I wonder what the Iron Duke would have said about that.

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sitifan

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The English upper classes have always enjoyed fox hunting. A hundred years ago a gentleman who did not meet his friends and neighbours to hunt after church on Sunday mornings seemed strange to them.

But nowadays there are many people who take an active interest in preventing hunters from enjoying themselves. They used to lay false trails for the dogs, which spoiled the hunt because the dogs often followed their cars along the main road while the fox watched them going past from the safety of a nearby field.

But now they are buying land in areas where hunting takes place and have written to Princess Anne and her husband, who are keen hunters, saying they will be taken to court, like anyone else, if they ride across it. I wonder what the Iron Duke would have said about that.

(Cloze Tests, by Yang Jinfang)

Who is the Iron Duke referred to in the above passage? The author Yang Jinfang says it refers to Prince Charles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Duke
 
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Did you Google "Who was the Iron Duke?"? If so, you would have instantly discovered that it refers to The Duke of Wellington. Sometimes Wikipedia gives you far too many options. Google will give you the most likely definition.
 
I've never heard of Prince Charles being referred to as The Iron Duke (although he is both Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothsay). I found one mention of "Prince Philip: The Iron Duke" but it's a newspaper article title with no further mention of the moniker in the actual article.

Also, the use of "would have said about that" strongly suggests that the person in question is dead. That is not true of either Prince Charles or Prince Philip.
 
The English upper classes have always enjoyed fox hunting. A hundred years ago a gentleman who did not meet his friends and neighbours to hunt after church on Sunday mornings seemed strange to them.

But nowadays there are many people who take an active interest in preventing hunters from enjoying themselves. They used to lay false trails for the dogs, which spoiled the hunt because the dogs often followed their cars along the main road while the fox watched them going past from the safety of a nearby field.

But now they are buying land in areas where hunting takes place and have written to Princess Anne and her husband, who are keen hunters, saying they will be taken to court, like anyone else, if they ride across it. I wonder what the Iron Duke would have said about that.

(Cloze Tests, by Yang Jinfang)

Who is the Iron Duke referred to in the above passage? The author Yang Jinfang says it refers to Prince Charles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Duke
Note that I've added line breaks for greater clarity, sitifan, You haven't got the hang of that yet, have you?
 
I don't know how to add line breaks in the post. Could you teach me?

You hit the Return key on your keyboard. Surely you don't type everything as huge long blocks of texts without leaving any spaces between paragraphs - do you? :shock:
 
I should have been clearer. You need to (perhaps) hit it twice! I can see that you have used the Return key three times in your post. That's how you were able to start typing on a new line after "strange to them", "would have said about that" and "Yang Jinfang)".
(This is the space you are trying to create.)
Try again - type some text, do what you usually do in order to start typing on a new line and then do the same thing again.
 
I know what you mean now. Thank you!
 
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1. Who does the Iron Duke refer to in the above passage?
2. The author Yang Jinfang says it refers to Prince Charles.

3. Who is the Iron Duke referred to in the above passage?
4. The author Yang Jinfang says it is referred to Prince Charles.

Which of the above sentences is not correct?

In #1 and #2, "refer" is an intransitive verb.
In #3 and #4, "refer" is a transitive verb.
 
1. Who does the Iron Duke refer to in the above passage? :tick:
2. The author Yang Jinfang says it refers to Prince Charles. :tick:

3. Who is the Iron Duke referred to in the above passage? :tick:
4. The author Yang Jinfang says it is referred to Prince Charles. :cross:

Which of the above sentences is not correct?

In #1 and #2, "refer" is an intransitive verb.
In #3 and #4, "refer" is a transitive verb.

See above.

4 would have to be worded as "The author, Yang Jinfang, says that the Iron Duke referred to in the passage is Prince Charles".
 
It could be a reference to Wellington's quote Publish and be damned, which was what he said when a courtesan said she was going to publish her memoirs, which would include him. I guess the writer thinks that Princess Anne wouldn't care less about this grandstanding land purchase.
 
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