Q&A - PSLE English

[Sun_2010]

snowman.697:

Uncle tom had worked. Because he worked first before being promoted.

Shouldnt it be

Uncle Tom had been working in the company for many years before he was promoted to manager.

[rkumar]

Hi Ler,


Q1. My uncle is one of the people who is very compassionat . He never hesitates to help the less fortunate.

Q2. I dont like playing games whose rules are complicated.

(1) which I don't like playing games which have complicated rules
(2) whose


Q3. He has set his sights on being a doctor.

(1) sights
(2) thoughts . He has his thoughts set on being a doctor.
(3) decision . His decision is set on being a doctor.

Q4. I have completed all the practice exercises you assigned me, Mum. May I do some more ?'' Min asked her astonished mother.


1) Complete
2) Completed
3) Have completed
4) Had completed

[Ler]

rkumar:

Hi Ler,


Q1. My uncle is one of the people who is very compassionat . He never hesitates to help the less fortunate.

Q2. I dont like playing games whose rules are complicated.

(1) which I don't like playing games which have complicated rules
(2) whose


Q3. He has set his sights on being a doctor.

(1) sights
(2) thoughts . He has his thoughts set on being a doctor.
(3) decision . His decision is set on being a doctor.

Q4. I have completed all the practice exercises you assigned me, Mum. May I do some more ?'' Min asked her astonished mother.


1) Complete
2) Completed
3) Have completed
4) Had completed

These few multiple choice were extracted from Nanyang SA2 2010, english paper, which have different answer on the answer sheet.

Thanks for helping me clear my doubts.

[The Alternative Story]

[quote]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.[/quote]
Hi elkniwt,

Both the present perfect and the present perfect progressive tenses
are used to show either:

1) that an action has just been completed

2) that action is still going on

Usually, both can be used interchangeably.

However, there is just a slight difference in their meaning:

Present Perfect tense (eg: has lived)- to express
that an action is completed or to emphasise the result.

Present Perfect Progressive (eg: has been living)-
to emphasize the duration or continuity of an action.

Example:

Emphasize result:

1) I have done my homework.

2) She has been to the zoo.

Emphasize duration:

1) I have been waiting for half an hour.

2) He has been swimming since morning.

Hence for Qn 1, the answer should be \"has been living\"

because the emphasis is on the duration and not the result.

For Qn 2, the answer should also be 'has been acting'

because the emphasis is also on the duration of time.

[quote]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[/quote]For this question, the answer should be \"had worked\" because
there are 2 actions here-\"was promoted\" and \"had worked\"

He worked in the company first and then was promoted. Since
\"was promoted\" is in the past tense, the working in the company
must be in the past perfect tense as the past perfect tense occurs
before the past tense.

Think of it as a timeline:

1) Past perfect tense----2) Past tense ------ 3) Present perfect tense

---- 4) Present tense.

The first action that happens is the Past Perfect and the last the
Present tense. So if there are 2 actions in a sentence and the one
that happened later is in the past tense, the earlier tense will be the
Past perfect tense.

So we choose the past perfect tense, so that takes away option (2)
and option (4)

We do not choose option (1) because here the emphasis is on
the result and not duration of time that he worked. The result
is that he worked for many years and then got promoted.

Hence we choose the past perfect tense and not the past
perfect progressive tense.
[quote]Please help! Thanks.

Regards.[/quote]No problem, hope this helps

TAS

[joconde]

rkumar:

Q1. My uncle is one of the people who is very compassionat . He never hesitates to help the less fortunate.

My answer for the above would be \"are\". The subject here should be \"people\" rather than \"my uncle\" :
My uncle is one of the people who are very compassionate.

I think that's correct because when I type the sentence in MS Word and replace \"are\" with \"is\", it shows an error.

[rains]

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?

1) Peter said that he was going to the library that Friday.

We use 'that' becos the whole speech is taken in past tense ie. the saying verb is 'said' (past tense), which means the action is already over ie. Peter had already gone to the library.

