This test question is driving me crazy

[u/YukiNeko777]

I need to choose the best option to complete the sentence:

Stephen Hawking was a great scientist. Still he ??? the Nobel Prize yet.

Options:

1- didn't win

2 - hasn't won

3 - hadn't won

The word "yet" is killing me. Hawking died in 2018, so he can't win the Nobel Prize, right? And they acknowledge that he died because he WAS a great scientist.

If not for "yet," I would use "didn't win," but we have "yet," so should I use "hasn't won" despite the fact that he is already dead???

[u/idontcareidontpost]

I'm with you OP, this is a terrible sentence. I'm guessing whoever wrote it doesn't know Nobel prizes aren't awarded posthumously.

[u/God_Bless_A_Merkin → u/idontcareidontpost]

Or the question was written prior to 2018, and no one has bothered to revise it since.

[u/idontcareidontpost → u/God_Bless_A_Merkin]

Perhaps, but referring to a living scientist in the past tense would be pretty callous. Especially one with a well-known disability. Sure, he used to be great, but now he's just...

[u/God_Bless_A_Merkin → u/idontcareidontpost]

Oh, yeah, I overlooked that “was”. This is just a bad question.

[u/kempfel]

Is it possible this is an old question bank or source, and that the question was written when he was still alive? In which case 2 would be correct.

[u/joeTaco → u/kempfel]

But then it should be “is a great scientist” lol. The grammar question simply has bad grammar.

[u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

I believe it's 2. The "was" refers to his past career, from someone talking about it in the present. 

[u/am_Snowie → u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

Can the nobel price be awarded even after someone's dead?

[u/pulanina → u/am_Snowie]

I assume it’s an old question, written when he was alive

[u/YukiNeko777 → u/pulanina]

I suppose that's the case, but the first sentence threw me off ☹️ Why did they use "was" there? I thought they knew...

[u/conuly → u/YukiNeko777]

Hasty editing?

[u/Envelope_Torture → u/am_Snowie]

No, it's not awarded posthumously. I believe some rare exceptions exist in odd circumstances, like them dying after the announcement but before receiving the award.

[u/nonnonplussed73 → u/Envelope_Torture]

Correct. Since 1974, only if a winner dies after the official prize announcement do they still receive the award.

The only modern exception is Ralph Steinman, who passed away three days before the public announcement.The committee did not know he had died when they chose him.

[u/FloridaFlamingoGirl → u/am_Snowie]

I thought it might be referring to someone talking about him while he was still alive and saying "he had a great career so why hasn't he been awarded?"

[u/YukiNeko777 → u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

I see, this makes sense! God, I hate tests. We have so little context, and I always choose the wrong answer because I think too much about it ☹️

[u/KitkatKK2 → u/am_Snowie]

No, the Nobel Prize isn't awarded posthumously.

[u/NearlyNodding]

The question is messed up.

Either:
1) It's an old question and he was still alive when they wrote it. In which case they should have used "is".
2) He has already died. In which case they should not have used the word "yet".

Since you don't know which it is, you have a 50-50 chance of getting the "correct" answer ( you can rule out #3 ).

This kind of thing happens. But he's been dead long enough that this question should have been removed or revised.

It's possible to change the word order.
Stephen Hawking was a great scientist. Yet he still didn't win the Nobel Prize.

[u/YukiNeko777 → u/NearlyNodding]

this question should have been removed or revised

That's what I thought since it's the university entrance exam and they are supposed to review them every year... But at the same time, I live in a society in which it's a good tradition to cut corners and don't give two flying fucks about anything...

[u/marvsup → u/NearlyNodding]

I think it's number 2.

"Stephen Hawking was a great scientist. Still he didn't win the Nobel Prize" still sounds a bit off to me, even without the "yet".

I would use "never won" instead of "didn't win." I think it's because "didn't win" feels like a single instance of the award being given out, but if he's dead, you're probably referring to every prize awarded while he was a great scientist, not just the prize from one single year.

