Q&A - PSLE English

[meimeitan]

Hi


If you don’t mind, can I add one more as follow:

The three dollars that you see on the table now ________ to Seta.
(a) belong
(b) belongs
have belong
(d) is belonging

Thanks. he… he…

[meimeitan]

Since everyone is going to the polling station, I post one more question.


It was an unusual sight ___ forty student leaders scrubbing their school windows with newspaper, checking flowerpots for stagnant water and clearing stairwells and corridors for litter.

(a) colon :
(b) comma ,
hyphen -
(d) semi-colon ;

Thanks.

[ridcully]

meimeitan:

Hi ridcully


Thanks for yr reply. How about the following:

Who is going to win the match? Well, at this point, it is _________ guess.
(a) nobody's
(b) anybody's
(c) everybody's
(d) somebody's

Thanks.

Ans: (b)

[ridcully]

meimeitan:

Hi


If you don't mind, can I add one more as follow:

The three dollars that you see on the table now ________ to Seta.
(a) belong
(b) belongs
(c) have belong
(d) is belonging

Thanks. he.. he...

Depends on context.

This one is a bit trickier than it seems at first. Usually, measurements of money take singular verbs, in which the case the answer would be (b).

However, if the speaker is referring to a number of coins/notes totalling three dollars, and is drawing attention to the fact that there are several coins/notes rather than the monetary total, then the answer is a plural verb, that is (a).

I suspect attention is being drawn to a number of coins/notes, so the answer would be (a).

[ridcully]

meimeitan:

Since everyone is going to the polling station, I post one more question.


It was an unusual sight ___ forty student leaders scrubbing their school windows with newspaper, checking flowerpots for stagnant water and clearing stairwells and corridors for litter.

(a) colon :
(b) comma ,
(c) hyphen -
(d) semi-colon ;

Thanks.

Ans: (a)

[Mum1113]

Hi, kindly help with the following :


Qn : The indolent boy will pass his English examination. A miracle occurs.
___________________unless_________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : The indolent boy will fail his English examination unless a miracle occurs.


Qn : The widow loved her son. The way the son treated her was harsh.
Ans : ________________ still _________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : The way the widow's son treated her was harsh, still she loved him.


Qn : She goes to bed by ten . She will not feel weary the next day .
Ans : If ____________________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : If she goes to bed by ten, she will not feel weary the next day .


Qn : He decided to return home as he had become world-weary after travelling far and wide for twenty years.
Ans : _________________________ hence ________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : After travelling far and wide for twenty years, he had become world-weary, hence he decided to return home.

MTIA

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Qn : The indolent boy will pass his English examination. A miracle occurs.

___________________unless_________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : The indolent boy will fail his English examination unless a miracle occurs.

Correct.

Mum1113:

Qn : The widow loved her son. The way the son treated her was harsh.
Ans : ________________ still _________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : The way the widow's son treated her was harsh, still she loved him.

Is 'still' taught at primary level? I should have thought that students are taught 'yet' rather than 'still'. Anyway, 'still' is a conjunctive adverb rather than a pure conjunction. I think you should punctuate it as follows:

The way the widow's son treated her was harsh; still, she loved him.

Mum1113:

Qn : She goes to bed by ten . She will not feel weary the next day .
Ans : If ____________________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : If she goes to bed by ten, she will not feel weary the next day .

Correct.

Mum1113:

Qn : He decided to return home as he had become world-weary after travelling far and wide for twenty years.
Ans : _________________________ hence ________________ .

Is this answer acceptable : After travelling far and wide for twenty years, he had become world-weary, hence he decided to return home.

'Hence' is also a conjunctive adverb. I believe that you should punctuate your sentence as follows:

After travelling far and wide for twenty years, he had become world-weary; hence, he decided to return home.

Rgds
R

[Mum1113]

Thanks ridcully …the questions on "still" and "hence" are extracted from Primary sch level assessment book.

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Thanks ridcully ...the questions on \"still\" and \"hence\" are extracted from Primary sch level assessment book.

Interesting, and thanks for the feedback.

A lot of curriculum writers (and tuition centres!) say that they follow MOE's syllabus. However, the syllabus - or at least the public version I see posted on MOE's website - is not that detailed; it focuses on stating aims and objectives. It might say that children learn different sentence structures, but it does not list the individual connectors.

Most students are struggling with regular conjunctions such as 'unless', 'yet' and 'neither/nor' - all of which are much more likely to crop up in the PSLE. I doubt very much whether it is beneficial to spend time on conjunctive adverbs.

Anyway, I stand to be corrected if anyone feels that learning conjunctive adverbs for Synthesis and Transformation is productive.

BTW, next time a parent goes to a tuition centre and the administrator says 'Yes, we follow MOE's syllabus', please ask, 'What does that actually mean?'.

Rgds
R

[Mum1113]

EL paper 2 is over........good gracious 1 paper down

Son came back with this question.

Qn : The equipment in this factory _____ all newly purchased last year.
1) is
2) was
3) are
4) were

He picked were as the word all implies more than one equipment. Is this correct ?