Q&A - P4 English

[ridcully]

soyabean:

She simply told me it has changed now. U must describe the scene as though you are physically present at the scene itself. If you are physically present at a scene , you would not use top left-hand or bottom right-hand corner to describe the things you are seeing.

Interesting. I have spoken to several students who attend different schools and get different opinions! No one, however, says that their teacher advised them to act as though they were physically present at the scene.

A new English Language syllabus came out for 2010 which does place greater emphasis on oral skills. However, the guidelines for the PSLE seem to be the same, namely a student should interpret a scene and express himself well.

Probably there are revised in-service guidelines governing this. When I get the chance, I will speak to some in-service teachers.

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

soyabean:

There_____ a pen, some books and some pencils.


1) is
2) are

??

1)

R

[ridcully]

teh_oh:

(1) For synthesis and transformation questions, is the sequence of answers important? Eg
\"Tom is the new boy in class. He is from England.\"
\"Tom, who _______________________\"

Child's Ans: Tom, who is from England, is the new boy in class.
Ans Key: Tom, who is the new boy in class, is from England.
Is my child's answer acceptable?

(2) The mall was packed with many shoppers. There was a sale.
- (no connector words given).

Child's Ans: The mall was packed with many shoppers as there was a sale.
Ans Key: The mall was packed with many shopers since there was a sale.
Is my child's answer acceptable?

I would go for 'Tom, who is from England, is the new boy in class.' The main idea is that there is a new boy in class called Tom. The information about being from England is secondary, and so rightly follows the relative pronoun.

For your second sentence, I would say that your child's answer is acceptable. The subordinate conjunctions 'since' and 'as' can both be used for cause/reason.

Rgds
R

[janet88]

ridcully:

teh_oh:

(1) For synthesis and transformation questions, is the sequence of answers important? Eg
\"Tom is the new boy in class. He is from England.\"
\"Tom, who _______________________\"

Child's Ans: Tom, who is from England, is the new boy in class.
Ans Key: Tom, who is the new boy in class, is from England.
Is my child's answer acceptable?

(2) The mall was packed with many shoppers. There was a sale.
- (no connector words given).

Child's Ans: The mall was packed with many shoppers as there was a sale.
Ans Key: The mall was packed with many shopers since there was a sale.
Is my child's answer acceptable?

I would go for 'Tom, who is from England, is the new boy in class.' The main idea is that there is a new boy in class called Tom. The information about being from England is secondary, and so rightly follows the relative pronoun.

For your second sentence, I would say that your child's answer is acceptable. The subordinate conjunctions 'since' and 'as' can both be used for cause/reason.

1) \"Tom is the new boy in class. He is from England.\"
My answer: Tom, who is the new boy in class is from England.

[ridcully]

janet_lee88:

The information about coming from England is appositional, that is it provides further details about the subject of the sentence; it is not the main idea.

R

[soyabean]

So... There_______ some books and a pen.

1) is
2) are

ans = are???

So... the ans depends on the noun right after the blank...?

Thanks

ridcully:

soyabean:

There_____ a pen, some books and some pencils.

1) is
2) are

??

1)

R

[janet88]

ridcully:

janet_lee88:

The information about coming from England is appositional, that is it provides further details about the subject of the sentence; it is not the main idea.

R

The answer key: Tom who is the new boy in class, is from England.
So my guess is correct.

[ridcully]

janet_lee88:

ridcully:

janet_lee88:

The information about coming from England is appositional, that is it provides further details about the subject of the sentence; it is not the main idea.

R

The answer key: Tom who is the new boy in class, is from England.
So my guess is correct.

There's the rub: You are relying upon an answer key and you are guessing. I have shown in several postings on a variety of grammatical topics that there are often mistakes in answer keys. Also, I have never guessed: I offer a cogent reason to support my solutions.

I am happy for you to correct any mistakes I make. If the answer key you allude to explains why 'new boy' is appositional and not 'from England', or you can explain in the absence of elaboration in the answer key, then I welcome the correction.

R

[ridcully]

soyabean:

He is wearing an __________ look on his face.


1) agonized
2) agonizing

It is answer 1).

'Agonized' means showing or feeling extreme pain/anxiety whereas 'agonizing' means causing extreme pain/anxiety.

Of course, I could be witty and say that someone's look is so awful that it causes other people pain, therefore 'agonizing' would be correct. But I wouldn't be so cruel...

[teh_oh]

Hi R and Janet,

Thanks for both your comments.