The King of Oshibori -- Part 2

Today I had to do a 日帰り. I had one meeting in the morning, and a seminar in the afternoon. It was a busy day.

Since I had some work to do on one of the new books in our Kenkyusha series, I decided again to ride in the Green Car. So, as usual, I was able to get 一本 of おしぼり王様. Then, as I was leaving the train at the terminal station, I noticed that one of the other customers had left behind his oshibori on his seat, unused in its wrapping. So, 目立たないように, I picked up and brought it with me.

Then, because my wife is, shall we say, "careful" about spending unnecessary money, I realized that I would have to justify the fact that I had 2 oshibori with me. Of course, she must think that I rode the Green Car on the way back home in the evening, getting one oshibori in the morning and one oshibori on the return trip.

Fortunately, I have the shinkansen receipts to show that I rode in the 自由席 on the way home. So, two oshiboris became お土産, but only one Green Car fare.

Robert

～グリーン車のおしぼり～

TOEICのテストを受験したあとお土産と共に帰宅
しかし、お土産の袋の中には“グリーン車”に乗るともらうあのおしぼりが入っていた

一般車とグリーン車の料金の差はこのおしぼり？？も含まれていると思うと非常に高い『高級おしぼり』。私達の中では、The king of おしぼりと呼ぶことに


Robertさんは新幹線の移動の際少しでも仕事がしたいときは、グリーン車に乗る。グリーン車の料金を支払って広いスペースで仕事が出来る方がメリットがあるといつも私に言っている。ん～～でも…って言いたくなるな～。そしてこのおしぼりが家に溜まる。
しかし、ある日、このおしぼりをkitchenで料理をしているときに何気に使ってみたら…

おったまげ～～ぼろぼろにならない・何度使っても破れない！本当に丈夫で長持ち！

まさしく《The king of おしぼり》

汚れも着きにくいので結構使えるし、そのまま捨てればいいのでお洗濯も必要なし！！今では、このおしぼり様を忘れずに持って帰って来るようお願いしている程です
やはり、昔からここの会社のものは良いと評価が高かったが、おしぼりがここまで品質が高いとは・・・恐れ入りました

Robert

TOEIC -- hypothetical results of our check

Let me copy the file that I sent to our team members. I'll make my comments below each one. ご参考まで.
The basic assumption here is that all of my comments are hypothetical. This is what I "guessed" might have taken place. Of course, I would never reveal the actual contents of a real TOEIC test in a public forum . . .

Things to check on 14 April TOEIC:

1. Does TOEIC use numerals in Part 5 items or do these have to be written out (i.e., 5 vs. five)?

We couldn't find any examples of numbers from zero to nine. There were two examples of numerals, though: 10 and 75. I think we still need to check this on subsequent tests.

2. Does TOEIC use only first names in Part 3 conversation questions? I know that this is not true of Part 5 (i.e., family names always appear), but how about Part 3?

Yes, as we expected, first names do indeed appear in Part 3 questions. This test had "Pam" in one of the questions. No surprise, but good to confirm it explicitly.

3. Does Part 5 ever use "his or her" or "he or she" in the distracters (answer choices)? Or are all generic references made in 3rd person plural to avoid being gender specific (i.e., "they" or "their")?

It appears that all generic questions are put into 3rd person plural in order to avoid gender specificity. There were four examples of this in Part 5 today.

4. What is Part 5 formally called?

It wasn't clear from the actual test. I think we need to check this on the ETS website (TOEIC stylesheet: Web site).

5. How many negative factual questions appear on Part 7?

Two. Within the predictable range.

6. What is the exact wording of Part 7 dedicated vocabulary questions?

The word XXX in paragraph Y, line Z, is closest in meaning to . . . Again, as predicted. Good to confirm it again, though.

7. In which situations does TOEIC use hyphens? The English language is moving in the direction of omitting the hyphens if the relationship between the words is clear from the context. It'll be interesting to see if TOEIC is adopting this trend, or if it still uses many hyphens.

There was only one hyphenated adjective: long-term. It'll be good to continue to keep an eye on this.

8. Also, I want to confirm how TOEIC uses commas. I have a pretty good idea about this, but it's always good to confirm in a low-context way. For example, does TOEIC use commas after sentential adverbs?

No sentential adverbs appeared on this test, as far as I noticed. So, we really couldn't judge this one.

9. How common is the word “indicate” in Q-heads, especially in Part 7? Does it appear in other Parts, as well?

In Part 7, there were 4 instances of "indicate." 3 of "mention." 4 of "suggested" and 3 of "stated." This totally bears out Hiro's observations. やっぱり、these types of Part 7 Q's are increasing in frequency.

10. Does TOEIC use diacritics for resume, café, etc.?

By chance, both words appeared on today's test. They do, indeed, use diacritics.

11. Especially for Part 5, how common is it to see an item with all 4 choices beginning with the same cluster of letters, e.g. re- or con-? How about at the end of a word, e.g. –ation, -ize?

No good examples of this today. I'm not willing to admit that TOEIC has given up on this, however. At least not until we have some more examples of non-occurrence.

12. Is US American English still the standard for written English? How about in the Listening Section?

There was one passage in Part 7 which was completely written using British English, e.g. "favourite" or "25 February." なるほど！

If any of you have anything you would like to add to the list, please let me know. And for those of you taking the test on Sunday, April 14th, I'd appreciate any feedback on the above questions. That's of course assuming that you have the 余裕 to be able to check stuff like this, rather than worrying about getting the highest possible score.

If anyone did notice anything to share with others, it would be interesting to hear your ideas and observations.

Robert

Confirming TOEIC Stylesheet

This coming Sunday, like many of you, I will be taking the TOEIC Test. I have several things that I want to check. I will list them here.

