Editing the School Festival Notice
Draft notice for the school festival: “The festival (1) (will be held / will hold) on October 12. Students who (2) (want / wants) to join the cooking club must bring (3) (fewer / less) than three ingredients. Last year, the club (4) (has sold / sold) 200 tickets, and this year we expect (5) (more / much) visitors. Please submit forms (6) (until / by) September 30.” The notice will be printed on a single sheet for first-year students. The student editor has 80 words maximum and must keep a formal but friendly tone. The cooking club adviser says “fewer than three ingredients” is correct because ingredients are countable, but a classmate argues “less than three” sounds more natural. The editor also worries that “until September 30” is common in speech but may be ambiguous in a written deadline.
1. Choose the correct option for each numbered blank and explain one choice where grammar alone does not decide.
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Choices: (1) will be held; (2) want; (3) fewer; (4) sold; (5) more; (6) by.
Reasoning: (1) The festival cannot hold itself, so the passive “will be held” is needed. (2) “Students” is plural, so “want.” (3) “Ingredients” is countable, so formal written English prefers “fewer.” This is the judgement call: “less than three ingredients” is common in speech and not badly misunderstood, but a printed school notice is judged by formal standards, and the adviser's countable rule fits that register. (4) “Last year” is a finished past time, so “sold”; “has sold” would wrongly link the sale to the present. (5) “Visitors” is plural and needs a comparative, “more,” not “much.” (6) “By” means on or before the deadline; “until” means continuing up to that time, which is ambiguous in a submission notice.
2. The classmate says “less than three” sounds more natural. How should the editor respond?
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Response: Acknowledge that natural speech and formal notice writing are different, then choose the form that fits the notice-or recast the sentence to avoid the dispute.
Reasoning: The editor should not simply say “you are wrong.” In casual speech, “less than three” is widely used. But the notice is printed and formal, so “fewer” is safer. A practical solution is to rewrite as “must bring no more than two ingredients.” That avoids the fewer/less issue, is shorter, and is clearer for first-year students. The exam skill is register judgement: the same idea can be grammatically possible in one variety and less suitable in another.
3. Why is “until September 30” a problem in this notice?
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Problem: “Until” describes an action continuing up to a time; “submit forms until September 30” can suggest submission continues through the 30th, but it does not clearly mean “on or before.”
Reasoning: A deadline notice needs a precise boundary. “By September 30” means the forms must arrive on or before that date. “Until” is common in speech, but in a written deadline it can create confusion about whether the 30th is included or whether late forms are accepted. The editor should prefer “by” for clarity.