All About English Creative Writing

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


I have 2 S&T which need yr help.

1. Mrs Gan is angry with Danoel. His parents are angry with him too.

Not only ____________

Ans : Not only is Mrs Gan angry with Daniel, his parents are angry with him too.


2. Steven takes part in the half-marathon with his brothers every year.
togther with _____________

Ans: Steven takes part in the half marathon together with his brothers every year.


Please advise whether my son’s answer are correct.

Thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


I have 2 S&T which need yr help.

1. Mrs Gan is angry with Danoel. His parents are angry with him too.

Not only ____________________________

Ans : Not only is Mrs Gan angry with Daniel, his parents are angry with him too.


2. Steven takes part in the half-marathon with his brothers every year.
________________ togther with _____________

Ans: Steven takes part in the half-marathon together with his brothers every year.


Please advise whether my son's answer are correct.

Thanks!

Hi Herbie,

The answer for the first question is correct

However, the answer for the second question has a
very common mistake that children make.

The answer should be:

Steven together with his brothers takes part in the
half marathon every year.

'Steven' should be placed with 'his brothers' as the words
'together with' provides extra information about Steven.
We now know that Steven did not take part in the marathon
alone but his brothers also joined him, however the main emphasis
is still on Steven.

In the answer given by your son:

- Steven takes part in the half-marathon together with
his brothers every year.

it would appear that 'his brothers' is the extra information about
the half-maranthon which does not make sense. That is why the
answer is wrong.

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


Many thanks for yr explanation.
Can help with the following questions?

1. No sooner had Mother left home ______ the boys started fighting.

ans; than

What does no sooner mean??? can explain???


2. Either the oranges or the bunch of bananas ______ thrown away earlier.

bunch is a collective noun right???


3. Choo Mei is very beautiful. Choo Hong is ugly.

Ans: Choo Mei unlike Choo Hong, is very beautiful.

4. "What must we do now?" the girl asker her mother.

Ans: The girl asker her mother what do they had to do then.

5. As long as yr drink enough water, you will not get dehydrated.

You will not get dehydrated unless you do not drink enough water.

Thanks for yr help!!!

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


Many thanks for yr explanation.
Can help with the following questions?

1. No sooner had Mother left home ______ the boys started fighting.

ans; than

What does no sooner mean??? can explain???


2. Either the oranges or the bunch of bananas ______ thrown away earlier.

bunch is a collective noun right???


3. Choo Mei is very beautiful. Choo Hong is ugly.

Ans: Choo Mei unlike Choo Hong, is very beautiful.

4. \"What must we do now?\" the girl asker her mother.

Ans: The girl asker her mother what do they had to do then.

5. As long as yr drink enough water, you will not get dehydrated.

You will not get dehydrated unless you do not drink enough water.

Thanks for yr help!!!!

Hi Herbie,

1) 'No sooner' means 'As soon as'

It could be understood as 'As soon as Mother left the house, the boys started fighting'

- 'No sooner' goes with 'than'. It is an example of
a correlative conjunction. Correlative conjunctions are
used in pairs. They are used to explain the relationship
between 2 ideas in a sentence.

Examples of correlative conjunctions:

a) Both, and

She is both smart and hardworking.

b) Neither, nor

Neither Matthew nor Alex was at home.

c) Hardly, when

He had hardly started swimming when it began to rain.

2) \"Bunch\" is a collective noun. It is singular

3) The punctuation for (3) is wrong, it should be:

Choo Mei unlike Choo Heng is very beautiful OR

Choo Mei, unlike Choo Heng, is very beautiful

'Unlike Choo Heng' is a subordinate/relative clause.
The main subject is Choo Mei. Hence you use double commas
to separate the subordinate clause from the main clause.
If you do not put any commas, that is also correct as the word
'unlike' already tells you that it is a subordinate clause.

4) The answer is correct. The word 'must' is changed to
'had to' in reported speech.

5) The answer is wrong as it contains double negatives,
it is confusing for the reader when there are double negatives
in the sentence.

The answer should be:

You will get dehydrated unless you drink enough water.

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS


Can the answer for the qn below be:
4. "What must we do now?" the girl asker her mother.

Ans: The girl asked her mother what they had to do then.

Ans: The girl asked her mother what do they had to do then. ( You mentioned that this is correct)


2. Steven takes part in the half-marathon with his brothers every year.
________________ togther with _____________

Your earlier answer is:
Steven together with his brothers takes part in the half marathon every year.

Can the answer be:
Steven, together with his brothers, takes part int the half marathon every year.

Thanks for help.

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS


Can the answer for the qn below be:
4. \"What must we do now?\" the girl asker her mother.

Ans: The girl asked her mother what they had to do then.

Ans: The girl asked her mother what do they had to do then. ( You mentioned that this is correct)


2. Steven takes part in the half-marathon with his brothers every year.
________________ togther with _____________

Your earlier answer is:
Steven together with his brothers takes part in the half marathon every year.

Can the answer be:
Steven, together with his brothers, takes part int the half marathon every year.

Thanks for help.

Hi Herbie,

For question 4, the answer is:

The girl asked her mother what they had to do then

NOT

The girl asked her mother what do they had to do then.
(Sorry, I somehow missed out seeing the 'do' just now)

For question 2,

The second answer is also correct. However, we usually
discourage students from using double commas as they
tend to make careless mistakes like missing out one comma.
But there is nothing grammatically wrong with it.

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS


Can provide more info convoluted sentence?

And provide advise on how we can construct convoluted sentence and get it right?

Many thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS


Can provide more info convoluted sentence?

And provide advise on how we can construct convoluted sentence and get it right?

Many thanks!

Hi Herbie,

Convoluted sentences are not a good idea

They are complicated sentences which often leave the
reader confused.

These are examples of such sentences taken from a blog that
describes such sentences:
(http://www.wordnik.com/words/convoluted)

1) Redistricting decisions such as this can have enormous impact
because the process typically occurs just once every 10 years and
carves up congressional districts in convoluted ways to benefit the powerful. —Andrew Kreig:
Alabama Decisions Illustrate Abuse of
Judicial Power

2) Those subjects are tricky enough without trying to write about
them in convoluted sentences heavy with opaque metaphors and
intricate similes. —Fictionaut, “Ten Minutes, Thats It”

When someone reads convoluted sentences, it makes him want to give
up reading. Good writing is using good vocabulary aptly but not in
a complicated manner.

Hope this helps

TAS

[jtparent]

hi all,


any recommendations for creative class for p4 and 2 somewhere near geylang?

many thanks

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


Thanks for yr reply.

I have the following questions. Kindly assist.

Synthesis and Transformation.

1. Jenny’s baby brothers is very naughty. She enjoys playing with him.
______________________________ although .

Ans: She enjoys playing with Jenny’s baby brother although he is very naughty.

2. This sack of potates and that carton of oranges have the same weight.

______________ as __________________

Ans: This sack of potates have the same weight as that carton of oranges

3. He is diligent. He will do extremely well in the examinations.

Owing to ______________________________________.

Ans: Owing to this diligence, he will do extremely well in the examinations.


Grammar
1. The first thing the children noticed about the two new cats ________
their bright blue paws.

Ans: were

2. "We ______ our Social Studies project!" the girls announced.

Ans: finished


Your timeline on Past Perfect Tenses is very useful, do you have any other timeline which you can share with us?


Thanks!