Q&A - PSLE English

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Qn : The trip to Bali is less expensive than Mauritius. The trip to Bali is shorter in travelling time than Mauritius.

Ans : Not only _______________ but also _______________ .

Is this ans acceptable ? Not only is the trip to Bali less expensive than Mauritius, but also has a shorter travelling time.

When 'not only' is used at the beginning of the sentence, you need to repeat the subject in the second clause; hence:

Not only is the trip to Bali less expensive than Mauritius, but it also has a shorter travelling time.

Mum1113:

Qn : It was a didactic piece of art. It was also extremely enchanting.
Ans : _________________ not only ________ but also _____________________ .

Is this ans acceptable ? The piece of art was not only didactic but also extremely enchanting .

Correct.

Mum1113:

Another general question, for punctuations such as commas, if students ommit or added in when the models answers are not called for, would marks be deducted off ? If yes, does that mean 1 mark be deducted off ?

Personally, I don't have much faith in model answers.

My understanding is that marks would be deducted if the insertion/omission of punctuation affects the material meaning of the sentence, particularly if it causes ambiguity, or breaks an established convention in punctuation usage.

Don't know about the mark deduction scheme.

[Mum1113]

Thanks ridcully for the explanation

[Mum1113]

Hi, pls help with the following :


Qn : Tim tried very hard. He could not hit any pin with the bowling ball.
No matter ______________________________________ .

Is this ans acceptable ? No matter how hard he tried, Tim could not hit any pin with the bowling ball.


Qn : The evening dress that Alice bought was expensive. It was unattractive too.
___________________________ neither _____________________ .

Is this ans acceptable ? The evening dress that Alice bought was neither inexpensive nor attractive.


Qn : The boy took some money from the drawer. His mother walked in.
Ans : No sooner ______________________________________ .

Is this ans acceptable ? No sooner had the boy taken some money from the drawer than his mother walked in.

MTIA

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

No matter how hard he tried, Tim could not hit any pin with the bowling ball.


The evening dress that Alice bought was neither inexpensive nor attractive.

No sooner had the boy taken some money from the drawer than his mother walked in.

All three answers correct.

Most students I encounter would get questions 2 and 3 wrong.

[Mum1113]

Thanks ridcully . Given answers as follows :

1. No matter how hard Tim had tried, he could not hit any pin with the bowling bowl.
2. The evening dress that Alice bought was neither cheap nor attractive.
3. No sooner after the boy took some money from the drawer, his mother walked in.

I want to highlight to son and he is quite certain his answers are correct.

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Thanks ridcully . Given answers as follows :

1. No matter how hard Tim had tried, he could not hit any pin with the bowling bowl.
2. The evening dress that Alice bought was neither cheap nor attractive.
3. No sooner after the boy took some money from the drawer, his mother walked in.

I want to highlight to son and he is quite certain his answers are correct.

Ans 1. is wrong on two accounts: firstly, there's no justification for the past perfect as two things are not happening in the past with one being earlier than the other; secondly, we put the proper noun (in this case, Tim) in the main clause, and the pronoun (in this case, he) in the subordinate clause.

Ans 2. is acceptable. Personally, I do not like the word 'cheap', but that's a preference of style rather than a grammatical issue.

Ans 3. is wrong for two reasons: This time you need the past perfect because two things have happened in the past, one earlier than the other; it is not permissible to use 'after' as a conjunction here because you already have the conjunction pair 'no sooner ... than'.

Hope that helps.
R

[Mum1113]

ridcully , you are making my son confident of his answers and he is on the right path , Yeapie Yeah !

[babyblissnz]

I'm wondering if you can help us... :imdrowning:


We are new to Singapore - actually my child just joined the local school at the end of last year. Born and raised in an English speaking country and being an avid reader she is, we were relaxed about her English.

However, it becomes apparent that she doesn't score as high as she expected. Both her P5 SA2 and P6 SA1 are in low 70s. Since she lost points evenly throughout Paper 1 and 2, I cannot determine her weak areas. Her compo was in high 30s.

Do you have any suggestions on how to help improve her English?
Is it easy to improve Compo?(She loves writing, but...) Or are there any sections which are relatively easy to improve in a short period? Are there any exam taking techniques?

Any advices are greatly appreciated since we are new to this whole system and PSLE is just a few months away!

[yingxuan0806]

can someone help me with these synthesis question please? thx in advance


1) The orchid is the most beautiful flower in the Botanic Gardens.
There is _______.

2) Alice was accused of being a thief by Cathy.
Cathy made the _______.

[ridcully]

babyblissnz:

Any advices are greatly appreciated since we are new to this whole system and PSLE is just a few months away!

The PSLE is the culmination of six years of schooling and exam preparation.


Given your background, I would suggest you engage a decent private tutor and enrol your child in intensive courses at enrichment centres these June and September holidays.