Q&A - PSLE English

[The Alternative Story]

meimeitan:

Hi TAS,


May i know which one should be the anwer for the following T & S?

Bala was very disappointed. He lost to Ali in tennis.
(a) Much to Bala’s disappointment, he lost to Ali in tennis.
(b) Much to his disappointment, Bals lost to Ali in tennis.

Thanks.

meimeitan

Hi meimeitan,

Answer (a) is clearer, just as what Sun_2010 mentioned,
for answer (b), it is not very clear who the 'his' in the
answer is. It could be referring to someone else,
meaning that that particular person was disappointed
when Bala lost to Ali.

In answer (a), it is clearer that it was Bala who was
disappointed and the reason was that he had lost
the match.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

peggy:

Hi ! For PSLE comp writing, is there a compulsory section for letter writing?

Hi Peggy,

Yes, there is, it is called Situational Writing and the total marks for
that section is 15.

TAS

[meimeitan]

Hi TAS and Sun_2010


Thks a lot.

meimeitan

[The Alternative Story]

[quote]1. Mandy _______ on her comfortable bed and restes after completing her project.


1) Lie
2) Lay
3) Lain
4) Laid

My son knows lie and lain has the meaning of lie and laid and lay has the same meaning as lay. But he does not know when to put lay and laid. If he puts lay the answer is laid if he puts laid the answer is lay :stupid:

Please help!!!!!!!!!![/quote]Hi beauty queen,

He needs to find an easy way to remember this:

Human beings: Lie (present tense), Lay (past tense), Lain (past
participle)

Chickens: Lay(present tense), Laid (past tense),
Laid (past participle)

Human beings NEVER 'laid' down.

Easy way to remember:

-laid, the 'd' in 'laid' looks like an egg- the rounded bit
at the end of the straight line of 'd'.
You can tell your child that therefore 'laid' is only used for chickens
as chickens lay eggs but a human being does not lay eggs when he
lies down.

[quote]2. However hard Tony tries, he will not be able to break the high jump record.

(a) Even if Tony tries very hard, he will not be able to break the high jump record. (sons answer)

(b) Even if Tony tries very hard, he would not be able to break the high jump record. (answer sheet answer)

Which is correct please explain :?[/quote]The correct answer is your son's answer as the question also uses
'will' and as such, there is no need to change the 'will'
to 'would'

TAS

[rains]

[quote]1. Mandy _______ on her comfortable bed and restes after completing her project.


1) Lie
2) Lay
3) Lain
4) Laid

My son knows lie and lain has the meaning of lie and laid and lay has the same meaning as lay. But he does not know when to put lay and laid. If he puts lay the answer is laid if he puts laid the answer is lay :stupid:

Please help!!!!!!!!!![/quote]I used to be confused over 'lay' and 'lie' too until I devised a way to remember them:
'Lay' = lay eggs
'Lie' = lie on the bed

At the same time, I tell myself that this 'lie on the bed' is different from the 'lie' in 'telling a lie':

'Lie on the bed' - lie, lay, lain
'Telling a lie' - lie, lied, lied
[quote]2. However hard Tony tries, he will not be able to break the high jump record.

(a) Even if Tony tries very hard, he will not be able to break the high jump record. (sons answer)

(b) Even if Tony tries very hard, he would not be able to break the high jump record. (answer sheet answer)

Which is correct please explain :?[/quote](b) doesn't need to be wrong.

At P5, the kids learn about the conditional 'if' - for events likely and unlikely to happen.

'Would' is used when you are talking about something imaginary eg. If I were him, I would ...

'If' in your statement has an imaginary element in it, so 'would' can be an answer.

'Would' is not necessarily a past tense of 'will' although we often use it that way.

[HelloKiasu]

He arrived exactly at 11am, (bang /straight) on time.

I thought it was straight on time but the answer turned out to be bang on time. Can anyone explain why?

[meiah]

Hi,


It’s not so much the ‘bang’ but rather ‘bang on’. It’s adjective describing accuracy or correct. So when used with ‘time’, it describes time.

[Faun]

Can someone help?


"I am going to the library this Friday"’ says Peter.

Change it indirect speech|

Peter said that he was going to the library that/this Friday.

Should use this or that? By the rule, should use ‘that’ but if I am saying this on say, Monday in the same week, then it sounds awkward to use ‘that’.

"I cycle to school everyday"’ says Cathy.

Change to indirect:

Cathy said that she cycles/cycled to school everyday.

If it is a universal truth, must use present tense right?

[HelloKiasu]

Thanks for the help

[elkniwt]

Hi TAS,


Could you help to explain the present perfect, present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous? My dd has problem with it. Me too!

Is it
1) Mr Tan has lived in Singapore for 3 years. OR
2) Mr Tan has been living in Singapore for 3 years.

Is it
1) This movie star has acted for almost ten years now. OR
2) This movie star has been acting for almost ten years now.

Uncle Tom __________ in the company for many years before he was promoted to manager.
1) had been working
2) has been working
3) had worked
4) has worked

Please help! Thanks.

Regards.