2) Are the given words 'Cathy said _______'? If it is, then the answer should be:

Cathy said that she cycled to school every day.

It's 'cycled' becos the tense follows the saying verb ie. 'said' (past tense), so the statement is in past tense.

I think like Maths, we cannot assume or think too much over when the speech takes place. A good guide would be the saying verb - if it's in present tense, the statement will be in present tense and vice versa.

[naggo-nitemare]

Ler:

rkumar:

Hi Ler,


Q1. My uncle is one of the people who is very compassionat . He never hesitates to help the less fortunate.

Q2. I dont like playing games whose rules are complicated.

(1) which I don't like playing games which have complicated rules
(2) whose


Q3. He has set his sights on being a doctor.

(1) sights
(2) thoughts . He has his thoughts set on being a doctor.
(3) decision . His decision is set on being a doctor.

Q4. I have completed all the practice exercises you assigned me, Mum. May I do some more ?'' Min asked her astonished mother.


1) Complete
2) Completed
3) Have completed
4) Had completed

These few multiple choice were extracted from Nanyang SA2 2010, english paper, which have different answer on the answer sheet.

Thanks for helping me clear my doubts.

Ler,
Q1 answer is\"...one of the people who ARE...\"

In this case, the subject is 'people' as the 'who' is referring to them. However, if it is 'one of the people, my uncle, ___ very compassionate.', the ans should be 'is'.

my DS is v v sure of his answer/explanation above cos he sat for this paper and he has the right anwers for this NYPS prelim paper from the sch itself.

[shania-m]

naggo-nitemare:

Ler:

[quote=\"rkumar\"]Hi Ler,


Q1. My uncle is one of the people who is very compassionat . He never hesitates to help the less fortunate.

Q2. I dont like playing games whose rules are complicated.

(1) which I don't like playing games which have complicated rules
(2) whose


Q3. He has set his sights on being a doctor.

(1) sights
(2) thoughts . He has his thoughts set on being a doctor.
(3) decision . His decision is set on being a doctor.

Q4. I have completed all the practice exercises you assigned me, Mum. May I do some more ?'' Min asked her astonished mother.


1) Complete
2) Completed
3) Have completed
4) Had completed

These few multiple choice were extracted from Nanyang SA2 2010, english paper, which have different answer on the answer sheet.

Thanks for helping me clear my doubts.

Ler,
Q1 answer is\"...one of the people who ARE...\"

In this case, the subject is 'people' as the 'who' is referring to them. However, if it is 'one of the people, my uncle, ___ very compassionate.', the ans should be 'is'.

my DS is v v sure of his answer/explanation above cos he sat for this paper and he has the right anwers for this NYPS prelim paper from the sch itself.[/quote]Hi Ler,

The answer like everyone here says is \"ARE\" as we follow the word-

people. The focus is on 'people' and not 'one'.

This is a complex grammar structure that I noticed schools like to test kids

on, poor kids. Seems like they are always thinking of ways to make it

harder.

[Ler]

shania-m:

naggo-nitemare:

[quote=\"Ler\"]
These few multiple choice were extracted from Nanyang SA2 2010, english paper, which have different answer on the answer sheet.

Thanks for helping me clear my doubts.

Ler,
Q1 answer is\"...one of the people who ARE...\"

In this case, the subject is 'people' as the 'who' is referring to them. However, if it is 'one of the people, my uncle, ___ very compassionate.', the ans should be 'is'.

my DS is v v sure of his answer/explanation above cos he sat for this paper and he has the right anwers for this NYPS prelim paper from the sch itself.

Hi Ler,

The answer like everyone here says is \"ARE\" as we follow the word-

people. The focus is on 'people' and not 'one'.

This is a complex grammar structure that I noticed schools like to test kids

on, poor kids. Seems like they are always thinking of ways to make it

harder.[/quote]Now i am getting more confused, whether is or are.

[snowman.022851697]

>Naggo: Are you sure the subject it ‘people’? In the question the focus is on the uncle.