# swimmingly



## Couch Tomato

I have a question about the following extract. This text is about how a dominant vervet monkey keeps a stranger away from his group:

As soon as the strange male descended from the grove trees to try to cross the open ground that sparated his grove from the one in which the group was feeding, he gave an alarm call that vervets use to signal the sighting of a leopard nearby. The stranger shot back into the safety of his trees. As the day wore on, this was repeated every time the strange made a move in the group's direction. All was going *swimmingly *until the male made a crucual mistake: after successfully using the ploy several times, he gave the leopard alarm call while himself nochalantly walking across the open ground.
(_Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English 3 - Student's Book with Answers_)

There is a multiple choice question that comes with this extract. The question is what aspect of the situation is emphasized by the use of the word 'simmingly'. I have four options: *the tension*, *the danger*, *the humour *or *the charm*. I couldn't decide between *the humour* and *the charm*. The key says it's *the humour*, but why exactly? Swimmingly strikes me as an unusual word - the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says it's oldfashioned. But why is it necessary humorous? Why can't it emphasize *the charm*? 

Thank you in advance.


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## George French

I wouldn't use any of them. Use well.

GF..


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## Thomas Tompion

To go swimmingly is a common expression meaning to go smoothly.

It's often used before a but-clause or an until-clause (as in this case) to indicate that the excellent start was not maintained.

I think this is a hard question, and think that it's difficult to say that there can be only one correct answer, from the four choices.

The adverb suggests that all was going well but that this state was to be short-lived, so I'd put tension, but I bet other people have other answers, and I don't see that other answers would necessarily be worse.


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## Couch Tomato

George French said:


> I wouldn't use any of them. Use well.
> 
> GF..



George French, you must have misread the question. The question is not which word to use in place of "swimmingly".


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## exgerman

If I had to make the decision, this is how I would decide: the entire story is charming. I don't see the word_ swimmingly _making it more charming.

But, honestly, I don't know if I would have come to this decision if you hadn't already told us the answer.  I can't see the point of forcing the student of English to decide between charm and humor. Both are present throughout the passage.


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## Couch Tomato

Thomas Tompion said:


> The adverb suggests that all was going  well but that this state was to be short-lived, so I'd put tension, but I  bet other people have other answers, and I don't see that other answers  would necessarily be worse.



Thanks, Thomas.



exgerman said:


> But I can't see the point of forcing the student of English to decide  between charm and humor. Both are present throughout the  passage.



Thanks.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I thought it's either *the charm* of *the humour*, but I couldn't decide which one was more approriate. 

It's a strange question .


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## Franco-filly

I’d only say “the humour” if it had been mentioned earlier in thetext that the monkey found it amusing. Otherwise I would say “his method of keeping the stranger at bay was going swimmingly” which is not an option”


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## PaulQ

I take it that in " from the one in which the group was feeding, he gave an alarm call " the 'he' refers to the dominant monkey? If so, unless there is previous reference to  *the tension*, *the danger*, *the humour *or *the charm* of the situation, we cannot know, and "swimmingly" therefore refers to "all". Given the context, I would take "all" to mean the plan/ploy of the dominant male.

Has that plan/ploy been described as a *"a tense*, *dangerous*, *humorous *or *charming* plan? I can see that there is some humour in the story, and "swimmingly" is a word that can mean "with blithe happiness" and thus contrast with the stupidity of the mistake.


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## Couch Tomato

Thanks, Franco-filly and PaulQ.



PaulQ said:


> I take it that in " from the one in which the group was feeding, he gave an alarm call " the 'he' refers to the dominant monkey?



Yes.



PaulQ said:


> If so, unless there is previous reference to  *the tension*, *the danger*, *the humour *or *the charm* of the situation, we cannot know, and "swimmingly" therefore refers to "all".



There was no previous reference and the entire extract is not much longer than what I posted.


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## PaulQ

I too would see the answer as between charm and humour - probably nearer humour - but the question is very subjective and, thus. unfair.


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## Loob

I agree with Paul.  Despite being a native speaker of English, I would not have known how to answer the question.


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## Chasint

Couch Tomato said:


> ...There was no previous reference and the entire extract is not much longer than what I posted.


You say not much longer.  Maybe the important part is missing.


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## Hermione Golightly

It can only be the humour of the situation - the dominant monkey getting confused and making the alarm noise at the wrong time, against himself.  I guess you copied the text yourself since there are a number of typos.
Hermione


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## PaulQ

Hermione Golightly said:


> It can only be the humour of the situation - the dominant monkey getting confused and making the alarm noise at the wrong time.
> Hermione


How charming!


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## Chasint

If you ask me the question is nonsense. Furthermore does anyone actually use 'swimmingly' these days?


