Q&A - PSLE English

[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 ?

[ridcully]

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 ?

The answer is 2.

There is indeed more than one item of equipment. However, being uncountable, 'equipment' only takes a singular form, and this governs the verb.

Rgds
R

[Mum1113]

so is 1 mark gone liao…another precious grammar lesson learned…thanks ridcully

[KRR]

Can someone please help me with these synthesis questions.


1.\tThe policeman saw the boy steal some fruit. The policeman \tyelled at him.

\tOn seeing the boy steal some fruit, the policeman yelled at him.

OR\tOn seeing the boy stealing some fruit, the policeman yelled at him.

2.\tShe scrubs very hard. She still cannot remove the stains.

\tHowever hard she scrubs, she still cannot remove the stains.

OR\tHowever hard she scrubs, she cannot remove the stains.

3.\tMiss Lee asked,” Why are both of you late for class?”

\tMiss Lee asked the two girls why both of them were late for class.

OR\tMiss Lee asked the two girls why were both of them late for class.

4.\tThe couple was very poor. Yet they were happy.

\tIn spite of ___________________________________________

Thank you so much in advance.

KRR

[ridcully]

KRR:

1.\tThe policeman saw the boy steal some fruit. The policeman \tyelled at him.


\tOn seeing the boy steal some fruit, the policeman yelled at him.

OR\tOn seeing the boy stealing some fruit, the policeman yelled at him.

Correct ans: On seeing the boy steal some fruit, the policeman yelled at him.

KRR:

2.\tShe scrubs very hard. She still cannot remove the stains.

\tHowever hard she scrubs, she still cannot remove the stains.

OR\tHowever hard she scrubs, she cannot remove the stains.

Correct ans: However hard she scrubs, she still cannot remove the stains.

KRR:

3.\tMiss Lee asked,” Why are both of you late for class?”

\tMiss Lee asked the two girls why both of them were late for class.

OR\tMiss Lee asked the two girls why were both of them late for class.

Correct ans: Miss Lee asked the two girls why both of them were late for class.

KRR:

4.\tThe couple was very poor. Yet they were happy.

Ans:\tIn spite of being very poor, the couple was happy.

Rgds
R

[KRR]

Hi R

Thank you very much for the answers for the synthesis questions.

Can u please let me know. when does the word ‘couple’ take the
plural verb? (or am I wrong!!)

KRR