Q&A - PSLE English

[Jade]

Jade:

Many thanks in advance if some can help on why the answer below is \"bid\":


No one at the action dared bid on the priceless 'Star of the Sea' pendant.

The options are: bid / bids / have bid / bidding

thanks.

Need advice on the above please. Thank you.

[GiftedGem]

Jade:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"Jade\"]One more that needs help, why is the answer \"are\" when statement is about thing of the past:


Flowers (are) commonly used to design clothing worn in the 1960s.
Options: are / were/ have been / had been


Gosh, the more I mark the more confused I am...guess my only grammar foundation is also not there.

TIA.

I think the correct answer should be 'were'. I can't help with explanations as I go by 'sound'. It would take too long to look up the grammar rules, sorry!

Thanks, slmkhoo, I thought so too and am confused with the 'are' answer provided and my confidence in my answer wavered.[/quote]DD said the answer 'were'.

[jetsetter]

Jade:

Many thanks in advance if some can help on why the answer below is \"bid\":


No one at the action dared bid on the priceless 'Star of the Sea' pendant.

The options are: bid / bids / have bid / bidding

thanks.

\"dared\" is your auxiliary verb (functions like your modals 'can'.) here so it takes the past tense.
\"bid\" remains in its base form I.e. Un-tense

[GiftedGem]

Jade:

Jade:

Many thanks in advance if some can help on why the answer below is \"bid\":


No one at the action dared bid on the priceless 'Star of the Sea' pendant.

The options are: bid / bids / have bid / bidding

thanks.

Need advice on the above please. Thank you.

bid is more appropriate as compared to bidding. bids and have bid do not sound right.

[Book Worm]

GiftedGem:

Jade:

[quote=\"Jade\"]Many thanks in advance if some can help on why the answer below is \"bid\":


No one at the action dared bid on the priceless 'Star of the Sea' pendant.

The options are: bid / bids / have bid / bidding

thanks.

Need advice on the above please. Thank you.

bid is more appropriate as compared to bidding. bids and have bid do not sound right.[/quote]Yes. Bid is correct

[Book Worm]

GiftedGem:

Flowers (are) commonly used to design clothing worn in the 1960s.
Options: are / were/ have been / had been


DD said the answer 'were'.

Same as well. Answer is 'were'

[Jade]

jetsetter:

Jade:

Many thanks in advance if some can help on why the answer below is \"bid\":


No one at the action dared bid on the priceless 'Star of the Sea' pendant.

The options are: bid / bids / have bid / bidding

thanks.

\"dared\" is your auxiliary verb (functions like your modals 'can'.) here so it takes the past tense.
\"bid\" remains in its base form I.e. Un-tense

Thanks, Jetsetter. How do you teach a child to identify such unusual auxillary verb? Greatly appreciated.

[jetsetter]

Jade:

One more that needs help, why is the answer \"are\" when statement is about thing of the past:


Flowers (are) commonly used to design clothing worn in the 1960s.
Options: are / were/ have been / had been


Gosh, the more I mark the more confused I am...guess my only grammar foundation is also not there.

TIA.

Hi, the answer \"are\" is not wrong either. In this case, writer is using the Historical Present Tense which is used in non-fiction, e.g. accounts of history, or in journalism (headlines).

[jetsetter]

Jade:

Thanks, Jetsetter. How do you teach a child to identify such unusual auxillary verb? Greatly appreciated.

auxiliary means to support or help the main Verb, just like Certis Cisco is the auxiliary police (配角) is helping the main SPF（主角).

Through frequent reading, a child will recognise that \"dare\" (like \"need\") is a special Verb that wears two hats:
#1) to help the main Verb (配角）; or
#2) to be the main Verb （主角）of a sentence.

In this sentence, \"dare\" is wearing Hat #1（配角）, i.e. supporting the main verb \"bid\". When wearing Hat #1, \"dare\" will behave like a Modal (\"can\", \"will\", \"must\", \"shall\"...) which all support main Verbs too. The behaviors are:

* Whoever is in the supporting verb position will absorb the Tense (i.e. \"dared\").
* Whoever is in the main verb position shall remain in its original tense (i.e. \"bid\" in infinitive form)

Try asking child if he can say:

\"can bids\"/\"can have bid\"/\"can bidding\"...
Sound weird? Then same rules apply to \"dare\" and \"need\" lor
:evil:

[Jade]

Hi All,


Another question to clarify:

The rules (were) laid down many years ago. You must obey them.

Options: were/are/have been/will be

Why is it 'were' and not 'have been' since the rules are still applicable and must be obeyed?

Thanks much!

Btw Jetsetter, thanks for the analogy of 主角 and 配角. :love: