Offensive Gorilla - an EFL exercise

[oggbashan]

This is for homework and subsequent class discussion for students of English as a Foreign Language:

The tourist said: "That gorilla is offensive".

1. Discuss the specific meaning of "That".

2. If "That" was changed to "The" would that make a difference?

3. If "That" was changed to start with a lower case "t", what difference would that make to the punctuation and the form of speech?

4. Would it make any difference if you changed the noun "tourist" to any other noun?

5. Change the tense of the verb "is" to every other tense you can think of that would fit. How does that change the meaning? E.G. "was", "will be", "Could be" etc.

What would your responses be?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

This is for homework and subsequent class discussion for students of English as a Foreign Language:

The tourist said: "That gorilla is offensive".

1. Discuss the specific meaning of "That".

2. If "That" was changed to "The" would that make a difference?

3. If "That" was changed to start with a lower case "t", what difference would that make to the punctuation and the form of speech?

4. Would it make any difference if you changed the noun "tourist" to any other noun?

5. Change the tense of the verb "is" to every other tense you can think of that would fit. How does that change the meaning? E.G. "was", "will be", "Could be" etc.

What would your responses be?

Okay, I'll go first.

My response would be one of two things.

1. Oh my!
2. I don't care if you are offended. Grow up and take a pill.

The most likely response would be #2 with a bunch of explicatives.

 

[Bray123]

What would happen if the colon were to be changed for a comma?

 

[oggbashan]

What would happen if the colon were to be changed for a comma?

A constipated gorilla?