Also
Test your English

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4246472.stm
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:17, 21 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

20/20
Easy.

*smugs*
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:21, Reply)

snap
but I am an English teacher


posted mostly because of people complaining about poor English/txt spk/etc
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:24, Reply)

20/20
Question 19 is pretty dubious though...
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:29, Reply)

bah I scored 19
forgot what taciturn meant :-(
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:35, Reply)

19
and I'm an English teacher. I hang my head in shame, but I did whip through it. The one with the hyphen got me.
(knackerz is skinning up, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:36, Reply)

yeah knackerz
I'd say that 'long lost' was just as good as 'long-lost'...

Did you go for the exclamation mark then? I nearly did but went for the hyphen instead cos I thought it must be a trap.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:41, Reply)

Ostentatious?
Ostentation is not necessarily pretentiousness.
EDIT: try www.freerice.com/ for more fun and third-world aid in the process!
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:53, Reply)

it's long-lost
because it's a single characteristic

long lost implies something that has a big length, and is missing, long-lost, missing for a long period of time

EDIT - freerice - been there before, infinitely more difficult
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:59, Reply)

Hmm
"Ostentation is not necessarily pretentiousness."

No, but one meaning of ostentatious is pretentious. And out of the four possible answers given, that was the only synonym.

It's stuff like this that makes cryptic crosswords so much fun!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 13:22, Reply)

17
Not bad for someone put in the special class for GCSE English.
(ToysForBigBoys would spread her legs for Nick Clegg., Wed 4 Feb 2009, 13:30, Reply)

I disagree flesh
I would usually write long-lost, but I would consider long lost to be equally acceptable.

I'll consult my OED when I get home, the website doesn't allow you to search the full version.

But Wiktionary agrees with me, for what it's worth.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 13:50, Reply)

19
I seem to be the only one who fucked up on 'whose'....
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 14:45, Reply)

@K2K6
Yes, indeed, but that's not what they asked. I'm just being picky for the sake of it.

A number of the sentences are missing full stops! Bah.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 14:55, Reply)

Sam
you're consulting Wiktionary? Gah!
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 15:04, Reply)

It was the only online dictionary I could find the hyphenated version in
Let alone the non-hyphenated version!

Do I redeem myself by saying that it's the full 20 volume OED2 (albeit without the additions volumes. Which I need to get) to which I shall be referring on my return home?
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 15:14, Reply)

19
Can't spell questionairre. Or fill one in for that matter, some of them are big buggers.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Wed 4 Feb 2009, 15:39, Reply)

I was asked to fill lin a questionnaire once.
So I went out and beat up the doorman.




/coat
/veal
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 16:34, Reply)

Regarding the long-lost brother
Has anyone considered that he could be a long, lost brother, i.e., once lost but also phenomenally well-endowed.

Hmm...probably trying too hard there. Still, 20/20 *smugs*
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 16:55, Reply)

Jesus H Christ!
I got 19/20 and I'm sure you are all painfully aware how shit my grammar is.
( girlinthehole, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 20:16, Reply)

20
but anything less would be entirely unacceptable to me, as writer.
( cackers, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 21:48, Reply)

20
but my performance in the maths test will be truly awful : (
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 5 Feb 2009, 15:25, Reply)