admit that I answered one question by eliminating the wrong options as I didn't know the word in question, though.

Comments

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

I got 16/20 which was a lot better than i expected to do...English is by far my worst subject and despite having a degree i still have a fail grade (d) at GCSE !

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

18/20 - 2 common spelling mistakes, both of which I believe are so common as to be in "autocorrect" in word, so I rarely think about them.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Anyone who scored less than you, in their native language, might feel very small now ;-)

Fortunately I got 20, so I'm OK ;-)

I must say, though, that from a practical English usage point of view, I'm not sure that the distinction between metaphor and simile is really very important. For me that falls more into the category of "random stuff one might happen to know" rather than "English language expertise".

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found that rather odd. I'm quite sure only a few people (barring linguists like vyvyan or walking encyclopedias - or should that be encyclopaediae?) know that distinction or what an onomatopoeia is.

It's a lot more important that you know how to use language properly than the technical terms. My grammar is usually correct but if I were forced to explain my usage with technical terms I would be struggling.

[neophyte-13.livejournal.com]

I know that in scotland the distinction between simile and metaphor is made in early high school, we learned about onomatopoeia in primary school. simile is where you use a word such as like "hits like a truck" metaphor is when you make something take on the properties of another "the tide of protesters crashed against the police".

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

I got 20 out of 20.

A simile is "as x as y" but a metaphor isn't, basically.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* "Simile" isn't really part of my (active) vocabulary and as undyingking says, it's hardly important compared to knowing the distinction between "there" and "their".

[derekct.livejournal.com]

13/20 which is above a pass so I am happy.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

That's a very good result for you. Well done.

[emperor]

20, but it is my native tongue, and I am a bit of a pedant...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I know enough native speakers who make the errors provoked in this test all the time. :/

I guess English not being my native language is actually to my advantage as I still occasionally have to think.
Curiously though, I've been catching myself making more and more phonetic typos in the last few years, proving that I don't think anymore, which is both annoying and frightening.

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

That test appeared on the BBC site first in 2005 - I wonder why it's suddenly hit people's radar again now?

BTW, there's a corresponding Maths one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4263590.stm
(I got 20 in both, heh :-)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hadn't noticed the date.

I'm not even going to attempt the Maths one. ;oP

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Me too ;-)

Mm, the maths one is much much better than the English one. It tests important things like estimation, and the ability to spot which are the important parts of the problem. Many of them, you don't have to work out the answer in full -- so ideally it would be on a timer so the insight level could be tested too. Anyone who uses a pen and paper, automatic fail ;-)