1. Does TOEIC use numerals in Part 5 items or do these have to be written out (i.e., 5 vs. five)?

2. Does TOEIC use only first names in Part 3 conversation questions? I know that this is not true of Part 5 (i.e., family names always appear), but how about Part 3?

3. Does Part 5 ever use "his or her" or "he or she" in the distracters (answer choices)? Or are all generic references made in 3rd person plural to avoid being gender specific (i.e., "they" or "their")?

4. What is Part 5 formally called?

5. How many negative factual questions appear on Part 7?

6. What is the exact wording of Part 7 dedicated vocabulary questions?

7. In which situations does TOEIC use hyphens? The English language is moving in the direction of omitting the hyphens if the relationship between the words is clear from the context. It'll be interesting to see if TOEIC is adopting this trend, or if it still uses many hyphens.

8. Also, I want to confirm how TOEIC uses commas. I have a pretty good idea about this, but it's always good to confirm in a low-context way.

If any of you have anything you would like to add to the list, please let me know. And for those of you taking the test on Sunday, April 14th, I'd appreciate any feedback on the above questions. That's of course assuming that you have the 余裕 to be able to check stuff like this, rather than worrying about getting the highest possible score.

Robert

カバー

高校時代から使っていたミシンもう寿命がきて動かなくなってしまった・・・アルバイトをして買った物だったので残念
そして、2代目のミシンをRobertさんに買っていただいた！！ちょ～嬉しいかったThank you so much
そして、お裁縫は趣味の1つなのでまたいろいろ作っちゃいました！年末から今年の初めにアメリカへ行った際に寄ったHawaiiで布を購入して来たので布団カバーにピローケース・テーブルクロス・ランチョンマットなどなど！いっぱい作ったよ～～～
Hawaiiでの布のお値段は問屋さんで買えば（観光地周辺の布屋さんは高いので注意！）、日本の約3分の1程度日本でこんな感じの布を買ったら既製品の方が今どき安い場合が多いけど。しかも我が家の場合はすべてがBig お布団もキングサイズなので高いのであります

出来上がったカバーにはRobertさんも大喜び

ちょっと、派手？！ではあるけど大変気にいったカバーで出張から帰ってきたらこのカバーでゆっくり寝るのが最近の楽しみになっています
しかしこのカバーを洗うのは多きすぎて大変なのがちょい問題ですわ～

Robert

Humberger-Part2

前から同僚達と美味しいとLunchに行くハンバーガー屋さんへやっと一緒に行って来ました！！


店内はおしゃれな感じ～

早くたべようよ～と写真を撮っている間ずっとハンバーガーを狙っていた・・・はい、はい、食べましょうね～

Robert

お土産いっぱい！！

アルクイベント第8回 ロバート・ヒルキの 2日間集中！TOEICテスト730点突破セミナーが本当に良かったRobert氏、ご満悦で我が家へ帰って来た
東京土産お決まりの「東京ばな奈」を買って来てくれました！それも、昨年新発売の「東京ばな奈がぉーキャラメル味」
これを買うのに並んだらしくかなり人気みたい

包装用紙がかわい～がなんやら阪神タイガースを思い浮かべる・・・

味は、かなり私には甘い～やっぱり冷やして食べようでも我が家は冷凍しても食べるのでどちらもやってみよう

そしてアルクセミナーの前に蓼科での仕事があったのでそこでもお土産を買ってくれていました

こちらは、お土産というよりも自分用みたいな感じのchoiceでした。

そしてさらにお土産が
それは、洗濯の山・・・

・・・喜んで洗わさせていただきます・・・

Robert

もういいよ～

昨日の雨＆風はひどかった～皆さん大丈夫でしたか？？

今日は、すっかりいいお天気になりそう～避難していたこの子たちも今日は外で元気に遊ぶかな～

Robert

しゃぶしゃぶ

帰国後久しぶりに我が家へ帰って来たRobertさん

この日は、数時間だけお時間を頂いてお祝いをかねてしゃぶしゃぶデート！2人でしゃぶしゃぶを堪能しました

テーブルにはすべて違う切り花

Robertさんはお刺身が大好き！目を閉じて食べてる姿に笑えた～

こちらはズワイガニの天ぷらカニの甘さがたまらなくいい

お待ちかねのお肉！お肉の追加にストップをかけないとやばいほど美味しかった～

久しぶりのデートの帰り道・・・2人仲良く大きなお腹になりながらぽてぽてと歩く・・・お邪魔な2人でした

Robert

～Gupta in Wonderland～

昨日、ヒロ前田先生の「不思議の国のグプタ」を拝読させていただきました。わたしは、TOEICとはRobertさん絡みでのお付き合い程度の人間。初めてRobertの本をもらって勉強したときも、今思うとかなり失礼な言葉の数々をRobertさんにあびせた記憶がある・・・いまもあびせまくってるかも

そして旅行中、自宅、どこにいても仕事の話・TOEICの関係の話を聞かされて私なりの考えを伝える。年末から今もTOEICの出題文のideaを聞かれることがある。しかし、私の考えた問題はTOEIC界のruleではダメ！なことがほとんど大概、「いろいろ考えてくれてありがとう、やっぱり自分で考えるよ！」と笑われておしまい


いままでは、なんでだめなの～誰が決めたの～いつも同じパターンじゃん！出てくる会社の業種同じ～写真同じ感じ～つまんな～いetc．とこんな感じで毎回Robertさんに文句を言っていた。

しかし、ヒロ先生のこの本を読んで納得こういうことだったのね～

問題を作る側と解く側の間にいる私には、変な感覚を覚えた本であったことは間違いないですが私は、どちらかというとルールを守るより破りたいですね～

Robert