A fill-in-the-blanks (grammar) question?

[ooohlala]

This is the question and I don't know how I'm supposed to answer it.

Woman was not meant to be _______ an unthinkable drudge ______ the mere pretty ornament of man's leisure.

I'm supposed to fill in the blanks 'with an appropriate word in each'. How?

 

[Rover_KE]

What is the source of this question, ooohlala?

The word unthinkable should clearly be unthinking, which makes me suspect the validity of the question.

Rover

 

[ooohlala]

RoverKE, it's from a local English grammar workbook (I live in Algeria).

I don't get the unthinkable part either ><

 

[BobK]

...

I don't get the unthinkable part either ><

:?: Saying this ('I don't get') suggests that you didn't understand Rover's correction! But there is no doubt (and there should remain no doubt in your mind): the text should be 'unthinking'.

Perhaps what you meant was 'I didn't get "unthinkable"'...?

b

 

[ooohlala]

No, I meant that like Rover, I don't understand the 'unthinkable' part of the sentence, either.

 

[ooohlala]

If it were unthinking, how would you fill in the blanks then?

 

[Rover_KE]

We still expect you to try first.

Rover

 

[BobK]

No, I meant that like Rover, I don't understand the 'unthinkable' part of the sentence, either.

My point was that Rover does not 'not understand' it, he just recognizes it as a mistake.

b

 

[mykwyner]

Woman was not meant to be try an adverb or adverbial phrase here an unthinkable drudge try a coordinating conjunction here the mere pretty ornament of man's leisure.

 

[Barb_D]

My two cents: This question is the pits. If I gave this to my native-speaking teenage daughter, she'd have no idea what she was supposed to put there. This is a logic question? It would make sense if you had a list of vocabulary words to choose from, perhaps, but to generate words that would work here is a really hard question for an English learner.

 

[BobK]

... It would make sense if you had a list of vocabulary words to choose from, perhaps, but to generate words that would work here is a really hard question for an English learner.

:up: Besides, it's so badly worded. We all know what it means, but 'ornament of man's leisure'...? ;-)

b