All About English Creative Writing

[The Alternative Story]

tianzhu:

The Alternative Story:

As Mr Tan was walking towards the lift, he heard the emergency bell ringing.

The ringing here functions as a gerund and not an adjective.

Hi TAS

Gerunds and Present Participles can be confusing as they end with ing.

I am trying to make a comparison with one of my earlier questions.Take this example.

I heard John singing.
Is singing here a gerund or participle describing John?

Please advise.

Best wishes

Hi Tianzhu,

Yes, they are confusing :? Gerunds are nouns and Present Participles are verbs- the present indicates the time that the action (verb) occurred.

Example of present participles:

1) The man is singing

Examples of gerunds:

1) I dislike dancing - dancing here is the name of the activity you dislike. Dislike is the verb.

Example of both gerunds and present participle used in the same sentence:

1) I am going swimming.- 'am going' is the present participle and 'swimming' is the gerund

For your question: I heard John singing. The 'singing' here is a gerund, not an adjective (an adjective is a describing word). If you want to use an adjective in the 'ing' form to describe someone, it will be used in this way:

1) The dying man uttered his last words.

Hope this helps to clarify the issue.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

pixiedust:

My child has a problem with response vs respond.

Any suggestions ?

Hi pixiedust,

Response is a noun(object). It can be used in this way:

1) The children's (possessive noun) response (noun) to the teacher was very good.

- When a word comes after a possessive noun, it is a noun.

Respond is a verb (action). It can be used in this way:

1) The boys only respond when they are shouted at.

-The 'respond' here is the act of responding. It is an action, hence it is a verb.

How to remember?

- Many words that end with 'se' or 'ce' are nouns. (to be used in the context given below and not applied broadly to every word)

1) Respond (verb)/Response (noun)

2) Intelligent (adjective)/Intelligence (noun)

3) Silent (adjective)/Silence (noun)

4) Patient (adjective)/Patience (noun)

TAS

[tianzhu]

Hi TAS


Thank you for your reply.

How about this?
We heard John singing a love song.
Is singing a participle or a gerund?

We saw John running after a beautiful girl.
Is running a participle in this case?

We saw her talking to Alice last night.
Is talking a participle?

Best wishes

[Herbie]

Hi TAS


Synthesis and Transformation qn.

1. It was so dark that nothing could be seen.

It was too __________________________________________.

Can the answer be "It was too dark that nothing could be seen."?

Please advise. tx

[The Alternative Story]

tianzhu:

Hi TAS


Thank you for your reply.

How about this?
We heard John singing a love song.
Is singing a participle or a gerund?

We saw John running after a beautiful girl.
Is running a participle in this case?

We saw her talking to Alice last night.
Is talking a participle?

Best wishes

Hi Tianzhu,

You are welcome

For all 3 cases that you mentioned, they are gerunds.

- We heard (verb) John singing (gerund) a love song.

Here, in the sentence, it is basically stating that some people heard John doing a certain action and the name of that action is singing. So singing is a gerund- it is the name of the activity he was engaged in.

It is the same as - We heard John singing (gerund)- your previous example. Just that in this example, there is no information on the kind of song he was singing.

For the other examples, the 'running' and 'talking' are both gerunds as well, the 'running' is the name of the action that John was engaged in. The 'talking' is the name of the activity that the girl was engaged in.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS


Synthesis and Transformation qn.

1. It was so dark that nothing could be seen.

It was too __________________________________________.

Can the answer be \"It was too dark that nothing could be seen.\"?

Please advise. tx

Hi Herbie,

When there is a 'too' in a sentence like the one you gave, it will be used in the following ways:

1) It was too (adjective) for ___________________

- It was too dark for anything to be seen.

OR

2) It was too (adjective) to ____________________

- It was too dark to see anything.

TAS

[rifferama]

The Alternative Story:

2) Emigrant vs Immigrant


Emigrant - Someone who leaves his country to settle in another country.

How it is used: He emigrated from Vietnam to settle down in Malaysia.

How do you remember that? - The 'E' in Emigrant can stand for 'Exit' so you need to exit your country

Immigrant - Someone who enters into a country and settles there.

How it is used: He immigrated to Singapore to join his family who had already become permanent citizens.

How do you remember that? - The 'I' for Immigrant can stand for 'In' so you need to go into another country to be an immigrant

TAS

Wow! This has really helped me! I've always thought they had the same meaning, didn't pay much attention to the difference. Thank you for clearing the confusion!

Hi TAS,

I have a question too if you don't mind!
Is there a difference between \"regardless\" and \"irregardless\"?
I've pondered over it and I thought they both meant the same.. Is that the case? If it is, is the 'IR' in irregardless redundant since IR- usually carries a negative connotation like regular vs irregular.

Thank you in advance! (=

[colours123]

Wow!


Its really interesting and very creative in how we can learn English.

I have a question too!
What is the difference between optional vs alternative?

[tianzhu]

Hi


Hidden in one corner of this dynamic forum is a rare gem, a trained teacher who is willing to devote much of his or her time to help parents/students with their questions in Primary English.

English seems easy, but in my opinion, is tricky with its rules and exceptions. I’ve often wondered why there are many outcries from parents concerning difficulties in learning PSLE Chinese but not PSLE English. Judging by past records, the national average for students achieving A/A* in PSLE Chinese is about 80% but for English, it’s about 44%.

I am sure many parents/students appreciate what TAS is doing, and we hope that TAS will continue his/her journey in this thread.

Best wishes

[Herbie]

Hi TAS, I have sent you a PM. Tx