What might be the children's reaction to the house, and why are they excited?

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Board 8 » What might be the children's reaction to the house, and why are they excited?
The old house stood at the end of the lane, its windows boarded up and ivy creeping up the crumbling walls. A "For Sale" sign hung crookedly from the front gate, swaying gently in the breeze. A group of children on bikes stopped in front of the house, whispering excitedly to each other.

Looking for answers to the topic title based on text in post. I will reveal the academic book's answer that this is from after I have gotten feedback from all the places I have posted this.
All posters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or posters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Well the text says they're "whispering excitedly to each other" so I guess that's their reaction.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/39966a19.jpg

As for why they are excited, I think they are child actors directed to whisper excitedly to each other as per the script!

Or they are excited about something else! It doesn't say that they're whispering excitedly about the house or even looking at it! Perhaps they're there for Pokemon Go and the location just happens to be in the front of the house!

Or it could be that it's a diorama or doll house that they're excited about because it's cool and quaint!

And maybe they're really magic, who knows.
Let me know when you do the reveal, I love this stuff.

They're excited because they're about to bring the ghost of the house a deathday present.
You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.
i feel like i'm missing something because my answer would just be, like, they're excited because it seems like a haunted house and they want to sneak in and explore it for fun...?
Is there a specific right answer here or are we just looking to see how we answer vs the academic book?
we're all buds ~jc~
<DeathChicken> you are my hero for being the first person to cite National Geographic in Mercs
i'm just going to arbitrarily guess the bog standard answer dels already provided basically but flesh it out (to a bare minimum degree more) and say it's like, because the house was owned by an antagonistic old woman who they think had to be like a witch or something, and they're eager to search the place for magic artifacts or whatever. maybe they even think she got sucked into another dimension through like a cursed mirror since they assume she mysteriously disappeared instead of just moving or, you know, old age reasons lol. (also they mistakenly attribute anybody else they know also happening to move away to them being captured by her previously because these kids are dumb actually lol)

and then ironically there really is a cursed mirror there just coincidentally

also just in case by reaction it means like what do they say right after this uhhhh let's go with "So you think Tyler's in there too?" "And Susan! Just trust me on this, this might be the only chance we get!" "Shhhh!"

is that children's fantasy novel tropey enough lol
Chaeix posted...
Is there a specific right answer here or are we just looking to see how we answer vs the academic book?
This is the crux of the issue my wife and I are having in regards to this question. I don't agree that there should be considered one "correct" answer. Where as my wife does. Her answer happens to coincide with the academic book and she is being very rigid in her attempts to teach our son about "inference" when it comes to the school subject of English or Language Arts.

Teachers are on strike in our area and so instead of letting our kids just sit around and do nothing we are being proactive and trying to keep their brains active by going through their core subjects.

I personally think that having the "correct" answer is less important than being able to properly articulate how and why you have inferred your answer but my wife is arguing that getting the correct answer is more important.
All posters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or posters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
The children are about to purchase the house using the inheritance from their dead mother. They whisper quietly but excitedly, for they know that this house sits atop a peculiar point in space they call Charon's Gate; the nexus between the worlds of the living and the damned. From here, they will begin the ritual that will bring about The Great Undoing.
Paratroopa1 posted...
The children are about to purchase the house using the inheritance from their dead mother. They whisper quietly but excitedly, for they know that this house sits atop a peculiar point in space they call Charon's Gate; the nexus between the worlds of the living and the damned. From here, they will begin the ritual that will bring about The Great Undoing.

This is the answer i got from doing FOIL
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcb35gGx0t1qailr4o1_500.gif
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=57N0YAEJ
Read Umineko with your kids.
And maybe they're really magic, who knows.
The children are excited for new kids to move into the neighborhood.
"Bordate is a pretty shady place, what with the gangs, casinos, evil corporations and water park." - FAHtastic
If the answer is supposed to be in the text then it's like they're excited about visiting a very old house and that's it. Otherwise yeah it's like as long as your interpretation can be derived from the text it's fine.
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/B8%20Girls%202012/pjbas.png
Dels posted...
i feel like i'm missing something because my answer would just be, like, they're excited because it seems like a haunted house and they want to sneak in and explore it for fun...?
Same

I understand the exercise and I think it could teach contradictory inference (i.e. what solutions are NOT possible due to the details in the story), but it's so open-ended that I can't see how there can only be one non-contradictory answer
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
There's no price listed so the children incorrectly assume they might be able to buy it. They have not yet faced the harsh realities of adulthood.
Gin
Unflappable, unserious, unimportant
Raka_Putra posted...
Read Umineko with your kids.
child abuse
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
The fruit tree in the yard of the house is finally producing fruit for the season. They are excited to climb the tree and get some free fruit.
TheKnightOfNee
How can there only be one correct answer?
to me hero's is just bad person
The real question that needs to be asked here is "did something change recently?" Because if nothing changed, why are the kids suddenly all gathered around the house, looking at it? Are they trying to egg on some one kid to go into the house? That would be the most likely answer, as far as I'm concerned.

