Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Help with an exercise

1. His carrier was interrupted for a few years in 1938. what/interrupt/it?
My answer: What did he interrupt it for? / Book's answer: What 
interrupted it?
2. These sitcomes are so formulaic. This one is ....... any different 
from the one we watched yesterday, isn't it?
My answer: not / Book's: hardly/scarcely
Are my answers completely wrong?
Thanks.

 Are my answers completely wrong?
That would be "yes and no" :-)

 answers too. 
Really? Would you consider this wrong: "he hardly ever misses the game, 
does he?"
Ciao,
Enrico il Pentolaio.
-- 
I chitarristi passano metą della propria vita ad accordare la chitarra e 
l'altra metą a suonarla scordata.

 does he?"
That sounds fine. 
I'm not sure what you find surprising.
The book's answer appears to be:
  This one is hardly any different 
  from the one we watched yesterday, isn't it?
and I'd prefer
  This one is hardly any different 
  from the one we watched yesterday, is it?
Or were you referring to something else?
Antonio

 I'm not sure what you find surprising. [...]
Ok, I realise I got the wrong end of the stick. I thought you said the 
exact opposite! I hope I'll be a little less abenst-minded next week, 
during the TOEFL exam.
:-/


:-/
_Absent_ any minor slip-ups, I'm sure you'll be fine :-)
Antonio

 wrote in message
news:4819f9ac$0$29992$5fc...@news.tiscali.it...

I would say that the original sentence is wrong in several respects.
There is no reason for the negative in the tag question "isn't it" in this
case.
Also, "not any different" would not be idiomatic, although I'm sure it is
used. "No different" would be idiomatic.
In the BNC, there are no instances of "not any different from", and 152
instances of "no different from".
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=no+different+from
For any of the choices to apply, the tag should read "is it?".
In tag questions, the general rule is "positive statement followed by
negative tag", and vice-versa, but there are some idiomatic exceptions, and
I think this is an example of this exception.
«treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like negative statements»
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions-tag.htm
A negative statement requires a positve tag.
"This one is (not any)(no) different  from the one we watched yesterday, is
it?"
"This one is hardly any different from the one we watched yesterday, is it?"
Joe from Massachusetts

 wrote in message
news:Xns9A92387F1D9Ea...@62.253.170.163...

I hadn't read your post before posting mine. I think we more or less have
the same opinion.
At first glance, "isn't" just "doesn't sound right" to a native ear. The
problem is to find some source to confirm the doubt..
Joe from Massachusetts

 wrote in message
news:P8JSj.69395$y05....@newsfe22.lga...

I think changing the sentence to a question helps.
This one is hardly any different from the one we watched yesterday, isn't
it?
Isn't this one hardly any different from the one we watched yesterday?
It sounds even worse as a question.
This one is hardly any different from the one we watched yesterday, is it?
Is this one hardly any different from the one we watched yesterday?
Joe from Massachusetts