Q&A - PSLE English

[tianzhu]

meimeitan:

The orchid is the most beautiful flower in the Botanic Gardens.
There is ____________________________________________.

Hi

Let me try.

There is the orchid, which is the most beautiful flower in the Botanic Gardens.

Best wishes

[tianzhu]

KRR:

Each pupil _________ a souvenir from the teacher for her hard work in the year.

\t(1)has been receiving\t(2)is receiving
\t(3)received\t(4)was receiving\t\t( )

Hi

I’ve been trying to understand what does this phrase in the year is trying to tell us.

Does it refer to a specific moment or a period of time?

The Simple Past Tense refers to a completed action and the signal words include last year, two years ago, in 2005.

In this particular case, I’d go for the Present Continuous Tense to refer to an action which began in the past and is still continuing. In the year means the current year in this case.

I’d go for option (1) has been receiving.

Please let me know the correct answer.

Best wishes

[ppnqq]

Sorry to hike on the thread.


Would like to know if there is any good tuition centre or tutor for English around Yishun area? Thank you.

[iFruit]

meimeitan:

Hi Everyone,


Can help out the following T & S?

The orchid is the most beautiful flower in the Botanic Gardens.
There is ____________________________________________.

Thanks.

There is no flower in the Botanic Gardens more beautiful than the orchid.

-or-

There is no flower in the Botanic Gardens that is more beautiful than the orchid.

HTH.

[iFruit]

KRR:

Hi,


Can somebody help me with this question.

Each pupil _________ a souvenir from the teacher for her hard work in the year.

\t(1)has been receiving\t(2)is receiving
\t(3)received\t(4)was receiving\t\t( )

Thanks

KRR

I'd go for (3).

[atutor2001]

iFruit:

KRR:

Hi,


Can somebody help me with this question.

Each pupil _________ a souvenir from the teacher for her hard work in the year.

\t(1)has been receiving\t(2)is receiving
\t(3)received\t(4)was receiving\t\t( )

Thanks

KRR

I'd go for (3).

Hi iFruit

I agree with your answer (3) (because the other answers are not acceptable). Just wondering :

(a) if \"the year\" is changed to \"the years\", would (1) become the answer?

(b) if \"a souvenir\" is changed to \"souvenirs\", would (1) become the answer?

(c) if \"receives\" is one of options, would it be acceptable? (there is no time in the sentence).

(d) For a standalone sentence, is \"has received\" the right grammatical form?

Sorry very long-winded. Thanks in advance.

[KRR]

tianzhu:

KRR:

Each pupil _________ a souvenir from the teacher for her hard work in the year.

\t(1)has been receiving\t(2)is receiving
\t(3)received\t(4)was receiving\t\t( )

Hi

I’ve been trying to understand what does this phrase in the year is trying to tell us.

Does it refer to a specific moment or a period of time?

The Simple Past Tense refers to a completed action and the signal words include last year, two years ago, in 2005.

In this particular case, I’d go for the Present Continuous Tense to refer to an action which began in the past and is still continuing. In the year means the current year in this case.

I’d go for option (1) has been receiving.

Please let me know the correct answer.

Best wishes

Well, the given answer is (3) received. I wonder why?
Does the word in the year got something to say?

Thank u vey much tianzhu

KRR

[tianzhu]

KRR:

Well, the given answer is (3) received. I wonder why?
Does the word in the year got something to say?

Hi KRR

Good Morning.

I am not too sure what does in the year mean in this question.
Does it signal a completed event or an ongoing one?

Sometimes, it depends on the context of the question; take for example, this signal word, this morning, in these two examples.

Have you seen Alice this morning? (It’s still morning)(Present Perfect)

Did you see Alice this morning? (It’s now afternoon) (Past Tense)

I’ve posted your question to seek TAS’s help.

Let’s wait for her reply.

Best wishes

[atutor2001]

KRR:

Well, the given answer is (3) received. I wonder why?
Does the word in the year got something to say?

Thank u vey much tianzhu

KRR

Hi KRR

\"in the year\" can mean this year or past year.

\"has been receiving\" is not acceptable because of the work \"a souvenir\". \"has been receiving\" is used to describe a continuous process. With only \"a\" i.e. 1 souvenir for each pupil, the process cannot be continuous.

Imo \"has been\" will be OK if the \"a souvenir\" is changed to \"souvenirs\" in which case the process can become continuous as there will be more than 1 souvenir to receive.

Alternatively, if \"the year\" is changed to \"the years\", then the process of receiving souvenirs over many years will become continuous and \"has been\" should be ok.

Rightfully, the use of simple past tense \"received\" would require a past time in the sentence. e.g. Each pupil received a souvenir from the teacher for her hard work last year. However, if the sentence is extracted from a passage with earlier information, I think using simple past tense is ok
e.g. \"Last year the teacher rewarded pupils who worked hard. Each pupil received souvenir from the teacher for her hard work in the year.\"

For standalone sentence, the proper tense to use should be the present perfect \"has received\".

Hope my thoughts are right.

Regards

[anneshirleygilbert]

Hello everyone,


I’m new on this forum. Discovered it when I was scouting for some science info for my daughter… only now discovered your forum on English, too.

You are a remarkable lot, the way you so meticulously dissect a sentence to get the correct answer, or perhaps, the answer acceptable to MOE. Keep up discussion. I find it most interesting and captivating.

Sincerely.