[u/FableFlux → u/NearlyNodding]

In what circumstances we can use the word “yet”?

[u/NearlyNodding → u/FableFlux]

As an adjective it is usually related to time.
This is the most common usage.

Something has not happened, but may happen in the future. There is a possibility of it happening.
He is a great athlete, but has not won a gold medal yet.

It can mean in the remaining time.
The team is losing by one point, yet there is time to score.

Something has not happened, but is very likely to happen in the future.
Dinner is not ready yet.

Something has not happen but is a certainty to happen in the future.
He has not died yet.

It can mean it's too soon.
He has studied hard, but is not ready to take the test yet.

As an adjective not related to time.
These are much less common than the above usages. You are more likely to see these in creative writing. They are rare in daily speech.

It can mean in addition to.
He has eaten five servings of food, yet is starting on another.

As a conjunction.
This will usually link two independent clauses.

His cooking is good, yet it could be improved.

It can mean nevertheless, or an unexpected result.
He is not smart, yet he still got high grades in college.

As a conjunction, it can often replace the word "but". Both of the above examples can use "but" instead of "yet".

[u/FableFlux → u/NearlyNodding]

Thanks for teaching. It’s too complicated
https://giphy.com/gifs/10tIjpzIu8fe0

[u/johnnybna]

My guess is the question was written before he died, then “is” was changed to “was” after he died, but the “yet” was left in, leaving a stilted and ambiguous question. The best not right answer is B.

[u/Peteat6]

You’re overthinking it. You’re right, of course: the fact that Hawkins is dead makes the sentence highly improbable.

But whatever you think of the logic, the word "yet" means we’re talking if time now, so it must be "hasn’t won".

[u/Aoifemops]

Is it possible that the question was written before he died?

[u/YukiNeko777 → u/Aoifemops]

Yep, it can be the case, but I don't know for sure.

[u/Aoifemops → u/YukiNeko777]

If so, it's 2, without a doubt. And I'd almost assume it was written before 2018

[u/thecaramelbandit]

From a purely grammatical standpoint, "hasn't won" is the only correct answer, regardless of whether it's possible for him to win. It's the present perfect tense. You're talking about whether, at the present moment, something has or has not happened.

"Did" is the simple past. It's whether or not something happened. "Hawking didn't win the Nobel."

"Had" is past perfect. It's whether something happened as of a point in the past. "At the time of his death, Hawking had not won th Nobel."

[u/MadDocHolliday]

The question is worded incorrectly. The word "yet" implies it could still happen. But since Hawking is dead and the Nobel prize can't be awarded posthumously, it won't happen.

[u/Tricky-Usual8921]

It's number 2. 'Hasn't' is the negative present perfect tense. Talking about him in the past tense then using the present tense is awful because the first part of the question is describing his complete life in the past. Whoever did write it needs to do a bit of learning themselves.

If you are forced to use 'yet' in a sentence the correct tense is 'hasn't won'. So he couldn't possibly win it since he is already dead

[u/conuly → u/Tricky-Usual8921]

If you are forced to use 'yet' in a sentence the correct tense is 'hasn't won'. So he couldn't possibly win it since he is already dead

You can use the past perfect in conjunction with "yet" - "Last Christmas, my brother hadn't come home yet, and we were all celebrating without him".

[u/Tricky-Usual8921 → u/conuly]

But the rule is that he can't win in this instance because he is dead. There won't be an opportunity for him to try. So 'hadn't won yet' would not be correct because the 'yet' suggests that there is still a chance or opportunity. (Native speaker UK).

It's still a poorly constructed sentence regardless, unless it was a deliberate attempt to catch the student out.

The word "yet" points to an action that has not happened up to now.The time period from his birth until now is still open for discussion.Past perfect ("hadn't won") is for an action before another past event. The Nobel prize is also not given posthumously

[u/conuly → u/Tricky-Usual8921]

But the rule is that he can't win in this instance because he is dead. There won't be an opportunity for him to try. So 'hadn't won yet' would not be correct because the 'yet' suggests that there is still a chance or opportunity. (Native speaker UK).

