Spelling frustrations!

William C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Spelling frustrations!

The question is make "Elle s'est maquillée" negative. The following two responses each have a spelling mistake but one is considered "nearly right" and the other is considered incorrect. The answers are "S'est-elle maquillee" and "S'est-elle maquillé". I don't see the difference in the context of the question! Why aren't both "nearly right"?

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi William,

S'est-elle maquillée? = Did she put her make up on?

is a question so were you being asked to turn it into a negative question, in which case it would be -

Ne s'est-elle pas maquillée?  = Didn't she put her make up on? 

in all those cases, maquillée would have an -e at the end to agree with 'elle'.

Hope this helps!

 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The point is that for people who know the right answer, it is a spelling mistake. For someone who doesn't it's a grammatical mistake. I know it can be frustrating when you know the right answer but slipped or missed a letter. But the computer grading your answer doesn't know that. Therefore you need to get it right to be graded as correct.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

You wrote that the task was to negate the sentence. But neither of the two  answers you quote are a negation. It seems you were looking for the inverted form of questions. Just for posterior reference, here is the negation:

Elle s'est maquillée. -- She put on makeup.
Elle ne s'est pas maquillée. -- She didn't put on makeup.

William C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Seems to be waste of time asking questions about why Kwizik over penalise simple spelling mistakes. 

Stephen M.B2Kwiziq community member

I really don't like how this lesson is explained. Colour codes are good but I find it very difficult to translate the sense of of the description. I think it could be revised to give some improvement. Just my constructive criticism and pov as a learner

Spelling frustrations!

The question is make "Elle s'est maquillée" negative. The following two responses each have a spelling mistake but one is considered "nearly right" and the other is considered incorrect. The answers are "S'est-elle maquillee" and "S'est-elle maquillé". I don't see the difference in the context of the question! Why aren't both "nearly right"?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...