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## e2efour

I really don't understand what sort of people dream up questions like this. I have never read such a stupid question in all my life.

How can one choose any of the four options given and how can one associate _swimmingly _with any of them?
 Humour? From whose point of view? Certainly not the monkey's.
I see elements of danger and tension, but nothing else.


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## Hermione Golightly

Clearly my mind works the same way as the examiners', poor me! I don't really see what charm has to do with it, not more than tension or danger. That's why it's such a feeble question. I often wondered about those examiners.

H


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## Couch Tomato

Thanks, PaulQ, Loob, Biffo, e2efour and Hermione.



Biffo said:


> You say not much longer.  Maybe the important part is missing.



I doubt it. The four additional sentences don't tell us anything about how the events unfolded - they're just a set-up. We're told what the stranger's intentions were - to join the group. The dominant male realised that he would be ousted from his position of privilege if the the strange male succeeded in joining the group. Then the dominant male hit on a ploy to keep the stranger away from his group. That's all we're told.


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## Chasint

In that case the only thing that is going swimmingly is the male's subterfuge. 

What a stupid question. It is the examiner who needs a certificate of proficiency.


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## ewie

Just in case you need another opinion, Couch: that is indeed a singularly inept question.  (I don't see tension, danger, humour _or_ charm in the story.)  (Oh and by the way, _I_ use _swimmingly_)


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## velisarius

I think Biffo's right in that no-one except ewie uses the word "swimmingly" nowadays apart from headline  writers desperate for a "humorous" take on any story to do with water. (If you don't believe me, do a  search for "it's going swimmingly".) I think the very fact of this being an outdated and inappropriate word is what is supposed to be funny. I think the aim of the question is to test the language-learner's recognition that "swimmingly" is in a different register from a bland scientific description of the subject. It's quite a subtle distinction between humour and charm here, because most people find this sort of animal charming anyway, but I'd definitely go with "humour".


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## Couch Tomato

Thanks, Biffo, ewie and velisarius.



Biffo said:


> What a stupid question. It is the examiner who needs a certificate of proficiency.





ewie said:


> Just in case you need another opinion, Couch: that is indeed a singularly inept question.



Quite. I posted the entire extract and question on a different forum that doesn't have the 4 sentences quota and the poster who responded couldn't make sense of it either.



velisarius said:


> I think the very fact of this being an  outdated and inappropriate word is what is supposed to be funny.



But in that case, the question relies on personal intepretation - other people may not find the use of "swimmingly" funny at all. Incidentally, I reasoned like you did at first, but then I thought that my reasoning was rather unlikely and I switched to charming as it couldn't be denied that the situation was sort of charming. At least, that seemed to be the most likely assessment of the situation.


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## wandle

Couch Tomato said:


> I doubt it. The four additional sentences don't tell us anything about how the events unfolded - they're just a set-up. We're told what the stranger's intentions were - to join the group. The dominant male realised that he would be ousted from his position of privilege if the the strange male succeeded in joining the group. Then the dominant male hit on a ploy to keep the stranger away from his group. That's all we're told.


As always in a test, you need to ask 'What clues is the test composer giving me about his intentions?'

It seems to me the additional material is the key to the answer. It shows (1) there was no physical danger to the monkey and (2) that he was able to succeed by substituting one strategy for another.
This means that the two possibilities of tension and danger are out of consideration.
We can choose between humour and charm, because humour implies some unexpected change in tone or meaning, whereas charm requires a gentle, sustained atmosphere.
In this case 'going swimmingly' is a sudden injection of irony: thus the answer is humour.


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## ewie

Couch Tomato said:


> other people may not find the use of "swimmingly" funny at all.


(That would be me.  And I must admit I'm frankly amazed to find that anyone _does_)


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## Chasint

Couch Tomato said:


> ...All was going *swimmingly *until the male made a crucial mistake...






wandle said:


> As always in a test, you need to ask 'What clues is the test composer giving me about his intentions?'
> 
> It seems to me the additional material is the key to the answer. It shows (1) there was no physical danger to the monkey and (2) that the issue depended on the success of one strategy or another.
> This means that the two possibilities of tension and danger are out of consideration.
> We can choose between humour and charm, because humour implies some unexpected change in tone or meaning, whereas charm requires a gentle, sustained atmosphere.
> In this case 'going swimmingly' is a sudden injection of irony: thus the answer is humour.



Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
*swimmingly*/ˈswɪmɪŋli/﻿ 
▶_adverb __informal _smoothly and satisfactorily.
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/swimmingly


The examiner could have said "All was going *satisfactorily *until the male made a crucial mistake". What does this have to do with humour? I see no irony either because the situation was 'satisfactory' until the mistake was made.

