Five Blanks at the Snow Festival: Tense and Preposition Judgements
This item appears in the grammar-and-vocabulary section of the Niigata entrance exam. Students often choose words that 'sound right' without checking the time relationship or the agent. Read the paragraph and answer the tasks as if you had four choices for each blank.
'Last February, my family (1) ______ the Tokamachi Snow Festival for the first time. It was (2) ______ than we expected, and we had to wait nearly two hours to enter one building. The snow sculptures were made (3) ______ local high school students (4) ______ snow. While we were waiting, a volunteer told us that the sculptures (5) ______ by the students since December.'
Choose the best word or form for each blank. The five blanks test tense, comparison, and prepositions. In the exam, each blank has four choices; here you must also explain the reason.
1. Choose the correct form for (1) and (5). Explain the time relationship that decides each.
Read the worked answer
(1) visited. The time marker 'Last February' points to a finished past event. The present perfect 'have visited' would connect the visit to now, which the paragraph does not do. 'Had visited' would need an earlier past reference; the visit is the main past event.
(5) had been made. The volunteer 'told us' at a past moment that the sculptures had been made 'since December.' The making started before that past moment and continued up to it. That is past perfect, and the sculptures are the receiver of the action, so passive: had been made. 'Were made' would suggest the making happened at that moment; 'have been made' would connect the making to the present, but the narrative is in the past.
2. Choose the correct word for (3) and (4). Explain why 'by' and 'of' are not interchangeable in 'made ___ students ___ snow.'
Read the worked answer
(3) by. The students are the agent: they did the making. (4) of. Snow is the material, and it is still recognizable as snow in the sculpture. English uses 'made of' when the material keeps its identity, and 'made from' when the material is changed into something else, as in 'paper is made from wood.' A snow sculpture is still snow, so 'made of snow' is correct. 'Made by snow' would mean snow did the making, which is impossible.
3. A student writes, 'It was more cold than we expected.' Is that acceptable? Explain using the paragraph's grammar.
Read the worked answer
No. 'Cold' is a one-syllable adjective, so the comparative is 'colder,' not 'more cold.' The sentence should be 'It was colder than we expected.' The paragraph already uses 'than,' which signals a comparative. A student might choose 'more cold' by analogy with 'more beautiful,' but that pattern applies to longer adjectives. The exam judgement is to check syllable count before choosing 'more.'