Q&A - PSLE English

[babyblissnz]

Thanks ridcully! Sorry for taking this long to reply, but thanks for your comment.

[Brenda10]

Hi, need help on the following three S&T as dd answers are different with the ans key provided:

(Ref: NYPS 2010 Prelim paper)

Q67. You cannot take the cake out of the oven yet. It has to turn brown.

DD: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it has turned brown.

Ans: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it turns brown.


Q68. Mr Tan had just washed his new sports car. It started to rain.

DD : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car, it started to rain.

Ans : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car than it started to rain.


Q69. The acrobats enthralled the spectators with their stunning act.

DD: The spectators were enthralled with the acrobats' stunning act.

Ans: The spectators were enthralled by the acrobats' stunning act.

Thank you.

[ridcully]

Brenda10:

Q67. You cannot take the cake out of the oven yet. It has to turn brown.


DD: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it has turned brown.

Ans: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it turns brown.

The answer key is correct. Your daughter is using the present perfect for what is called 'unspecified time'. Normally, such usage is for events that happened in the past when the time is unimportant.

Brenda10:

Q68. Mr Tan had just washed his new sports car. It started to rain.

DD : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car, it started to rain.

Ans : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car than it started to rain.

Again, the answer key is correct. 'No sooner ... than' is a correlative conjunction, that is comes in pairs.

Brenda10:

Q69. The acrobats enthralled the spectators with their stunning act.

DD: The spectators were enthralled with the acrobats' stunning act.

Ans: The spectators were enthralled by the acrobats' stunning act.

Again, the answer key is correct. When you rewrite from an active to a passive sentence, you often have to change the preposition, in this case 'with' becomes 'by'.

If it is any consolation, I doubt whether many P6 students have the command of grammar to resolve the first and the third questions. However, the second question - no sooner than - is standard.

Hope that helps.
R

[Brenda10]

ridcully:

Brenda10:

Q67. You cannot take the cake out of the oven yet. It has to turn brown.


DD: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it has turned brown.

Ans: You cannot take the cake out of the oven until it turns brown.

The answer key is correct. Your daughter is using the present perfect for what is called 'unspecified time'. Normally, such usage is for events that happened in the past when the time is unimportant.

Brenda10:

Q68. Mr Tan had just washed his new sports car. It started to rain.

DD : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car, it started to rain.

Ans : No sooner had Mr Tan washed his new sports car than it started to rain.

Again, the answer key is correct. 'No sooner ... than' is a correlative conjunction, that is comes in pairs.

Brenda10:

Q69. The acrobats enthralled the spectators with their stunning act.

DD: The spectators were enthralled with the acrobats' stunning act.

Ans: The spectators were enthralled by the acrobats' stunning act.

Again, the answer key is correct. When you rewrite from an active to a passive sentence, you often have to change the preposition, in this case 'with' becomes 'by'.

If it is any consolation, I doubt whether many P6 students have the command of grammar to resolve the first and the third questions. However, the second question - no sooner than - is standard.

Hope that helps.
R

Hi ridcully

:thankyou: for your help. :lol:

[Mum1113]

Interestingly, mine got all correct

[Brenda10]

Mum1113:

Interestingly, mine got all correct

Hi Mum1113

That's great! We are in the process of clearning all the 2010 EL S&T section and would seek help :imdrowning: here if there is doubt.

[Mum1113]

Brenda10, this forum is very helpful in clearing doubts. Esp when the given answers seem doubtful at times and we are here to seek help

[PiggyLalala]

Just curious, how does the teacher in the school teach sythesis? Did they go through the structure or rules for each sythesis question like what ridcully had done? Anyone knows of any good sythesis guide or assessment books with all the structure and rules clearly stated and explained?

[Mum1113]

Hi, pls help with the following SnT , MTIA


Qn : I am talking about last Tuesday or whichever day it was that my uncle came over.
Given ans : I am talking about last Tuesday or whenever it was my uncle came over.
Is this ans acceptable ? I am talking about last Tuesday or whenever my uncle came over.


Qn : There are seats in the auditorium at this time. It is doubtful.
Given ans : It is doubtful whether there are seats in the auditorium or not at this time.
Is this ans acceptable ? It is doubtful whether there are seats or not in the auditorium at this time.


Qn : I understand you have a bad childhood. Despite that, you do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.
Given ans : I understand you have a bad childhood, but you still do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.
Is this ans acceptable ? I understand you have a bad childhood, still you do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Qn : I am talking about last Tuesday or whichever day it was that my uncle came over.

Given ans : I am talking about last Tuesday or whenever it was my uncle came over.
Is this ans acceptable ? I am talking about last Tuesday or whenever my uncle came over.

The short answer is ‘no’. The explanation is a little convoluted and beyond the primary syllabus, but if you are interested…

‘Whenever’ can be used as a conjunction or an adverb. We use it as a conjunction to refer to something that happens each time another event occurs. For example:-

Whenever Teacher Ridcully is bored, he logs onto kiasuparents.

In the given answer, you already have a conjunction, namely ‘or’. Therefore, the suspicion is that ‘whenever’ is not being used as a conjunction - we do not normally put two conjunctions together. This is indeed the case: ‘whenever’ is being used as an adverb. As an adverb, it is substituting for the question word ‘when’. The clause in the given answer really means:-

When was it that my uncle came over?

We would not say:

When my uncle came over?

The false subject ‘it’ is needed to frame the question. Thus, the given answer is correct.

Mum1113:

Qn : There are seats in the auditorium at this time. It is doubtful.
Given ans : It is doubtful whether there are seats in the auditorium or not at this time.
Is this ans acceptable ? It is doubtful whether there are seats or not in the auditorium at this time.

I would say that your answer is acceptable. ‘In the auditorium’ and ‘at this time’ are both prepositional phrases serving as adverbials. If you can have ‘at this time’ after ‘not’, then why not ‘in the auditorium’?

Mum1113:

Qn : I understand you have a bad childhood. Despite that, you do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.
Given ans : I understand you have a bad childhood, but you still do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.
Is this ans acceptable ? I understand you have a bad childhood, still you do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.

Your suggested answer is not correct. In the given answer, ‘still’ is being used as an adverb meaning ‘despite that’. As an adverb, it does not subsitute for a contrasting conjunction, in this case ‘but’.

However, you can use it as what is called a conjunctive adverb – combining both roles. In this case, you need to separate the clauses with a semi-colon:-

I understand you have a bad childhood; still, you do not need to awash yourself with sympathy all the time.

Hope that helps.
R