All About English Creative Writing

[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

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


I have a Synthesis and Tranformation qn.
Can help to provide the solution?

I did not expect this to be a lot a more difficult.

_________________________________ than ________________________.

[The Alternative Story]

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! (=

Hi rifferama,

Sure, the question you asked is one that many people get confused about.

Regardless is the correct word to use, while there is actually no such word as 'irregardless'.

How do you use 'regardless'?

- He did not give up on his dream to climb Mount Everest regardless of all the mockery he got.

It means to have no regard OR In spite of OR to be unmindful

Irregardless is often used in the same way as regardless but there is no such word as 'irregardless' in the English Language.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

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?

Hi colours123,

Yes English can be really fun

Optional means possible but not compulsory.

It can be used in this way:

- Taking Higher Chinese is optional for most students. Hence, usually, only a small percentage of students take Higher Chinese.

Alternative means having a choice between 2 possibilities.

It can be used in this way:

- If you want to lose weight, you should eat more healthily or alternatively, you could exercise more.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

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

Hi Tianzhu,

Thank you for kind words of praise! English seems easy but it does takes quite a bit of work like you say to be able to get the As and A*s. We will definitely continue to help any parents and students in this area.

By the way, it is not one teacher answering all these questions but a group of teachers from TAS

Do let us know if you need any help..we will try to recommend good books to get for kids to do well in English as well.

TAS