Q&A - P2 English

[Mdm Koh]

optimistforum:

Hi


I need advice on working with DS2. He turned 6 in July, and I have been using the EPH Comjplete Practice in Vocab, Grammar and Comprehension Book P1 with him.

He is scoring a pitiful 3 out of 8 in vocab MCQ exercises. I have decided to to do the exercises with him, as a fun xercise at bedtime so that he can complete them himself the following day. Is this the right way to reinforce vocab learning, or am I helping him too much? He is a slow learner, but a free and slow reader.

O

I'd suggest reading a storybook and teaching him vocab based on the book. Young children ultimately still prefer looking at pictures to words. It's better to get a book with nice illustrations to help stimulate his interest in reading, which will in turn help him to gain new vocabulary.

Another important point to note is whether your DS is able to apply the new words he has learnt by using them to make sentences. From experience, I find that students are more likely to use the words correctly if they have a story or article as a reference point. You can also help him further by teaching him about the words using daily experiences that he can relate to.

For the children who spent time practising vocab exercises or who were made to memorise long lists of vocab words without any story as background, yes, they may know many vocab words, but often, they end up using the words incorrectly.

[optimistforum]

Hi Mdm Koh


Good point. I will ensure that he reads everyday throughout teh summers holidays.

O

[jeparent]

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

[ohdaddy]

I thought it is either "much" or "a lot of". Both seem OK to me although if I had to pick one, I would use "much" (for practical reasons, faster to type and shorter to say).

[jeparent]

ohdaddy:

I thought it is either \"much\" or \"a lot of\". Both seem OK to me although if I had to pick one, I would use \"much\" (for practical reasons, faster to type and shorter to say).

The \"model\" answer in the assessment is any.

[ridcully]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)

May I have a try at this?


If it is a P1 question, then I think the answer should be 'much'. Children in P1 are introduced to countable and uncountable nouns and the respective quantifiers of 'many' and 'much'. 'Not much food' means some food is left on the table.

As a general rule, we use 'a lot of' in positive sentences. The sentence, however, is a negative one, so I would be tempted to eliminate 'a lot of'. Nevertheless, 'not a lot of food' means some food is left on the table.

'Any' has a different meaning to the other two: 'not any' means 'no'. This means that there is no food left on the table. Normally, we would say:
There isn't any food left on the table.

If you are not using a contraction, you would normally write:
There is no food left on the table.

Rgds
R

[nms1]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

All three are grammatically correct. They should not be setting questions like this as the teacher should not be able to mark any answer wrong!

If I had to choose I would have chosen \"much\". \"A lot of\" would have been my last choice as it is quite colloquial but still correct.

[janet88]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

I did encounter this question in one of daughter's assessment book.
The instruction given is to choose between 'many' or 'much' as child is taught countable and uncountable. So the answer is 'much'.

[jeparent]

janet_lee88:

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

I did encounter this question in one of daughter's assessment book.
The instruction given is to choose between 'many' or 'much' as child is taught countable and uncountable. So the answer is 'much'.

Actually this is a multiple-choice qn with 4 choices. I left out many because it goes with countable.

\"Much\" seems a popular choice , but how about looking from it being used as a question ?

Is there any food left on the table ?
Is there a lot of food left on the table ?
Is there much food left on the table ?

Interesting...

[ridcully]

jeparent:

\"Much\" seems a popular choice , but how about looking from it being used as a question ?


Is there any food left on the table ?
Is there a lot of food left on the table ?
Is there much food left on the table ?

We generally use both 'any' and 'much' for questions and negative sentences; we generally use 'a lot of' in positive sentences.

The use of 'a lot of' in questions and negative sentences is informal English.

Rgds
R