• poedgar
    1
    Hello everybody.

    I am a philosopher by profession but the question is rather practical.

    I have noticed some logical inaccuracies in IELTS reading tests but as they have to undertake quite a procedure lasting a year or so to make sure everything is correct, and I am not a native speaker of English, I want to share, to begin with, one of these inaccuracies here.

    Here is a sentence and its context, it is about the famous scientist Marie Curie:

    'Because her [Marie's'] father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.
    In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris).'


    And the question to it:

    Is it true, false or not given that Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister's financial contribution.

    The material is taken from Cambridge IELTS Tests 7.

    I wonder what your answers would be.

    Thanks in advance.
  • Wayfarer
    22.5k
    True; the promise [to help Marie get an education] was fulfilled.
  • Streetlight
    9.1k
    Not given, I think: Bronia helped Marie get an education, but it's not mentioned whether or it was Bronia's financial contribution that helped Marie (as distinct from connections, knowledge, etc). The earnings in question in the passage are Marie's.
  • Wayfarer
    22.5k
    Well spotted. It might indeed been due to some other form of help.
  • unenlightened
    9.2k
    Not given, but strongly implied. The whole is about finance and education, and if the help was not financial, then I would suggest that the whole is designed to mislead and should not be trusted in any particular. It does not actually say that the Marie that went to the Sorbonne was the same Marie that financed her sister, or that the understanding was the promise. Does not the fulfilment of a promise to help 'in turn' mean broadly the same level and kind of help?
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    Unless the assumption is that the author possibly doesn't understand how conventional English works, it's true.
  • Baden
    16.3k
    Not given, but strongly implied.unenlightened

    Yes, making it a poorly put-together question.
  • tim wood
    9.3k
    The form of the answer matters, and exactly what is being tested for. T/F/not given, poor question. Analytic/critical answer, a few sentences or a paragraph or two, makes for a different question.
  • I like sushi
    4.8k
    They tend to have a few questions like this in their tests. Some bad ones slip through the net.
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