All About English Creative Writing

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS


Would you be able to recommend a good Synthesis and Transformation book which shows correct methods of sysnthesis and transformations and common mistakes as well.

Thanks!

Hi Herbie,

You can look for synthesis books that categorize the questions.

For example, one practice can be all about using the words
'Much to', another practice can be about 'unless'. This helps
your child to get a better idea on how to tackle questions
that are similar.

However, we have not seen one that shows the correct methods
of how to answer it and explain why it is so and also giving
the common mistakes as well.

One idea would be to come up with your own or to ask us for some
examples and compile it together for your child, don't know if that
would help. :?

TAS

[Joy]

Hello TAS


Thanks and noted.

I will group all her past mistakes in the close passage into theme.Probably that will help her to identify her usual kind of mistakes.

I am yet to find all the linking words, do u listing out some?and how they are applied.

Cheers
Joy

The Alternative Story:

[quote]Hi TAS

Check with you, is there a good close passage books that u can recommend?

We had done the Practice Makes Perfect close passage last year.thanks

rgds
Joy

Hi Joy,

If you are looking for general practice, then many of the
assessment books out there are quite good. However, to
develop the child in handling the different types of cloze passages,
so far, we have not come across any.

What do we mean by different types of cloze passages?

- The cloze passages are based on different themes: accidents,
environmental issues, extinction etc.

For each of these themes, there are certain key words that tend to be
used. If you can group the passages by themes and help you child
identify what these words are, this helps.

- Another way is to look for books which test the children on
different parts of the speech in each passage to help them
become familiar with the usage of those words.

For example, linking words (thus, moreover, resulting in etc),
nouns, prepositions, verbs etc.

We prepare our cloze passages in this way and we find it does help the
children, perhaps you could do this as well

TAS[/quote]

[The Alternative Story]

Joy:

Hello TAS


Thanks and noted.

I will group all her past mistakes in the close passage into theme.Probably that will help her to identify her usual kind of mistakes.

I am yet to find all the linking words, do u listing out some?and how they are applied.

Cheers
Joy

Hi Joy,

We will let you know about more examples as we go on. But right now, I
could give you some examples:

- Hence/Therefore (links reason to result)
- However (to link 2 opposing ideas together)

The Red Indians were a people that revered nature and
1) ___________ did not want to cultivate the land for fear
of harming it. 2) ___________ the Europeans were different,
they believed that the land was to
be used to serve mankind.

Answer:

1) hence/therefore (it links reason to result, the reason
being that the Red Indians revered nature and the result being
they did not want to cultivate the land.

2) However (it shows the contrast between the 2 sentences
- the Red Indians respect of nature vs the European's thinking that
nature was to serve man, the clue being the word 'different')

TAS

[Joy]

thank you.I get it crystal clear and hope to learn more from you.


Happen to go through one close passage,wonder, how do u find clue to fill up while or but.

Also, preposition for: in vs of

Thanks again

rgds
Joy

The Alternative Story:

Joy:

Hello TAS

Thanks and noted.

I will group all her past mistakes in the close passage into theme.Probably that will help her to identify her usual kind of mistakes.

I am yet to find all the linking words, do u listing out some?and how they are applied.

Cheers
Joy

Hi Joy,

We will let you know about more examples as we go on. But right now, I
could give you some examples:

- Hence/Therefore (links reason to result)
- However (to link 2 opposing ideas together)

The Red Indians were a people that revered nature and
1) ___________ did not want to cultivate the land for fear
of harming it. 2) ___________ the Europeans were different,
they believed that the land was to
be used to serve mankind.

Answer:

1) hence/therefore (it links reason to result, the reason
being that the Red Indians revered nature and the result bring
they did not want to cultivate the land.

2) However (it shows the contrast between the 2 sentences
- the Red Indians respect of nature vs the European's thinking that
nature was to serve man, the clue being the word 'different')

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi Joy,


Perhaps you could give us the sentences that you are referring to
in the cloze passage. It is hard to explain to you what the clues are
as the clues would be different for different passages

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


Thanks! I would appreciate if you can provide me with some S&T eg and I wil compile it for my son.

Many thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


Thanks! I would appreciate if you can provide me with some S&T eg and I wil compile it for my son.

Many thanks!

Hi parents,

We will be providing some Synthesis and Transformation (S&T)
examples with explanations and the common mistakes that
children make. S&T is one section in the English Paper that
is easy to lose marks as one grammar mistake results
in the full 2 marks being deducted for the qn.

S&T example 1

- UNLESS

Things to note:

1) The condition in the sentence should be after 'unless'.

2) There should be one positive part in the sentence and one
negative.

QN: If she does her work, she can go out.

Mistake: Unless she does her work(positive), she can
go out (positive)

Correct Ans: Unless she does her work(positive), she cannot
go out. (negative)

3) When the 'must' is taken out of the sentence, remember
to change the verb if necessary.

QN: She must finish up her food before she can go and play.

Mistake: She cannot go and play unless she finish her food.

Correct Ans: She cannot go and play unless she finishes her food.

4) Sentence should be easy to understand.

QN: She should not take her medicine if she is in pain.

Mistake: She should take her medicine unless she is not in pain.
(the reader must think through for a while before understanding what
the sentence means)

Correct Ans: She should not take her medicine unless she is
in pain.

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


Thanks for the S&T exampe. It is possible for you to also provide example for close passages? Can?

Many thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

Sorry, 2 duplicate replies were posted so I deleted one of them

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


Thanks for the S&T exampe. It is possible for you to also provide example for close passages? Can?

Many thanks!

Hi Herbie,

Sure for cloze passages, there are some key linking words
that are used especially for factual texts. It is thus important
to know the correct usage.

There are some linking words that children do get confused by.
These are 2 especially confusing ones that are listed below:

- However

VS

- Although

However - it can be used to mean 'in spite of that'
(other words/phrases that might replacehowever: nevertheless, yet)

Eg: He was given a the choice to go free however he chose
to remain a prisoner.

Although - it also means 'in spite of that'.

So then, what is the difference when 'although' and 'however'
are both used to mean 'in spite of that'?

'Although' is used before the clause that happens first in the
sentence.

'However' is used before the clause that usually happens second.

Eg:

Although he was hungry(happened first), he did not eat.

He was hungry, however, he did not eat (second part that
happened in the sentence)

- This might be an overly simple way to explain the rules,
but this helps the children to have a better idea when to use which
word.

Example from a school paper:

According to the Chinese zodiac, we will usher in the year
of the Rat very soon. But I like to think of 2008 as the year
of the Frog. The frog will not be replacing the rat during Chinese
New Year celebrations (1)___________ it has been singled out by
conservationist groups to represent 2008.

Answer: although

The answer is 'although' as the frog should have replaced the rat
since it has been singled out. And 'it has been singled out' can be
said to be the part that happens first 'will not be replacing' is the part
that happens after that. Hence, 'although' and not 'however' is used.

TAS