Quirky Grammar & Other Obscure Things Good To Know
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moomoo7368:
Hi Moomoo6873,Thanks, learning partners.
I'm struck by the fact that I've been pronouncing 'debt' and 'doubt' wrongly for the past 40 years. How embarrassing! And to think that I've been teaching dd the wrong thing too. Must correct the mistake!
This is really useful and interesting. With all the emphasis of speaking good English now, it's really important to present a good image upfront. Do you have any more examples to share?
We are glad that you found our post useful. Below are some other words that children and even some adults tend to mispronounce:
1. sword ('sord')
2. won (when used as past tense of 'win', it should be read as 'one'; it's only read as 'w-o-n' if you are referring to the Korean currency).
3. medicine (silent i - 'med-cern')
4. vegetable ('e' in the middle is silent - 'vej-table')
5. wind (read as 'whined' when used to mean 'twist' as in 'the winding road')
6. wound (when used as the past tense form of 'wind' should be read as 'wownd')
We hope you find this useful too.
Learning Partners
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Hi learning partners, thanks for sharing.
I hope you can share more less-known things about english with us parents. -
ksme:
No problem, ksme.Learning Partners,
Thanks for your sharing. The materials are helpful. Looking forward to more sharings from you.
:thankyou:
We are glad that you find the materials informative. We would be glad to share more about English with the parents of KSPforum.
:celebrate:
Learning Partners -
What's the difference between 'neither...nor...' and 'neither of...'?
A favourite during English tests and examinations.
This genre of questions usually appear under Grammar MCQ.
(a) 'Either...or' and 'Neither...nor' questions
Example:
Neither John nor his sisters _____ going to the party next week.
1) is
2) are
3) was
4) were
In such questions, there are two subjects (the nouns - in this case, people - that do the action). The two subjects in this sentence are John and his sisters.
The confusion lies in that John is singular (1 person) whereas 'his sisters' is a plural noun. So should the verb be singular or plural?
The rule for 'neither...nor' and 'either...or' questions is that the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. In the above example, the subject closest to the verb (the blank) is 'his sisters'.
And as the action has yet to take place, the answer cannot be in the Past Tense so the correct answer is '(2) are'.
This concept may be easy for adults to understand but it can be rather difficult for children to process and digest. Fortunately, there are some process skills that we can teach them to make it easier for them to grasp the concept.
Step 1: Categorise the question. Tell them that these are 'neither...nor' or 'either...or' questions.
Step 2: Identify the tense of the question. We tell our students to circle/highlight the helping words that give us information about the tense of the question.
In this example, the words 'next week' should be circled/highlighted as this phrase tells us that the actions have not happened yet.
As such, the Past Tense options (3) and (4) can be crossed out.
Step 3: Decide if the verb should be singular or plural. Remember that the verb agrees with the subject closest to it, so remind the children to look out for the subject that is closest to the verb and highlight/circle it.
Returning to the example, as the subject closest to the verb (the blank) is 'his sisters' (plural), the correct is '(2) are'.
Pretty complicated, right?
But the good news is that almost all children do get it after some drilling. So they can develop the ability and the process skills (circling/highlighting the clues) make it easier for them to do so.
b) 'Either of...' and 'Neither of...' questions
Example 2:
Either of the twins _____ in the room a moment ago.
1) is
2) are
3) was
4) were
The rule for 'Either of...' and 'Neither of...' questions is that the verb is always singular.
This is because 'either' and 'neither' are actually singular pronouns.
You could make it easier for your child(ren) to remember by explaining that if the sentence reads 'Either of the twins _____ here a moment ago.', it means that only 1 of the twins was here in the room. Since it refers to only 1 twin, the verb should be singular.
Likewise for the sentence:
Neither of the twins _____ in the room a moment ago.
This sentence means that both twins were not in the room. Since there was no one in the room, the verb should be singular.
The same process skills apply.
Step 1: Categorise the question. Example 2 is a 'Neither of.../Either of...' question. (Singular!)
Step 2: Identify the tense of the question. Circle/highlight the phrase 'a moment ago' which tells us that this has already happened so the sentence should be in the Past Tense (possible answers: 'was' and 'were').
Step 3: Decide if the verb is singular or plural. Circle/highlight 'Neither of...'. This being a 'Neither of...' question, the verb has to be singular and so the correct answer is '(3) was'.
These questions used to be taught only in P5 and P6. But in recent years, some schools have started to teach them in P3 and P4 too.
The concepts could be a little tricky for P3 and P4 pupils but from our experience, if they are taught the process skills, they can master the concepts.
Allowing them to use highlighters helps. Children, especially the younger ones, tend to be quite fascinated with colours so they get all excited and motivated when they are asked to highlight the clues.
Learning Partners -
Hi Learning Partners,
Kind of you to share your knowledge of the English Language. Thank you! As a parent, I am often confused with some grammar items. after looking at some of the pointers you gave, I start to question myself, "how come i didn’t know of that?
Waiting for more English tips in the future… -
Hi sinus123 and moomoo7368, we are glad that you like our posts.
In this post, we will be sharing with you and other parents the trickier grammatical questions under Agreement aka Concord.
SHOULD THERE BE AN 'S' AFTER THE VERB?
In English sentences, the subject (the person or thing that does the action) and the verb (action word) must agree.
This means that a plural subject must go with a plural verb.
Example:
The boys go to school by bus everyday.
And a singular subject agrees with a singular verb.
Example:
The boy goes to school by bus everyday.
Very simple, right? In fact, this is what every single Primary One student learns.
