[Vocabulary] She wasn't wearing glasses because she couldn't find them.

[beachboy]

1) She wasn't wearing glasses because she didn't find them.
2) She wasn't wearing glasses because she couldn't find them.
3) She wasn't wearing glasses because she wouldn't find them.

Are the three sentences above grammatical? In my humble opinion, they are. I can't see much difference between 1 & 2, and three, if it's right, I guess "wouldn't" conveys insistance (on trying to find the glasses).

 

[GoesStation]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Number 2 is natural and correct. Number 1 might be possible in the right context. Number 3 is wrong.

 

[beachboy]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Number 2 is natural and correct. Number 1 might be possible in the right context. Number 3 is wrong.

Would it be correct to say "I asked the students a question, but they wouldn't answer it"?

 

[teechar]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

You should say, for example: "her glasses", "the glasses", or "those special glasses" since you are specifying the glasses with "them". Otherwise (if you want to use just "glasses"), you can use "any" instead of "them".

Sentences #1 and #2 are fine. Sentence #3 is very unusual. It might work in limited contexts.

 

[teechar]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Would it be correct to say "I asked the students a question, but they wouldn't answer it"?

Yes, that would be fine.

 

[GoesStation]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Number 2 is natural and correct. Number 1 might be possible in the right context. Number 3 is wrong.

I didn't notice the missing modifier that Teechar pointed out. She has to not be wearing her glasses.

 

[Rover_KE]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Would it be correct to say "I asked the students a question, but they wouldn't answer it"?

Yes, as long as you realise that they knew the answer but refused to give it.

 

[beachboy]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Yes, as long as you realise that they knew the answer but refused to give it.

What if they didn't know the answers? Or if they knew the answers but were too shy to take the lead? "I asked them a question but they couldn't answer it"?

 

[jutfrank]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

As Rover_KE says, if they didn't know the answer, use couldn't and if they did know but refused to, use wouldn't.

If they did know the answer, but were too shy, you could use didn't or didn't want to or wouldn't. Or even better, use were too shy to.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Did you notice you omitted a word in your title?

 

[beachboy]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Did you notice you omitted a word in your title?

Definitely. But, if I'm not mistaken, I can't fix it. It's annoying me, anyway..

 

[Tarheel]

Re: She wasn't wearing glasses because couldn't find them.

Two more possibilities:

1. She wasn't wearing glasses because, after all, she didn't need glasses.
2. She wasn't wearing her glasses because she hadn't been able to find them.
3. She wasn't wearing glasses because she had forgotten to bring them.

Okay, three.

 

[emsr2d2]

Definitely. But, if I'm not mistaken, I can't fix it. It's annoying me, anyway..

Someone has fixed it for you in post #1 (that doesn't change it in the responses though - I changed it manually when I wrote my response).