However, if something changed recently, it would probably be the house itself becoming for sale. The fact that the windows are boarded up means that likely nobody was living here, so why was it boarded up, and for how long? Is there reason for grown-ups to be interested in this property even as a fixer-upper or if they're house flippers? And if it's just now for sale, is there a reason why that would make the children interested?

Alternatively, maybe what changed is that there are strange happenings around the town. People are being struck down by freakish incidents of bad luck, or there's legitimately supernatural events occurring. And if so, the kids are obviously all convinced that the source of these incidents is inside the house.

Or maybe what changed is simply that there's a new kid in town. Refer back to my original interpretation, because they're going to make the new kid go inside.
Only the exceptions can be exceptional.
The kids are bullies, and they're excited because they're going to lock the local nerds inside to scare them.
Change is weird.
HanOfTheNekos posted...
The children are excited for new kids to move into the neighborhood.

from an academic standpoint, this or something along this line feels like the 'correct' answer to me.
The Artist Formerly Known as Hannyabal
IfGodCouldDie posted...
This is the crux of the issue my wife and I are having in regards to this question. I don't agree that there should be considered one "correct" answer. Where as my wife does. Her answer happens to coincide with the academic book and she is being very rigid in her attempts to teach our son about "inference" when it comes to the school subject of English or Language Arts.

Teachers are on strike in our area and so instead of letting our kids just sit around and do nothing we are being proactive and trying to keep their brains active by going through their core subjects.

I personally think that having the "correct" answer is less important than being able to properly articulate how and why you have inferred your answer but my wife is arguing that getting the correct answer is more important.
I'm on your side. At first glance this seemed like a rorshach test, or one of those things where you ask a kid to tell a story to figure out what sort of things are going on in their lives. I assumed your textbook was a psychology one, lol

When discussing with her, maybe bring up flowers for Algernon. The narrator keeps being asked what the images are, and he keeps saying "ink" (or "clouds", I forget), which is literally correct, but eventually as the procedure works he realizes it's meant to be interpretive or abstract

All that aside, if there really needs to be a focus on learning how to interpret reading passages, the question needs to be phrased a little differently.

It needs to say "what is the most likely thing going on given XYZ". XYZ being a genre or real life. Otherwise you're literally just crushing your child's creativity
You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.
azuarc posted...
However, if something changed recently, it would probably be the house itself becoming for sale.

I thought that but I think it's implied that sign has been there a long time as well
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/B8%20Girls%202012/pjbas.png
pjbasis posted...
I thought that but I think it's implied that sign has been there a long time as well
Yes, the sign "swinging crookedly", is supposedly meant to indicate it has been there a long time and not properly maintained,
All posters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or posters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
But yeah, if I was a kid taking a reading test (I took a shit ton when I was in second grade) I would expect the correct answer to be one of sneaking in or doing some kind of prank. People don't typically move in while windows are still boarded, but I wouldn't expect a kid to know that

The passage doesn't even say if it's daytime or nighttime
You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.
IfGodCouldDie posted...
Her answer happens to coincide with the academic book and she is being very rigid in her attempts to teach our son about "inference" when it comes to the school subject of English or Language Arts.
i'm no inference teacher but if you ask me, the most important part of inferences is acknowledging that they are merely probabilistic and there is always going to be margin for error if you are merely inferring

so while you can of course aim to infer the correct answer if there is a single answer, until you actually have empirical proof that your answer is correct, it remains a hypothetical

and the prompt has fucking dick all for empirical evidence that narrows things down.

this isn't my answer but an answer could be as specific as 'one of the kids' dads is an urban planner who told the kid that the neighborhood has been rezoned for mixed residential and commercial and mcdonald's is trying to buy the land to open a store. the kid is now telling his friends on their bike ride'. you should ask your wife to disprove that particular theorem given the information available :O
we're all buds ~jc~
<DeathChicken> you are my hero for being the first person to cite National Geographic in Mercs
Chaeix posted...
i'm no inference teacher but if you ask me, the most important part of inferences is acknowledging that they are merely probabilistic and there is always going to be margin for error if you are merely inferring
yeah drop bayes' formula on ur wife's azz
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
i had to look up what bayes' formula is lol
we're all buds ~jc~
<DeathChicken> you are my hero for being the first person to cite National Geographic in Mercs
changmas posted...
from an academic standpoint, this or something along this line feels like the 'correct' answer to me.
This is pretty much the only wrong answer imo since it's clear the thing is not actually for sale. There's also hints about location (end of lane, bikable, so probably a cul-de-sac) and season (breeze and biking, so spring or autumn, unlikely to have snow or ice). Crumbling house means it's made of brick which is not super common in the US but also not rare. Kids whispering means they're probably discussing something illegal.

But again, millions of possibilities using those hints.
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
Its obvious. The abandoned house has internet access and the grade school kids are excited to sneak in and secretly sign up for Gamefaqs.
I need to update my signature.
Is the house condemned and theyre going to watch it be demolished?

edit: using only the info provided, this feels like the right answer

but either way I agree with IGCD that coming up with ones own theory and being able to support it with reasoning feels most valuable
I need to update my signature.
IfGodCouldDie posted...
This is the crux of the issue my wife and I are having in regards to this question. I don't agree that there should be considered one "correct" answer. Where as my wife does. Her answer happens to coincide with the academic book and she is being very rigid in her attempts to teach our son about "inference" when it comes to the school subject of English or Language Arts.

