Q&A - PSLE English

[mrswongtuition]

starlight1968sg:

I find that for S&T, there can be more than one answer which is confusing.

You are right. Some teachers are rather 'rigid' and only accept the answer that they want.

However, if the child is taught the basics of S&T, many of them can score very well for S&T.

For my students, I print the 'rules' for S&T for them and we go through them. Especially for reported speech/question - the kids always make mistakes at the transformation of tenses.

I will be conducting a course during the September holidays for PSLE students, covering S&T, Compre & Compre Cloze (common killers). Some parents have requested for me to sell them the materials (due to clashes in schedule) and they go through them with their kids. I might post them up for sale later on. Can keep a lookout for it.

Mrs Wong
http://mwtuition.blogspot.com

[starlight1968sg]

mrswongtuition:

Some parents have requested for me to sell them the materials (due to clashes in schedule) and they go through them with their kids. I might post them up for sale later on. Can keep a lookout for it.


Mrs Wong
http://mwtuition.blogspot.com

Yes, please keep us posted as I am sure many parents will grab if the price is not too expensive.

[Nebbermind]

hoskins8h:

Tang:

1) Supposing that the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die.
As long as....
Ans (a): As long as the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die.
Ans (b): As long as the nest is undisturbed, the bird will not leave her chicks to die.

Which is the correct ans?

I feel that (b) is the better answer and doesnt sound awkward to me even with the double negative.
It means that the bird will not leave her chicks to die unless the nest is disturbed.

(a) sounds strange and gives me the feeling that the bird may leave her chicks to die, whether the nest is disturbed or not. And if disturbed, will sure leave her chicks to die.

No English expert here but I wld have typically put it this way:

As long as there's no reason to change, the existing situation will remains status quo.

or

Unless there's a reason to change, the existing situation will remains status quo.

that being said, (b) seems more suitable except for the double negatives which can be rather confusing sometimes.

[Muffins]

Hi Nebbermind.


Keeping your point in mind, I still feel that with children, the double negatives might seem weird. And it does. If a sentence has two negatives, they usually cancel each other out and make a positive.

If you write this: \"As long as the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die.\", it shows that the bird will leave her chicks to die if the nest is disturbed. Kids would understand. However, if you write \"As long as the nest is undisturbed, the bird will not leave her chicks to die\", it seems a little weird. It does not roll off the tongue easily, right?

So, could you please explain why you think B is the correct option?

TIA.

[Sun_2010]

I agree with nebbermind


Since that is the
"As long as the nest is undisturbed, the bird will not leave her chicks to die"
This shows that the bird will not under usual circumstances leave her chicks. Only in the dire circumstances like having her nest disturbed , will the bird leave leave her chicks to die.

Whereas
"As long as the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die." seems to imply that once the bird gets the "opportunity" of its nest being disturbed , it will leave her chicks to die.

The double negatives seems ok to me as it is the default state.

Nebbermind- ur comments

[rains]

hi hi,


I have a S and T question:

Audrey is pretty. She is smart too.

____________ not only

__________________.

[baibai06]

rains:

hi hi,


I have a S and T question:

Audrey is pretty. She is smart too.

____________ not only ________________________________________

__________________________________________________________.

is it:

Audrey is not only pretty but also smart? :?

[P5G]

baibai06:

rains:

hi hi,


I have a S and T question:

Audrey is pretty. She is smart too.

____________ not only ________________________________________

__________________________________________________________.

is it:

Audrey is not only pretty but also smart? :?

Here are my answers.

Audrey is not only pretty but smart.

or

Audrey is not only pretty but smart as well.

[happyluckymom]

One of the boys who _______ next door is my classmate.

1)live
2)lives
3)has lived
4)have lived

Please help.

[Brenda10]

happyluckymom:

One of the boys who _______ next door is my classmate.

1)live
2)lives
3)has lived
4)have lived

Please help.

Hi, give a try. I guess is answer (2) lives

See the words in bold. Hope is correct.