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To answer back...

maraba

Senior Member
Spanish
Hi, folks: what's your opinion on this use of 'answer back':

the pupils are asked to answer back aloud what we say, by crying: ‘Yes, it’s true’, or ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.
[We could say:
+ There are four Wise Men.
+ Flasher is Santa’s dog.
+ Santa goes delivering milk.]

Please, all kind of suggestions are admitted.

Thanks in advance.
Hi, folks: what's your opinion on this use of 'answer back':

the pupils are asked to answer back aloud what we say, by crying: ‘Yes, it’s true’, or ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.
[We could say:
+ There are four Wise Men.
+ Flasher is Santa’s dog.
+ Santa goes delivering milk.]

Please, all kind of suggestions are admitted.

Thanks in advance.

Hi maraba,

I don't think answer back is right here. To answer back is to reply impertinently when you are told off by someone in authority over you.

In this case I'd say something like 'speak up'.
"answer back aloud... by crying" seems overly redundant to me. I would replace "answer back aloud" with "respond". "By crying" makes it clear that the response is verbal and not written.

In other words, I would re-word it as:

the pupils are asked to respond to what we say by crying: ‘Yes, it’s true’, or ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.
I agree with Thomas.
I suggest substituting "answer aloud to what" for "answer back aloud what".

I might use "call out" for "answer aloud" in my first suggestion.
"answer back aloud... by crying" seems overly redundant to me. I would replace "answer back aloud" with "respond". "By crying" makes it clear that the response is verbal and not written.

In other words, I would re-word it as:

the pupils are asked to respond to what we say by crying: ‘Yes, it’s true’, or ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.

That's interesting, James. In BE crying would mean weeping. We'd have to say crying out.
I wasn't going to get into the "crying". 👁 Smile :)
Crying most commonly means "weeping" in the U.S., too, I'd say. In older primers you can find many examples of "the children cried..." meaning "the children cried out". It's old-fashioned, but still understandable.

"Crying out" would be clearer to me as well, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was mandatory. You could also use "calling out" or "shouting out" (although "shout-out" is now a slang phrase in AE).
I think I'd go for 'saying clearly'. You don't want to encourage young people to shout, and in several of the suggestions aloud has seemed redundant to me.
I think I'd go for 'saying clearly'. You don't want to encourage young people to shout, and in several of the suggestions aloud has seemed redundant to me.

Actually, encouraging children to shout can make an exercise a lot more enjoyable for them, 👁 Smile :)
but now we're getting into teaching styles and not proper wording.
Actually, encouraging children to shout can make an exercise a lot more enjoyable for them, 👁 Smile :)
but now we're getting into teaching styles and not proper wording.
Yes, sure, but it wouldn't be fair to encourage Maraba to tell them to shout, if he/she already has quite a boisterous class.
Thanks all of you; I have conclude like this:

... the pupils are asked to respond to what we say by crying out...

AWordLover said:
I agree with Thomas.
I suggest substituting "answer aloud to what" for "answer back aloud what".

I might use "call out" for "answer aloud" in my first suggestion.

By the way, my reluctance on using just 'answer' came from the fact that the coming phrases aimed at the children --There are four Wise Men, etc.-- are not actually questions, but affirmations. Are this reluctance of mine unjustified?
Thanks all of you; I have conclude like this:

... the pupils are asked to respond to what we say by crying out...



By the way, my reluctance on using just 'answer' came from the fact that the coming phrases aimed at the children --There are four Wise Men, etc.-- are not actually questions, but affirmations. Are this reluctance of mine unjustified?

The obvious word is respond, granted that you don't want to say answer or reply.
I think your decision to select respond instead of answer is fine. However, answer is not restricted to the use of responding to a question.

I answer the phone.
I answer the call of destiny (but you don't hear me say anything).
He presented an exellent argument but my answer won the debate.

In the context of a class, where you have been conditioning students to answer questions, using a different word may help the students understand that they don't need to use the usual protocol as in a question and answer session. I guess in this context you want them all to respond at once.
"Crying out" is used more in creative writing rather than in a procedure or instruction manual. If you are actually wanting the students to shout, then I would use "yelling." Also, if you want it to sound more like a native speaker, we (US) use "student" more often than "pupil". But nothing is wrong with "pupil". Here is how I would explain the exercise.


The teacher reads a list of statements to the class. For each item, the students are told to respond by saying 'Yes, it’s true’, ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.
Examples of statements:
+ There are four Wise Men.
+ Flasher is Santa’s dog.
+ Santa goes delivering milk.
Respond is what I have seen most in written-up lesson plans.

If you are outside and using your "outside voice" you could shout. Because the walls are made of paper (not really) in our school, I will have students hold a "thumbs up," "thumbs down," or "thumb sideways" (if they don't know whether the statement is true or false).

TPR is total physical response. You can also have them stand on a line in the middle of the room and move to one side of the line if they think the statement is true, and another side if they think it's false. (I regress off-topic....)
Thank you all again.


"Crying out" is used more in creative writing rather than in a procedure or instruction manual. If you are actually wanting the students to shout, then I would use "yelling." Also, if you want it to sound more like a native speaker, we (US) use "student" more often than "pupil". But nothing is wrong with "pupil". Here is how I would explain the exercise.


The teacher reads a list of statements to the class. For each item, the students are told to respond by saying 'Yes, it’s true’, ‘No, it’s false’ or ‘No, it’s not true’.
Examples of statements:
+ There are four Wise Men.
+ Flasher is Santa’s dog.
+ Santa goes delivering milk.

Waw, it's simple yet concise... I like it, can I borrow it?👁 Smile :)
In every school I attended, the instructor would simply say "answer aloud" when the response was to be repeated orally by the class.
Sure take it maraba...lol. I'm not an author nor care about copyright infringement (vulneración de los derechos de autor)...lol

I love writing and editing.
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