Q&A - PSLE English
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atutor2001:
atutor2001:
Not awkward. Jane dislike chocolate, does she? .... In Singlish form, does she? = yes ah? Really ah? So surprising hor?Nebbermind:
Jane dislikes chocolate, does she. - sounds kinda awkward.
(I know) Jane dislike chocolate, doesn't she. Basically the writer is seeking affirmation....in Singlish form, doesn't she = no meh....
\"Jane dislikes chocolate, does she?\" is syntactically incorrect.
When doing tag questions, kid must always hunt for the AUXILIARY (be it \"be\", \"have\", \"do\" or a modal \"can\"/\"may\"/\"will\" etc.). In this case, don't be fooled by the main verb which connotes negativity. There are other words with negative meanings like hates/loathes/detests that are inserted to confuse the kid.
REMEMBER: There is a covet Auxiliary hidden in an SVO sentence like this. The V in this case is \"dislike\" while the Auxiliary is actually what syntacticians would call a DUMMY \"do\" (or \"does\" in this case cos of Singular Subject).
Jane does dislike chocolate.
Your tag should negate the positive \"does\", so it should become \"doesn't\", NOT \"does\".
As such, you can have a sentence like:
Jane hates Math, doesn't she?
+++
Let's not confuse or compare BrE with SG Eng!!!
Another misconception is that putting \"doesn't it\" doesn't nec mean it's automatically an affirmation. You need to check whether it's rising/falling/rise-fall intonation which will invariably affect the semantics. This is too high-level and WON'T be tested in PSLE!! Tk God! -
SOS mum:
But answer shèet said \"does\". Am confusing too[/quote]SOS MUM:
\"has\". \"Barely\" is considered a negative word here, so the tag should be positive.slmkhoo:
[quote=\"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
Answer sheet is CORRECT.
\"barely\" is a semi-negative adverb as we all know.
\"has\" here is NOT an Auxiliary (as in \"has eaten\"/\"has been sleeping\", etc.). \"has\" here denotes \"possession\" and acts as the main verb in the main clause.
Therefore, you shouldn't \"flip\" the main verb for your tag like this:
Joan barely has the opportunity...., has she? (INCORRECT)
REMEMBER: you must \"flip\" the Auxiliary but in this case, since we have the special adverb \"barely\" (like \"hardly\"/\"never\"/\"scarcely\", etc), so you regard the semi-negative \"barely\" as though it's the DUMMY \"does not\" and negate it to derive \"does\" for your tag.
Am I confusing u?
:siam:
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Personally, they should be teaching the kids how to write concisely and then test them to ensure they can do it...and not test them on some exceptional cases.
English should be simple...
Jane does not like chocolate, does she?
Straight forward...easy to understand and can't go wrong with the grammar!! -
Nebbermind:
Personally, they should be teaching the kids how to write concisely and then test them to ensure they can do it...and not test them on some exceptional cases.
English should be simple...
Jane does not like chocolate, does she?
Straight forward...easy to understand and can't go wrong with the grammar!!
For PSLE, yes.
But negative-negative or positive-positive are also possible in exceptional cases, but won't come out in PSLE. -
jetsetter:
Understand you I not. Confused I am - NBM
Am I confusing u? :siam: -
Learning Partners:
I think tagging with \"dislike\", ,,,did come out in psle before. ,The problem is whether will an answer with \"does\" be marked wrong. I am pretty sure that if it is from a school exam, the answer with \"does\" will be considered as wrong, leaving a wrong impression forever.
......The PSLE syllabus covers the standard cases and not the special cases. In a school test or examination, the parent could still go to the teacher or HOD and argue for the mark, although his success in getting the lost mark is not guaranteed.
In the PSLE, there is no redress; even if you request to view the script and argue about the special cases, it's highly unlikely that MOE will agree to re-mark all the scripts.
2. 'Study dead book' as you say is indeed a problem with our academic system.
But please understand the dilemma of the teacher or even parent: teach too much and you may confuse the kid more than ever, teach too little, and you're accused of rote-learning without understanding.
A fine balance has to be struck, although the right balance may seldom be achieved.
Cheers.
The most obvious example is on the use of tense. Ask any adults on when to use present tense and most likely the answer is \"for action in present time\" which is not totally correct.
In my view, common \"exceptions\" should be taught so tha we will not construct sentences like, \"yesterday, the sun rose from the east\" - since we were told to use past tense if there is a past time indicated. -
A large number of poultry is or are…
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I hope this site can explain better
http://languagetools.info/grammarpedia/clausetype.htmjetsetter:
atutor2001:
\"Jane dislikes chocolate, does she?\" is syntactically incorrect.
When doing tag questions, kid must always hunt for the AUXILIARY (be it \"be\", \"have\", \"do\" or a modal \"can\"/\"may\"/\"will\" etc.). In this case, don't be fooled by the main verb which connotes negativity. There are other words with negative meanings like hates/loathes/detests that are inserted to confuse the kid.
REMEMBER: There is a covet Auxiliary hidden in an SVO sentence like this. The V in this case is \"dislike\" while the Auxiliary is actually what syntacticians would call a DUMMY \"do\" (or \"does\" in this case cos of Singular Subject).
Jane does dislike chocolate.
Your tag should negate the positive \"does\", so it should become \"doesn't\", NOT \"does\".
As such, you can have a sentence like:
Jane hates Math, doesn't she?
+++
Let's not confuse or compare BrE with SG Eng!!!
Another misconception is that putting \"doesn't it\" doesn't nec mean it's automatically an affirmation. You need to check whether it's rising/falling/rise-fall intonation which will invariably affect the semantics. This is too high-level and WON'T be tested in PSLE!! Tk God! -
Learning Partners:
Y can't it be (2)? Can u pl explain... :?Jamesbond:
![](\"http://i60.tinypic.com/ygmc6.jpg\")
http://i60.tinypic.com/ygmc6.jpg\">
The answer should be (3).
The common confusion is there are two rather similar verbs:
infinitive form : 'lay' (to put down), 'lie' (two meanings: to bluff and to be in a horizontal position).
The forms of 'lay': lay laid laid
The forms of 'lie' (when we mean bluff) : lie lied lied
The forms of 'lie' (when we mean to be horizontal): lie lay lain
In your question, we want to say the students have put their papers down on the desks, so should be 'had laid'. -
Nebbermind:
Specially for NBM and SOS Mum:
Understand you I not. Confused I am - NBMjetsetter:
Am I confusing u? :siam:
![](\"http://i61.tinypic.com/b3mxp4.jpg\")
Pardon my messy handwriting! :rotflmao:
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