I'm not sure if "they're excited to check out a haunted house" is something that is inherently the most intuitive assumption, or if it's just that years and years of watching/reading media has made me know that that's the most common trope in this scenario. I don't know if a child would immediately know this or should be expected to. But if they've watched enough cartoons they've probably seen similar scenarios a lot by now?
It doesn't say when the story takes place, just after when bikes are probably relatively commonplace for children. And we have modern English I suppose.
And maybe they're really magic, who knows.
The house is irrelevant- they're excited because they've just finished their cycle race to the end of the lane.
The shattered stage is set and there's a role you must fulfil
wallmasterz posted...
Its obvious. The abandoned house has internet access and the grade school kids are excited to sneak in and secretly sign up for Gamefaqs.
Ah right it's in 2028, after gfaqs was banned by the free speech abolitionists
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
The kids are ghosts, and they're excited that the abandoned house they haunt at night might finally have some new people moving in soon.
Congrats to 2020 GotD Guru champ azuarc!
bump
I need to update my signature.
Is there supposed to be an objectively correct answer or are we just supposed to be creative?
It's like paying for bubble wrap. -transience on Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
IfGodCouldDie posted...
This is the crux of the issue my wife and I are having in regards to this question. I don't agree that there should be considered one "correct" answer. Where as my wife does. Her answer happens to coincide with the academic book and she is being very rigid in her attempts to teach our son about "inference" when it comes to the school subject of English or Language Arts.
I need to update my signature.
Pretty sure its the sneaking in thing.

The fact that they are whispering implies its something they aren't supposed to do. And what else are you not supposed to do?

Another realistic non-anime answer is one kid found out what happened there (like a murder or something) and is excited to tell his friends cause its cool.

But yea teaching a reliance on inferences when its more or less guessing can be both a good and a bad thing. If you treat an inference as a fact its dangerous, but if you treat it as a possibility its fine.
Answer from the book:

The children are likely excited by the mysterious and possibly haunter appearance of the house, sparking their curiosity and imagination.

Evidence: The passage mentions that the children are "whispering excitedly to each other" as they stop in front of the house. The use of the word "excitedly" suggests that they are enthusiastic about something. Furthermore, the description of the house with boarded-up windows and ivy-covered walls creates an entire and intriguing atmosphere, which could fuel the children's excitement and desire to explore.
All posters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or posters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
oops i forgot to submit my answer but anyways

'the house looks mysterious' is dumber and more reductive than any answer i would have come up with. building on this, the evidence section itself suggests a broader answer than what was actually stated (e.g. 'fuel the children's excitement and desire to explore' but the "answer" doesn't involve exploring).

Verdict: whatever book contains this question and answer is dumb

Evidence: the question and answer are fucking dumb
we're all buds ~jc~
<DeathChicken> you are my hero for being the first person to cite National Geographic in Mercs
I want my money back
I need to update my signature.
IfGodCouldDie posted...
I personally think that having the "correct" answer is less important than being able to properly articulate how and why you have inferred your answer but my wife is arguing that getting the correct answer is more important.

You are absolutely, 100% in the right here.

What was the consensus feedback among the different places you posted this?

It's like paying for bubble wrap. -transience on Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
redrocket posted...
You are absolutely, 100% in the right here.

What was the consensus feedback among the different places you posted this?
B8 was the only one that had worthy discussion on the subject. Everywhere else was just joke answers to the question.
All posters and events depicted in this post are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or posters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
IfGodCouldDie posted...
Answer from the book:

The children are likely excited by the mysterious and possibly haunter appearance of the house, sparking their curiosity and imagination.

Evidence: The passage mentions that the children are "whispering excitedly to each other" as they stop in front of the house. The use of the word "excitedly" suggests that they are enthusiastic about something. Furthermore, the description of the house with boarded-up windows and ivy-covered walls creates an entire and intriguing atmosphere, which could fuel the children's excitement and desire to explore.
This is 100% AI generated. How stupid
_foolmo_
he says listen to my story this maybe are last chance
IfGodCouldDie posted...
Everywhere else was just joke answers to the question.


Any good ones?
My bracket looked like random picks compared to his.
Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
IfGodCouldDie posted...
Answer from the book:

The children are likely excited by the mysterious and possibly haunter appearance of the house, sparking their curiosity and imagination.

Evidence: The passage mentions that the children are "whispering excitedly to each other" as they stop in front of the house. The use of the word "excitedly" suggests that they are enthusiastic about something. Furthermore, the description of the house with boarded-up windows and ivy-covered walls creates an entire and intriguing atmosphere, which could fuel the children's excitement and desire to explore.
This is such a bad answer it's pissed me right off
Very slowly becoming a Mega Man aficionado.
Board 8 » What might be the children's reaction to the house, and why are they excited?