Er 16
Decide if the verbs in bold are in the correct
form. Rewrite the incorrect forms.
Psychologists (a) had been interested in discovering
the key to lying for a long time, but it still doesn't
seem easy to work out what makes a good liar. Once,
a psychologist called Richard Wiseman (b) has done
an interesting experiment using television. He
(c) interviewed a famous person called Robin Day
about his favourite film. In the first interview, Day
(d) told Wiseman the truth. He (e) described how he
loved the film Some Like It Hot. In the second interview,
he (f) lied, telling the interviewer how much he liked
Gone with the Wind, even though he really hated it.
When they (g) had been finishing the interviews, they
(h) asked viewers to watch the two interviews and
to decide in which interview Day (i) had been lying.
Almost 30,000 people phoned in to vote, but the votes
were completely divided between the two interviews.
It became clear that viewers (j) were simply guessing.
Then a surprising thing happened. On the same day,
the two interviews (k) appeared on the radio and in a
newspaper. Seventy-three per cent of the radio listeners
correctly (1) guessed when Day (m) was lying, and
so did 64 per cent of the newspaper readers. Other
recent tests (n) have suggested the same conclusion,
that body language and facial expressions give little
indication of people's sincerity. It seems to be more a
question of the words we use.
​

The incorrect forms and their rewritten corrected forms are below:

a) had been interested -> have been interest

b) has done -> did

g) had been finishing -> finished

The other verbs are all correct.

Explanation:

a) "Had been interested" is in the past perfect, which does not go well with the rest of the sentence that is in the present. The present perfect makes more sense - "have been interested" - and it indicates that this is an action/state that continues in the present moment.

b) The present perfect can be used to indicate past actions, but only when it refers to an unspecified time. In this case, the writer is talking about a specific time when the interviews took place. Thus, instead of "had done", we should use the simple past "did".

c) "Had been finishing" is a past perfect continuous, which indicates a progressive action in the past. But what we need is the simple past, because the action of finishing was over when they asked people to watch them. "Finished" is a better choice.

formal arguments

in written, formal arguments, the best way to build credibility with readers is to provide them with evidence. no matter what your argument might be and which side you agree with, citing strong evidence to back up your claim leaves the opposition with little to argue.

emotional appeal is often used in oral arguments. written arguments, however, rely on four main types of evidence. as you read further, you will see that some types are more credible than others and "hold more water" so to speak.

statistical evidence

the strongest type of evidence in formal writing is statistical evidence. this ranges from true, hard data presented as a percentage or number, to survey-type data. for example, statistical evidence could be:

4 out of 5 experts claim

85% of women in the united

7 members were present

statistical evidence can be proven as fact. you can actually go out and find hard information to prove your particular claim.

testimonial evidence

the use of celebrities as credibility evidence can be considered testimonial in nature. many people look up to celebrities as role models in their lives. good or bad, when a person chooses a life-path that takes them into public light, there will be many others out there who want to emulate the celebrity. these celebrity endorsements provide the second-strongest type of evidence found in formal arguments.

testimonial evidence can also be collected from experts and authorities in a given field. doctors, dentists, lawyers often provide expert testimonials. their authority is not often questions. they are expected to "know their stuff."

anecdotal evidence

when storytelling is involved as evidence, anecdotal evidence is being used. due to its less objective nature, anecdotal evidence is not extremely strong. when coupled with statistical or testimonial evidence, anecdotal evidence can be highly effective in determining credibility or proof.

storytelling, although based on fact, can include quite a bit of opinion, thus making it less objective. usually, eyewitnesses are used as providers of anecdotal evidence. they saw or experienced the phenomenon at hand are telling their version or side of the story.

analogical evidence

when information is scarce about something and little is known, analogical evidence is often used in a formal argument to increase credibility of the proof. if the phenomenon in question is new and little is known about it, analogical evidence that pulls in known factors about a similar phenomenon to show parallels can be an effective way to provide proof.

due to limited knowledge about the phenomenon, in this situation, analogical evidence can be regarded as the weakest type of evidence used in formal arguments. one can only imagine and hope that the comparison-phenomenon is close enough that the results can be applied to the new phenomenon.

in the

all that really matters in a formal argument is whether or not the writer has credible evidence to back up what they want to say or what they are thinking. so often, we hear people say, "prove it! " to one another.

one last little formal arguments not only provide credible evidence to support claims, don't forget that acknowledgment of the opposing point of view in an argument also strengthens the entire product.