Q&A - PSLE English

[atutor2001]

Hi Teacher Aaron and Learning Partner


Must clarify first, "me no tutor" My nick stands for "a tutor for my own kids till 2001". Hope you can correct me if I am wrong. I pick up grammar on my own because of my kids some ten over years ago. Have forgotten many things due to lack of practice. However, I remembered some guideline like if we restructure a sentence as,

"Much to Candice’s displeasure, her proposal was rejected."

the reason for doing so is to give more emphasis to the second part of the sentence. That is, in the opinion of the writer, the fact that the proposal is rejected is of more important than the displeasure. The more important info is placed last so that the reader will remember better. With regard to the name, it should be introduced first for clarity. So we put the name Candice in the first part because we don’t want the reader to go wondering who is ‘her’. Not sure if my reasoning is valid.

If the displeasure is more important, the sentence will be :

Candice’s proposal was rejected, much to her displeasure.

[SOS mum]

Hi, ps help…Many tks n God Bless:)


The poor _______ given household rebates on electrical bill last month.
(1) is (2) are (3) was (4) were

[SOS mum]

Sorry, one more


Joan barely has the opportunity to go shopping with her friends, _____she?
(1) has (2) does (3) hasn’t (4) doesn’t

[sharonkhoo]

SOS mum:

Hi, ps help..Many tks n God Bless:)


The poor _______ given household rebates on electrical bill last month.
(1) is (2) are (3) was (4) were

\"were\". \"Poor\" here is plural referring poor people.

[sharonkhoo]

SOS mum:

Sorry, one more


Joan barely has the opportunity to go shopping with her friends, _____she?
(1) has (2) does (3) hasn't (4) doesn't

\"has\". \"Barely\" is considered a negative word here, so the tag should be positive.

[SOS mum]

slmkhoo:

SOS mum:

Sorry, one more


Joan barely has the opportunity to go shopping with her friends, _____she?
(1) has (2) does (3) hasn't (4) doesn't

\"has\". \"Barely\" is considered a negative word here, so the tag should be positive.

But answer shèet said \"does\". Am confusing too

[SOS mum]

The class was very noisy as the teacher was unable to manage the boisterous boys.


Due to __________
the teacher’s unability to manage the boisterous boys, the class was very noisy OR

Due to the fact that the teacher was unable to manage the boisterous boys, the class was very noisy.

TIA

[jetsetter]

Learning Partners:

Hi jetsetter,

I agree that aspect will impact on tense, that is the meaning of a sentence will affect the tense, but it still does not mean that to get the right meaning, we have to use the wrong tense, right?

It's just that it's only a week away from the PSLE and it's very frustrating to see parents and pupils being needlessly confused.

Reported speech is one of the components in PSLE English that, if mastered, will lead to full marks. It's not like vocab, where you can't guarantee what words will come out. If you master the rules of reported speech, barring careless mistakes, you'll score full marks for that question.

And the rules are simple, one of which is:
[list]

simple present tense in speech becomes simple past tense in reported speech

[/list]Don't need to overthink the question.

If Mum asked Peter if the dishes were washed, she was asking about the dishes, not why Peter had not washed them.

It's called reported speech (because you just report what was said), not interpretative speech.

Er, no leh...My guai low 'Cher (from Cambridge) said depends on the aspect, aka \"meaning\" of the verb in question wor...Nevermind lah...too cheem to delve into the technicalities with the laymen here.

You can look at the e.g. in this British Council http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/zh-hans/grammar-reference/reported-speech-1 to see why it's not that \"simple\". Even in minutes of meeting, if the action is habitual and still true here and now, no need to convert to past tense.

I totally understand Piggylala's Cher's reasoning, cos she took that non-washing as a state that occurred further in the past from the time of speaking/asking, not concurrent as you've proposed. We need to draw the timeline to understand why, but we dont hv the luxury of time now.

:celebrate:

[Learning Partners]

jetsetter:

Learning Partners:

Hi jetsetter,

I agree that aspect will impact on tense, that is the meaning of a sentence will affect the tense, but it still does not mean that to get the right meaning, we have to use the wrong tense, right?

It's just that it's only a week away from the PSLE and it's very frustrating to see parents and pupils being needlessly confused.

Reported speech is one of the components in PSLE English that, if mastered, will lead to full marks. It's not like vocab, where you can't guarantee what words will come out. If you master the rules of reported speech, barring careless mistakes, you'll score full marks for that question.

And the rules are simple, one of which is:
[list]

simple present tense in speech becomes simple past tense in reported speech

[/list]Don't need to overthink the question.

If Mum asked Peter if the dishes were washed, she was asking about the dishes, not why Peter had not washed them.

It's called reported speech (because you just report what was said), not interpretative speech.

Er, no leh...My guai low 'Cher (from Cambridge) said depends on the aspect, aka \"meaning\" of the verb in question wor...Nevermind lah...too cheem to delve into the technicalities with the laymen here.

You can look at the e.g. in this British Council http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/zh-hans/grammar-reference/reported-speech-1 to see why it's not that \"simple\". Even in minutes of meeting, if the action is habitual and still true here and now, no need to convert to past tense.

I totally understand Piggylala's Cher's reasoning, cos she took that non-washing as a state that occurred further in the past from the time of speaking/asking, not concurrent as you've proposed. We need to draw the timeline to understand why, but we dont hv the luxury of time now.

:celebrate:

Hi jetsetter,

I thought that is what I meant when I explained 'aspect' but if you disagree, we shall agree to disagree then.

Regarding the link you sent me, I checked it out. Noted that in no instance does the simple present tense in direct speech change to past perfect tense in reported speech.

What they have is that simple present tense can be changed to simple present tense because action is still ongoing (can also be for a fact, like:

Peter said, 'The sun rises from the east everyday.'
Peter said that the sun rises from the east everyday.)

Totally agree, and this is taught in school.

But simple present tense to past perfect tense? I cannot agree with it. The webpage on the British Council that you gave also does not have this conversion. So I rest my case.

[Learning Partners]

marstolive:

Hi I have got 2 question tags to clarify. Hope someone can share some light.


1. Jane dislikes chocolate, ( doesnt or does )she?

2. Harry barely do housework, (doesnt or does) he?

TIA

Hi marstolive,

1. I agree with your child's teacher.

Jane dislikes chocolate.
'Dislikes' is a verb being used in the positive (is that the correct word to use?) form.

Jane does not dislike chocolates.
Now 'dislike' is being used in a negative form.

Hence the question tag for your question should be negative:

Jane dislikes chocolates, doesn't she?

Stress to your child not to be taken in by the meaning of the verb (disagree, deny, etc.), but to see if the word 'not' or equivalent (hardly, seldom, never, etc.) is in front of the verb in the same clause.