Whether the piece is humorous or charming or whatever else is up to the reader to decide, it is not to be dictated by the author. If I tell you a joke, should I also mention it is funny in order for you to laugh?


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## wandle

Humour is rather subjective. The point here is not how funny it is, but what the test composer was looking for.
The change of tone is the indication. Even if we are not amused, that is still perceptible.


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## ewie

wandle said:


> The change of tone is the indication. Even if we are not amused, that is still perceptible.


I presume you mean there's a change of tone between what comes before _swimmingly_ and the introduction of the word _swimmingly_ (but not necessarily what comes after it) ... ?

How about:


> The stranger shot back into the safety of his trees.


in the previous sentence? That seems pretty informal (and a tad anthropomorphic) to me ...


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## Chasint

wandle said:


> Humour is rather subjective. The point here is not how funny it is, but what the test composer was looking for.
> The change of tone is the indication. Even if we are not amused, that is still perceptible.


Some people might think the change of tone was charming or even condescending. I still think its nonsense.

Multiple choice questions are suitable for facts. They are not suitable for subjective impressions.


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## wandle

'Going satisfactorily' would indicate the monkey's intention and the success of the ploy, and also identify with his purpose.
'Going swimmingly' does all the above, and also creates the element of humour: the added ironical comment.

As already said, it is not about how successful the humour is, but what the tester is looking for.


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## Couch Tomato

ewie said:


> (That would be me.  And I must admit I'm frankly amazed to find that anyone _does_)



Yes, that's quite right. For me, because I don't use or hear the phrase "go swimmingly" very often, it strikes me as a "funny" phrase. Just like in the movie _Thor_, there is this line where the main character basically says that he's hungry and he wants to eat something but he says it in a way that's rather rediculous “This mortal form has grown weak. I need sustenance.” I'd consider "sustenance" to be a "funny" word, at least in this context . However, this reasoning is faulty. Like I said, an examiner cannot rely on a student thinking the same way as s/he does.


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## wandle

We know the examiner is putting out signs. Our task is to spot them in the jungle.
Armed with that knowledge, we engage in an elimination process until we reach the least unlikely solution.


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## Chasint

Examiners are self-selecting teachers who probably expect their students to think as they do. If the articulate and well-educated native speakers on this thread can't agree, what chance the poor learner?


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## Couch Tomato

Thank you for your comments, wandle.

I still think that the lack of agreement in this thread as to which answer is the correct one is indicative of the quality of this question - not so good.


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## ewie

Biffo said:


> Examiners are self-selecting teachers who probably expect their students to think as they do. If the articulate and well-educated native speakers on this thread can't agree, what chance the poor learner?


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## Hermione Golightly

I can easily imagine Sir David Attenborough (maybe he's a lord) using the word 'swimmingly' and he does quite often have that slight touch of affectionate anthropomorphism in his comments. Who doesn't wonder at the similarities especially when watching the apes.

Hermione


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## wandle

The most striking evidence of human-like behaviour here is that the monkey first spoiled a good strategy by a silly mistake (no hard-wired instinct there) and secondly switched strategy successfully (ditto).
We all make mistakes: but how many of us are flexible enough to switch promptly and effectively when necessary?


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## Thomas Tompion

I'm surprised that discussion continues at all on this 'question'.  As Biffo says, if we can't agree, what chance has a poor learner got?

I'm extremely familiar with the expression _to go swimmingly_, and I regard the 'question' as a complete absurdity.


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## Tatti Bella

After I read it and then re-read it, I'd say humor because things weren't going smoothly at all. The afternoon was punctuated by warning calls and the "stranger" darting in and out of trees for the entire afternoon. It's funny because the irregular, jumpy nature of the afternoon is being pointed out. I didn't feel the tension of this passage. It sounds comical with ververt monkeys and the big cat referred to as a "stranger" having a show-down.


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## Thomas Tompion

But we aren't being asked about the passage in general, Tatti.  The question is _What aspect of the situation is emphasized by the use of the word 'swimmingly'_?


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## natkretep

Coming in late here, but I wanted to say that (1) I use _swimmingly _too; (2) the word sets up a contrast; and (3) the contrast injects some humour to the passage. (3) is an interpretation of (2), but not necessarily the only one.


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## George French

Couch Tomato said:


> George French, you must have misread the question. The question is not which word to use in place of "swimmingly".


 
Couch,

Perhaps, you may now understand why I suggested (in post 2) to use well instead of any of the 4 choices..

GF..

To paraphrase GIGO, garbage question, garbage answers.


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## Couch Tomato

Thank you for your responses.



George French said:


> Perhaps, you may now understand why I  suggested (in post 2) to use well instead of any of the 4  choices..



Yes, it's clear now.


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