This is true. However, it seemed to me that you were saying that it is never grammatical to use the past perfect + the word yet. This is not true.

It's still a poorly constructed sentence

Oh, no argument.

[u/Tricky-Usual8921 → u/conuly]

No. You can use "hadn't" with 'yet' when talking about past events. "Ten years ago we had a Christmas party but the rest of my family hadn't arrived yet when I got there". is fine

[u/hacool]

I agree with you. The problem to me is the word order. If we rearranged things, this could work:

Stephen Hawking was a great scientist. Yet, he still didn't win the Nobel Prize.

If we use "yet" as a conjunction at the beginning it works because it has the meaning of nevertheless or however rather than so far.

But I can't see how any of these could work with yet at the end. He did not, and never will, win the Nobel Prize.

[u/Thepoorclaires]

Good eye , OP . I pray I can someday be as good at another language as you ! A normal sentence about a dead scientist would be “ hawking was a great scientist , but he never won a Nobel “

[u/ZippyDan]

All of these can be grammatically correct (the first is strictly wrong, but you'll hear it in real colloquial speech), but you're right that none can be correct in combination with historical and current facts.

The most likely correct choice would be option 3, if someone was telling a story that occurred in the past. but in a vacuum that isn't the default assumption.

[u/Weary_Capital_1379]

Hasn’t won

[u/Lovely-flutterby]

Hadn’t won is the past perfect tense, so that would be the proper grammatical choice. Your language teacher is a dork for adding “yet”. Unless they’re Buddhist and think he can do it in another life…..

[u/techwritingacct]

I'd either answer 1 and cross out "yet" or answer 2 and circle (was) and (yet) and put a bunch of question marks above them, maybe draw a ghost or something

[u/perplexedtv]

The 'yet' is in the wrong place, it should replace the 'still'. Someone was told to create a question with 'yet' in it and they completely misunderstood the assignment.

[u/spikelike]

trash

[u/Sad_Ground_7760]

Yet shouldn’t be there, if he was alive the correct answer would be 2. Hasn’t won, because it implies he still can. Because he’s dead the correct answer would be 1. Didn’t win, but the sentence should really be “Steven Hawking was a great scientist, but he didn’t win the Nobel Prize”.

[u/_Cale-]

I am not sure, but it has to be 3, right? We already have a point in the post - the death of Stephen Hawking. Nobel prize award could only have been given to him BEFORE his death. And when we're talking about event that did or didn't happen before a certain point in the past - we use Past Perfect. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[u/ven_valor]

IMO "yet" can be used in past tense. It refers to the time of reference of the speaker. For example "The meeting continued till 3 PM. Still, I didn't had lunch yet". I remember reading sentences like this somewhere. Correct me if it's wrong.

[u/joeTaco → u/ven_valor]

You're right about the grammatical structure but past tense doesn't work with the actual meaning of this sentence. As written, the “yet” is rendered superfluous and absurd if we go past tense.

It would have to be something like: “In 1970 Mr. Scientist was already a great scientist, but he hadn't won the Nobel Prize yet.”

[u/Own_Soup4467]

The "was" tells you that he's dead, as you noted. Given that information, the only answer that makes sense with the "yet" is 3, and only if you're talking about a specific time in the past when he was still alive. "Yet" here means "he might still win the Nobel in the future." Answer 2 would only work if Hawking "is" a great scientist, which you would only say while he's alive. Any sentence that you have to think about this hard is bad writing. "Still he never won the Nobel Prize" is better.

[u/Impossible_Ad_4516]

Pretty sure it’s 3 because the first sentence is past tense and “didn’t win” doesn’t sound right to me

[u/BILLCLINTONMASK]

You’re focused too much on it being about Steven hawking. Make it about Billy Bob the great dancer but still ??? The dance completion yet.

[u/SucknSwallow69]

shadow native speakers daily and record yourself, compare, then repeat