Los productos de esta tienda ________ plástico. The products in this shop are made of plastic.

D. H.C1Kwiziq community member

Los productos de esta tienda ________ plástico. The products in this shop are made of plastic.

Why is there so much inconsistency with questions of this type? "Son" was marked incorrect an an answer though it translates to 'The product in this store are plastic" yet a very similar question today of "De qué _______ esa escultura?" has "es" as an allowed alternate even though escultura is a feminine noun. Regarding this first question, is there a significant difference between (being plastic) and (being made of plastic) that we're supposed to know?

Asked 3 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Diane

The reason why "son" is not considered correct here:

Los productos de esta tienda ___ plástico.

 (The products in this shop are made of plastic.)

is because we are not translating this as "are plastic" but "are made of plastic"; although it may have a very similar meaning, the accurate answer is: "son de plástico" or "están hechos de plástico" 

The other sentence: 

¿De qué ___ esa escultura? - De barro. 

(What is that sculpture made of? - Clay.)

is admitting answer "es" because we already have "de" in the question: ¿De qué ___ esa escultura? so you only need the verb ser here.

There is a link to the lesson when you get an incorrect answer that says "explain this". That would take you to the lesson about "using either ser de + [material] or estar hecho de + [material]. 

I hope this clarified it for you.

Saludos

Inma

D. H. asked:View original

Los productos de esta tienda ________ plástico. The products in this shop are made of plastic.

Why is there so much inconsistency with questions of this type? "Son" was marked incorrect an an answer though it translates to 'The product in this store are plastic" yet a very similar question today of "De qué _______ esa escultura?" has "es" as an allowed alternate even though escultura is a feminine noun. Regarding this first question, is there a significant difference between (being plastic) and (being made of plastic) that we're supposed to know?

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