Q&A - P4 English

[ridcully]

Hi teh_oh


There is much more to past participles than simply forming the perfect tenses. They are used in several aspects of Primary English grammar, and are a fundamental concept that must be mastered if you want your child to score highly in PSLE English.

You might like to research using the past participle in passive tenses and as adjectives. By way of illustration:

I wrote a book. [wrote = past simple tense]
I have written a book. [written = past participle - present perfect tense]
A book was written by me. [written = past participle - passive tense]
Your written English is excellent! [written = past participle - adjective]

Rgds
R

[teh_oh]

tianzhu:

teh_oh:

Hi,


Can someone kindly explain to me in layman's term what is the difference between 'past tense' and 'past participle tense'? Does the latter usually comes after 'had'? My child usually mixed them up when attempting Cloze Passages/Grammar Editing.

Many thanks.

Hi teh_oh

I think you are referring to Past Perfect Tense.

You may refer to these links.

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html
http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/grammar/tense.htm

Best wishes

Hi Tianzhu,
Thanks again.

[teh_oh]

ridcully:

Hi teh_oh


There is much more to past participles than simply forming the perfect tenses. They are used in several aspects of Primary English grammar, and are a fundamental concept that must be mastered if you want your child to score highly in PSLE English.

You might like to research using the past participle in passive tenses and as adjectives. By way of illustration:

I wrote a book. [wrote = past simple tense]
I have written a book. [written = past participle - present perfect tense]
A book was written by me. [written = past participle - passive tense]
Your written English is excellent! [written = past participle - adjective]

Rgds
R

Hi Ridcully,
Thanks for highlighting it.
Do you have any Grammar/English Guide book covering extensively on the above to recommend?

[ridcully]

teh_oh:

Hi Ridcully,

Thanks for highlighting it.
Do you have any Grammar/English Guide book covering extensively on the above to recommend?

Depends how 'extensive' you want.

A respectable beginner's guide is 'Grammar Plus' by Anne Seaton and Rosalind Fergusson. This is a well-known grammar book recommended for lower secondary, and is readily available in Popular stores.

If you want a much deeper, more authoritative book, then my favourite is 'Oxford Practice Grammar' by John Eastwood. It is possible to find this in some Popular stores, and you should be able to buy it from Kinokuniya at Orchard.

Rgds
R

[teh_oh]

ridcully:

teh_oh:

Hi Ridcully,

Thanks for highlighting it.
Do you have any Grammar/English Guide book covering extensively on the above to recommend?

Depends how 'extensive' you want.

A respectable beginner's guide is 'Grammar Plus' by Anne Seaton and Rosalind Fergusson. This is a well-known grammar book recommended for lower secondary, and is readily available in Popular stores.

If you want a much deeper, more authoritative book, then my favourite is 'Oxford Practice Grammar' by John Eastwood. It is possible to find this in some Popular stores, and you should be able to buy it from Kinokuniya at Orchard.

Rgds
R

Hi Ridcully,
Thanks for the recommendations.
Will check both out to see which of these books have contents that I can understand. :oops:

[cl82]

Hi, I'm confused about the usage of \"I\" and \"me\". For example:


The pop star gave autographed pictures to my brother and _____.

Should the word in the blank be \"I\" or \"me\"? Why? In what cases are \"I\" and \"me\" used?

Thanks

[teh_oh]

Hi Parents,

Need assistance to explain this:

Q: The swimming complex is ________ on Mondays.
(1) close
(2) closed

How to explain to the child that answer is (2)? Child thinks that it is still not in operation every Monday so should be in present tense.

Is the same apply to

Q: This clinic is ______only on Wednesdays and Fridays.
(1) open
(2) opened

Thank you!

[ridcully]

teh_oh:

Q: The swimming complex is ________ on Mondays.

(1) close
(2) closed

How to explain to the child that answer is (2)? Child thinks that it is still not in operation every Monday so should be in present tense.

Is the same apply to

Q: This clinic is ______only on Wednesdays and Fridays.
(1) open
(2) opened

'Closed' is a past participle acting as an adjective meaning ‘not open’.

'Close' is a regular adjective meaning ‘nearby’.

'Open’ is a regular adjective meaning ‘not closed’; more precisely here, ‘services available ’. This is the correct answer.

'Opened' is a past participle forming part of a passive verb. It refers to the actual process of someone opening the door. You can say:

This clinic is opened every Wednesday and Friday at 7 am by Mr Tan the caretaker.

Many of the students I teach at the enrichment centre have trouble with these pairs. From P3 onwards I regularly drill the use of past participles and the passive verb form into them.

Hope that helps.
Rgds
R

[teh_oh]

ridcully:

teh_oh:

Q: The swimming complex is ________ on Mondays.

(1) close
(2) closed

How to explain to the child that answer is (2)? Child thinks that it is still not in operation every Monday so should be in present tense.

Is the same apply to

Q: This clinic is ______only on Wednesdays and Fridays.
(1) open
(2) opened

'Closed' is a past participle acting as an adjective meaning ‘not open’.

'Close' is a regular adjective meaning ‘nearby’.

'Open’ is a regular adjective meaning ‘not closed’; more precisely here, ‘services available ’. This is the correct answer.

'Opened' is a past participle forming part of a passive verb. It refers to the actual process of someone opening the door. You can say:

This clinic is opened every Wednesday and Friday at 7 am by Mr Tan the caretaker.

Many of the students I teach at the enrichment centre have trouble with these pairs. From P3 onwards I regularly drill the use of past participles and the passive verb form into them.

Hope that helps.
Rgds
R

Hi Ridcully,
Thanks for your replies.

[ridcully]

cl82:

The pop star gave autographed pictures to my brother and _____.


Should the word in the blank be \"I\" or \"me\"? Why? In what cases are \"I\" and \"me\" used?

Should be 'me'.

There are two main types of personal pronouns: direct and indirect. If you are replacing a noun acting as a subject, you need a subject pronoun. If you are replacing a noun acting as an object, you need an object pronoun.

Subject pronouns include 'I', 'we', 'you', 'he', 'she', 'it' and 'they'. Corresponding object pronouns are 'me', 'us', 'you', 'him', 'her', 'it' and 'them'. Note that some pronouns can be both subject and object eg 'you' and 'it'.

In your example sentence, the subject is 'pop star' and the objects are 'pictures', 'brother' and 'me'.

Furthermore, prepositions take object pronouns. In your example sentence, you also have the preposition 'to'. This also takes 'me'.

A popular preposition tested in school is 'between'. You have to write:
between you and me

Not:
between you and I

To summarise:

Ridcully gave a rose to the princess.
He gave a rose to the princess.
He gave it to the princess.
He gave it to her.

Not:
Him gave it to she.

Hope that helps.
R