Demonstrative pronouns, L’Imparfait et Prépositions

Question

Bonjour Madame Cécile !Apologies for posting another query, but of late, I have been testing on a few grammatical concepts at Kwiziq—1. Ces fleurs sont jolies mais ______ sont les plus chères. (ce/ celles/celles-là) Here, I opted for “ce” because of the expression “ce sont” however “celles-là” is correct. Why, Madame ?2. Quand elles travaillaient pour IBM, elles (se marier déjà). I had conjugated in the “L’Imparfait” as ‘se mariaient déjà’ in the sense of “were married”. But, the answer was in Le Plus-que-Parfait. Why has Past perfect been used ?3. Le bateau est _______ lac. (au milieu du/au bord du) Can’t “au bord de” be used with a lake or is it specifically for “au bord de la mer.”Merci Madame Cécile ! Je vous souhaite une bonne journée!

Accepted Answer

Hi Shrey,
Just to add to Sean's excellent answer -
1. ..... mais ce sont les plus chères = ....but they are the most expensive
....mais celles-là sont les plus chères = but those (over there) are the most expensive 
2. ils se mariaient déjà = they were already getting married 
ils étaient déjà mariés = were already married 
3. I think the boat can be on the edge of the lake ( au bord du lac) or in the middle of the lake ( au milieu du lac ) so it depends on why they were looking for that particular answer rather than the other. 
Hope this helps!

Answer

1. Celles-là implies "these other ones over there."  So, it is more precise in distinguishing one set of flowers from another.  Ce sont would not make that distinction.2. Se mariaient implies they got married repetitively over time.  You get married at one moment.  But you can be married (étaient mariées) for a long period of time in the past.3. Not sure about this one.  Are you trying to say the boat is in the middle of the lake versus by the lake/on the beach?  Milieu and bord mean different things.

Answer

Hi Sean !Thanks for the reply ! I would also appreciate to get some advice from Madame Cécile to understand the accurate underlying grammatical concepts with a reasoning. Why “Le Plus-que-Parfait” is appropriate here ?Can “celles” not be used in place of “celles-là” ?Is it grammatically correct to say- “Celles-là sont les plus chères.” ? Or is it only “ce sont” ?Merci encore !