Q&A - PSLE English

[ridcully]

christina soh:

a) My uncle is one of the people who _____ very compassionate. He never hesitate to help the less fortunate.


(1) is
(2) are
(3) was
(4) were

Correct ans is (2).

Most primary school teachers I have met will get this wrong and give the answer as (1).

One way to test the subject-verb agreement is to reverse the sentence:

There are many people who are very compassionate, and my uncle is one of them.

christina soh:

b) I don't like playing games _______ rules are complicated.

(1) who
(2) whom
(3) whose
(4) which

Correct ans: (3)

Rgds
R

[Mum1113]

Hi, pls help on these 2 qns, MTIA


Qn : Samuel studies hard and is also active in sports.
Is ds's answer correct ? Not only does Samuel study hard, but he is also active in sports.
Given answer : Not only does Samuel studies hard, but he is also active in sports.

Qn : Hassan's father asks, \"Do you know where your mother keeps the Yellow Pages ?\"
Is ds's answer correct ? Hassan's father asks if I knew where my mother kept the Yellow Pages.
Given answer : Hassan's father asks if I know where my mother keeps the Yellow Pages.

[ridcully]

Mum1113:

Qn : Samuel studies hard and is also active in sports.

Is ds's answer correct ? Not only does Samuel study hard, but he is also active in sports.
Given answer : Not only does Samuel studies hard, but he is also active in sports.

Your ds's answer is correct. When we use a helping verb such as 'does', it is finite and so the main verb 'studies' becomes non-finite or base form 'study'.

Who/What gave you the given answer?

Mum1113:

Qn : Hassan's father asks, \"Do you know where your mother keeps the Yellow Pages ?\"
Is ds's answer correct ? Hassan's father asks if I knew where my mother kept the Yellow Pages.
Given answer : Hassan's father asks if I know where my mother keeps the Yellow Pages.

Here, the given answer is actually correct! :yikes:

Note that the speech verb 'asks' is present tense: We keep the other verbs in the present tense.

Rgds
R

[Mum1113]

ridcully:

Your ds's answer is correct. When we use a helping verb such as 'does', it is finite and so the main verb 'studies' becomes non-finite or base form 'study'.


Who/What gave you the given answer?

Well this is from CHS Prelim 2010. It might be typo error, but I thought I am pretty certain my ds's answer is correct, thanks for clarifying my doubt

ridcully:

Here, the given answer is actually correct! :yikes:

Note that the speech verb 'asks' is present tense: We keep the other verbs in the present tense.

Rgds
R

I agree ds's answer is not correct, again thanks for clarifying

[koguma]

ridcully:

a) My uncle is one of the people who _____ very compassionate. He never hesitate to help the less fortunate.


(1) is
(2) are
(3) was
(4) were

Correct ans is (2).

Most primary school teachers I have met will get this wrong and give the answer as (1).

One way to test the subject-verb agreement is to reverse the sentence:

There are many people who are very compassionate, and my uncle is one of them.

[/quote]
Hi ridcully, I am not sure about the ans for (a). I thought it should be IS?
Can advise?

My thought...
\"My uncle is\" means it's in the present tense and he is still compasssionate as he \"never hesitate to help the less fortunate\". It's still ongoing so can't be past tense. Then \"one of the people\" means he is one out of the many people, so it will follow by a singular which is \"is\"

Thanks.

[koguma]

christina soh:

a) My uncle is one of the people who _____ very compassionate. He never hesitate to help the less fortunate.

(1) is
(2) are
(3) was
(4) were

Can anyone advise whether it should be \"He never hesitate\" OR \"He never hesitates\" ?

I thought the 2nd one is correct? Is there a typo error in the question?

[ridcully]

koguma:

Hi ridcully, I am not sure about the ans for (a). I thought it should be IS?

Can advise?

My thought...
\"My uncle is\" means it's in the present tense and he is still compasssionate as he \"never hesitate to help the less fortunate\". It's still ongoing so can't be past tense. Then \"one of the people\" means he is one out of the many people, so it will follow by a singular which is \"is\"

Thanks.

Nothing to do with tense; it's to do with subject-verb agreement. I have already answered the question about how to determine the subject-verb agreement in this example.

More generally, the construction 'one of ... who' causes endless grief to many a primary school teacher, never mind the pupils. It is a little counter-intuitive that the verb agrees with the prepositional phrase in contrast to other constructions such as 'each' and 'every'. For instance:

My uncle is one of the people who are very compassionate.

Each of my uncles is compassionate.

However, that's the way it is!

A more complex sentence - if you needed it - is as follows, but this is beyond primary level:

One of those people who are very compassionate is my Uncle Ridcully.

Note the verb agreement:

One of those people who are very compassionate is my Uncle Ridcully.

'Is' agrees with 'one' and 'are' agrees with 'people'. I presume this clarifies the matter?

Finally, yes the second sentence should be 'hesitates', not 'hesitate'. I did not draw attention to it because firstly it's probably a typo and secondly it is not relevant to determining the subject-verb agreement of the sentence being queried.

Hope that helps.
Rgds
R

[ivanhoo99]

Pls Help!!!

10) He fumigated the whole house to exterminate the termites.

My ans: In order that he could exterminate the termites, he fumigated the whole house.

Book's ans: In order that the termites could be exterminated, he fumigated the whole house.

Which is Correct????
TIA

[corneyAmber]

ivanhoo99:

Pls Help!!!

10) He fumigated the whole house to exterminate the termites.

My ans: In order that he could exterminate the termites, he fumigated the whole house.

Book's ans: In order that the termites could be exterminated, he fumigated the whole house.

Which is Correct????
TIA

My version which is closer to version 2 above is:

In order to exterminate the termites, he fumigated the whole house.

[ridcully]

ivanhoo99:

10) He fumigated the whole house to exterminate the termites.


My ans: In order that he could exterminate the termites, he fumigated the whole house.

Book's ans: In order that the termites could be exterminated, he fumigated the whole house.

'In order that' is used to introduce a clause of purpose. It is normally used with modal (auxiliary) verbs.

The book's answer is correct. Here, it is explaining why the house was fumigated.

The purpose of fumigating the house is so that the terminates are exterminated, not to explain why it was that he, as opposed to someone else, did the fumigating.

Rgds
R