All About English Creative Writing

[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!

[The Alternative Story]

[quote]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.[/quote]Hi Herbie,

The 'she' in the questions seems most likely to be 'Jenny'. Hence the
answer should be:

- Jenny enjoys playing with her baby brother although he is very
naughty.

[quote]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[/quote]Since 'sack of potatoes' refers to the 'sack' and not the 'potatoes'
the answer should be:

-This sack of potatoes has the same weight as that carton of
oranges.
[quote]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.[/quote]The answer should be:

- Owning to his diligence, he will do extremely well in the examinations.

(The boy is diligent so the diligence 'belongs' to him, hence it should
be his diligence and not this diligence)
[quote]Grammar
1. The first thing the children noticed about the two new cats ________
their bright blue paws.

Ans: were[/quote]In this sentence, we are referring to 'the first thing' and not the 'cats'
or 'their bright blue paws', hence the answer should be singular
- 'was'


[quote]2. \"We ______ our Social Studies project!\" the girls announced.

Ans: finished[/quote]The answer can be 'finished' or 'have finished'. Both are possible
as there is not enough information in the sentence to know for
sure which tense to use.

For more information on the use of present perfect tense, you
can refer to the information below:

It is used in these situations:

1) a situation that has started in the past but is still continuing .
This refers to a state of being (not an action). In this structure, 'for' and 'since' is often used.

Eg:
I have lived here for 2 years.
I have worked in this company since 1998.
(Started in the past and is still continuing)

OR

2) a situation that started in the past but just ended in the present.

Eg:

We have done our work. Let us go and play!

(The action of 'doing' the work started in the past but just
ended in the present, that is why they can go and play)
[quote]Your timeline on Past Perfect Tenses is very useful, do you have any other timeline which you can share with us?[/quote]For timelines, the Past Perfect one was given as it is one of the most
confusing aspects of English.

There is another confusing aspect, which is on active and
passive voice.

If you are interested, we could provide more information on it.
[quote]Thanks![/quote]No problem, the questions you ask brings out the common
mistakes that many children make and I think this helps many
children and parents to be clearer on the 'murky' areas of
English

TAS

[Applemummy]

Can anyone recommen any gd tutor or centre for P3 and P2 (Eng, Math and Science).


Thanks

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


There was a question posted to us via email that we thought was
interesting and we would like to answer it here so that more
parents and children might benefit in case they have similar
queries like this:D

Qn: Read the passage carefully
-Qn a:Which is the subject?
-Qnb:The object is 'passage' Why is this so?

Ans: This sentence is an instruction, so the subject is
implied.

Another Eg: Go to school now!

This sentence is an order so the subject is implied as well.

It is implied that 'you' are the recipient of the instruction/order
When you read an instruction or order, it is implied that the
instruction or order is meant for the reader i.e 'you'

The subject is something that 'does' the action (verb),
and it is implied that the reader-'you' are the one to
'read' the passage, hence 'you' are the implied subject.

Qn 2: Why is the object 'passage'

Ans:

The object denotes something that 'receives' the action (verb).

-In 'Read the passage carefully' the verb is 'read' and
the thing that must be read is the 'passage', hence the object
is 'passage'.

TAS

[optimistforum]

Hi


Does this mean that a sentence must have subject-verb agreement, but not necessarily subject-object agreement? I guess if it is an instruction, then the subject is implied, i.e., "Go to bed, now!" - meaning "(You) Go to bed, now!"

[The Alternative Story]

[quote]Hi


Does this mean that a sentence must have subject-verb agreement, but not necessarily subject-object agreement? [/quote]Hi optimistforum,

A sentence must have a subject-verb agreement. For subject-object
agreements, it is not as clear cut.

I will divide the answer into 2 parts-
a) examples with subject-object agreement
b) examples with NO subject-object agreement

a) Below are some examples of subject-object agreements:

1) Singaporeans (subject) usually stay in HDB flats (object)

- different Singaporeans stay in different flats

2) Most teenagers (subject) have handphones (object)

- different teenagers have different handphones

(The subject and object are both in the plural form- there is subject
object agreement)

b) Below are examples of cases where there is no
subject-object agreement

1) Teenagers(subject) can drive a car(object) at 18

-In this case the subject is plural but the object is
singular, this is because this sentence means that the
teenagers can drive their own car when they are 18

2) Women (subject) can have a job (object) and bring up children (object) at the same time

-In this case, the subject is plural but one object is singular and the other is plural.
This is because the sentence means that women in general can
have a job (they hold down one job at a time) and yet have children (more than 1 child)

Hence, in short this means:

- If there is a subject-object agreement, the emphasis is on the different objects that the different subjects have

- If there is NO subject-object agreement, the emphasis is on the subjects
owning their OWN object.
[quote] I guess if it is an instruction, then the subject is implied, i.e., \"Go to bed, now!\" - meaning \"(You) Go to bed, now!\"[/quote]Yes the subject is implied and the subject is 'you'

TAS