Which of the two is common?

Glikeria   Tue May 16, 2006 6:43 pm GMT
First, the context:
Helen is going to take her English exam in June. After that she is going to the Highlands for her holiday.
Which of the two sentences sounds natural, common, neutral:
1. When she takes her exam, she'll go to the Highlands.
2. When she passes her exam, she'll go to the Highlands.

I would choose the former. It seems to me the latter implies that it may take her more than one attempt to pass. Am I right?
Please explain that to me.
MaintiensLeDroit   Tue May 16, 2006 8:14 pm GMT
I would say:

After she takes her English exam, she'll go to the Highlands.

This makes it more clear that she won't be going to the highlands until after she has sat her exam. The other is kind of ambiguous as to whether she is going to the highlands to take the exam or after the exam or what.

The second sentence suggests that she will only go to the highlands if she passes the exam. I don't know how it is in other countries but in the UK you don't get examination results for June exams until the end of August (which is also the end of the holidays) so it is unlikely that she would know if she had passed her exams before she went on holiday.
Glikeria   Tue May 16, 2006 9:06 pm GMT
Thank you. So that's more or less what I thunk. By the way, THUNK is taken from a limerick in which I don't understand the beginning:
There was a man in a trunk...
What kind of TRUNK??
I even had a chance -years back- to ask that from the head of the British Council in Minsk but he couldn't give a clear explanation.
Guest   Tue May 16, 2006 9:14 pm GMT
The first sentence is confusing to me. "When she takes the exam, she'll go to the Highlands" implies she'll be going to the Highlands as soon as the exam starts, and she'll still be sitting the exam as she's going to the Highlands.

I agree with MaintiensLeDroit. I would use "After" instead of "When" for the first sentence.
Guest   Tue May 16, 2006 9:18 pm GMT
It can either be a car trunk, or a large piece of luggage shaped like a box with a lock in front of it.
MaintiensLeDroit   Tue May 16, 2006 9:26 pm GMT
>>It can either be a car trunk, or a large piece of luggage shaped like a box with a lock in front of it.<<

It could also be a tree trunk. You know the trees with the hollow trunks - do they only exist in fairy tales? I'm not sure.
Guest   Wed May 17, 2006 12:26 am GMT
>>It could also be a tree trunk. You know the trees with the hollow trunks - do they only exist in fairy tales? I'm not sure.<<

That's true. Also, in cartoons and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, animals often live in empty tree trunks. *lol* Not a very safe abode, in my opinion, but it's make-believe...

Do you remember the rest of the limerick, Glikeria? Maybe then we'd know what kind of trunk it is.
Glikeria   Wed May 17, 2006 7:18 am GMT
Here is the limeric:

There was an old man in a trunk,
Who enquired of his wife, “Am I drunk?”
She replied with regret,
“I’m afraid so, my pet”,
And he answered,”that’s just as I thunk.”

So where exactly was he?
Drew   Wed May 17, 2006 7:38 am GMT
The middle-aged Scot said "Nae doot
Ye'll be thinking that 'thunk' is a hoot,
And only a yank
Could be such a plank
As to confuse a trunk with a boot"
Guest   Wed May 17, 2006 9:59 am GMT
>>So where exactly was he?<<

Probably not in an empty tree trunk, but the limerick still didn't make it any clearer. Both a car trunk and a (luggage) trunk are large enough to fit a man.
Glikeria   Wed May 17, 2006 11:29 am GMT
There is a grotesque called Drew
Who says hooting is out of true
He sent’em a post
But the meaning was lost
So they didn’t understand what he knoo.

I mean well :))
Johnathan Mark   Thu May 18, 2006 4:26 pm GMT
Writing limericks is such a delight,
I could sit here and do it all night.
If everyone did,
of wars we'd be rid,
for with such fun, who could possibly fight?

Not very good, but I thought I'd try my hand at it.
Glikeria   Thu May 18, 2006 7:05 pm GMT
Terrif! I mean it, Johnathan.
But the trunk is still in suspense.