Problems arise when we have sentences that are slightly unusual. Below, we have highlighted a number of the trickier questions that tend to appear during the examinations.
(a) Brendan, along with his sisters, is/are going to the zoo tomorrow.
The subject in (a) is Brendan.
Since Brendan is one person, he is a singular subject and so the verb that goes with Brendan is 'is'.
If your child should have problems remembering this, there are certain process skills that (s)he can follow.
Firstly - identify the phrase between the commas and strike out the phrase because it is not the subject.
Secondly - identify the subject (Brendan in this case) and highlight it. Then draw an arrow from the subject to the blank. This is to reinforce in the child's mind that this is the subject that determines the answer and to choose the answer accordingly.
The process skills are useful because they can be applied to a wide range of questions and help the child(ren) to remember better how to answer the questions.
For this genre of question, the phrase between the commas could also be:[list]- along with his sisters;
[/list].
together with his sisters;
like his sisters;
(bi) Neither Alice nor her brothers likes/like strawberries.
(bii) Either the boys or their cousin has/have taken the pen.
For 'neither...nor' and 'either...or' questions, the verb must agree with the subject closer to it.
For (bi), the subject closer to the verb is 'her brothers' so the answer is 'like'.
For (bii), the subject closer to the verb is 'their cousin' and hence the answer is 'has'.
(ci) Neither of the boys has/have been to Sentosa.
(cii) Either of the boys has/have been to Sentosa.
'Neither of' and 'Either of' are always in the singular form so the answers for both (ci) and (cii) are the same - 'has'.
(d) One of the boys has/have been talking non-stop during the class.
This is a question which many children would get wrong. They see the word 'boys' and decide that the answer is 'have'.
But the key word is actually 'one'. Only one of the boys was talking so the subject is actually singular. Hence the answer should be 'has'.
(e) This troop of monkeys lives/live in the eastern side of the forest.
This question is actually very similar to (d). Do not be tricked by the word 'monkeys'. The subject now is the noun phrase 'troop of monkeys' and the key word is 'troop'. It is one troop and so it lives in the eastern side of the forest.
(fi) The audience laughs/laugh loudly at the antics of the clown.
In this case, 'audience' is considered a single entity, so the answer should be 'laughs', the singular verb.
However, take note that collective nouns like 'audience' can also become plural if the people in the audience are doing different things.
Example:
(fii) Some of the audience were talking on the phone while others were watching the show.
This is because now 'audience' no longer refers to one entity but to the individuals in the audience.
We hope that this will come in useful if you are doing the end-of-year exam revision with your child(ren). For our next post, we would be covering even more obscure points of Agreement. Until then, adios :D.
Learning Partners - along with his sisters;
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Great work, learning partners. U are doing such a brilliant job. Thank you so much on behalf of all parents.
KRR -
Thank you ,Learning Partners. Your explanation is very clear. Could you elaborate on verbs of perception ?
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Sorry.
This was a double post.
Learning Partners -
No problem KRR and pixiedust, we are glad that you enjoy our posts.
Regarding verbs of perception, pixiedust, they are verbs that are used to describe the actions 'done' by our five senses.
Some examples of Verbs of Perception:
1. Eyes: 'see', 'watch', 'look'
2. Ears: 'listen', 'hear'
3. Skin: 'touch', 'feel', 'sense'
4. Nose: 'smell'
5. Tongue: 'taste'
Some of these verbs can be used in an 'active' sense, which means that the subject (the person doing the action) is actively focusing on the action.
In this case, these verbs can take on the the continuous ('-ing') form.
Example
James is listening to the music.
Ali is watching television.
Jill is smelling the roses.
Verbs of Perception that can be used in the 'active' sense include:[list]- listen
[/list]
look
touch
feel
smell
taste
There is another set of Verbs of Perceptions used to describe the situation whereby the subject is passively perceiving his environment.
In this case, the continuous form is not used.
Example
James hears a noise in the kitchen. (We don't say 'James is hearing a noise in the kitchen.')
She sees a black cat. (Likewise 'She is seeing a black cat.' is generally not used too.)
Verbs of Perception that can be used in the 'active' sense include:[list]- see
[/list]Yes, 'feel', 'smell' and 'taste' can be used in both the active and passive senses.
hear
feel
smell
taste
How are Verbs of Perception relevant to children?
The NVNV pattern
Children, especially from Primary 4 onwards, are expected to know the NVNV pattern (commonly tested in Grammar MCQ but good to know for writing too).
NVNV refers to Noun-Verb-Noun-Verb pattern.
The first verb in the NVNV pattern is very likely a Verb of Perception.
Example
Alice saw the Cheshire cat grin widely.
Liz heard the baby cry loudly.
In the above NVNV sentences, the first verb is a Verb of Perception and do you notice that the second verb is in the infinitive form?
This is what children need to know - that in NVNV sentences, the second verb cannot be in the singular or past tense form.
Can the second verb be in the continuous form?
Yes, it can. The sentences above can be rewritten into:
Alice saw the Cheshire cat grinning widely.
Liz heard the baby crying loudly.
However, there is a difference in the meaning.
Alice saw the Cheshire cat grin widely.
This means that Alice saw the entire action from when the cat began to grin and when it stopped.
Alice saw the Cheshire cat grinning widely.
In this case, when Alice looked at the cat, it was already grinning. This means that Alice only saw part of the action.
Word of Caution
The first verb in the NVNV pattern could also be a verb other than a Verb of Perception.
The first verbs are likely to be:[list]- let (not Verb of Perception)
[/list]
make (not Verb of Perception)
help (not Verb of Perception)
see
watch
hear
feel
Learning Partners - listen
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