Q&A - P1 English

[janet88]

Hey Mummies,

Guess we better start speaking/using American English to kids…in today’s ST, LKY said ‘American English likely to prevail’. Personally, I find American English easier to adopt than British English. Not the slang though.

Still trying to teach daughter difference between stationery and stationary, practise and practice (same as advice/advise).

[SAHM_TAN]

Let see if MOE will act OR rather how soon they will implement it :evil:


Most likely it will slowly phase out? Is parliament open yet?

Maybe I ask on the minister's facebook? Maybe other parents already asked liao :evil:

:offtopic:

[Champion]

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Hi All, to share with you all this article taken from The Straits Times, Thursday, September 8, 2011

[SAHM_TAN]

Suddenly like many reports on Primary school curriculum, wonder are they preparing to announce something.

[fatboysalim]

janet_lee88:

Hey Mummies,

Guess we better start speaking/using American English to kids...in today's ST, LKY said 'American English likely to prevail'. Personally, I find American English easier to adopt than British English. Not the slang though.

Still trying to teach daughter difference between stationery and stationary, practise and practice (same as advice/advise).

Hi,

The most obvious difference between American and British English is when we compare the spoken discourse - the pronunciation of certain items are markedly dissimilar and I believe this is the slang /accent that you are referring to.

On the other hand, the main differences between American English and British English in written discourse is the spelling, z vs s for example in 'realize'(Am) vs 'realise' (Br) and specific lexis / vocabulary referring to the same thing for example 'gas/gasoline' (Am) vs 'petrol' (Br).

However the examples you cited to have problems teaching your DD to differentiate have nothing to do with spelling conventions.

'Stationery' with an 'e' refers to writing materials like pens, pencils, et cetera.

'Stationary' with an 'a' refers to not moving / staying still.

The same \"phenomenon\" occurs with words like complement/compliment where just a change in one letter can alter the meaning of the word entirely.

'Advice' is the NOUN form of the word; for example 'The best advice my mother has ever given me is to work hard.'

This is to be contrasted with the VERB form of the word 'Advise'; for example 'My parents always advise me to work hard.'

Same reasoning for practice (n) vs practise (v).

Unfortunately, some of these things have to be committed to memory (I always argue that some minimal form of rote learning is needed in languages - similar to how one is required to remember simple mathematical formula and chemical symbols for example) and eventually your DD will be able to use them accurately

Hope this helps

[janet88]

WCW:

ya, hopefully they change something good...

HOPE they get something POSITIVE done ASAP.

[bluesclue]

Deleted

[bluesclue]

hi all,


A quick question on the conjunction whom to join sentences:

++++++++Example++++++
Anna spoke to an astronuat.
She met him at a Science exhibition.

=> Ans: Anna spoke to an astronaut whom she met at a Science exhibition.

+++++++++Question+++++++++
Gopal is my neighbour.
I play soccer with him.

My DD 's Ans: Gopal is my neighbour whom i play soccer with.
Teacher’s ans: Gopal , whom I play soccer with, is my neighbour.

As you can see, DD 's answer is modelled after the example given above, and I agree that the teacher’s answer is the better way to join the two sentences, but how to explain DD that her answer is not quite the way to say in English eventhoug it’s grammatically "correct".?

TIA.

[mother777]

hi,


another answer could be:

Gopal is my neighbour with whom i play soccer.

[nonKiasu]

hi,


The police (is/are) here now.

May I know why the answer is "are"? TIA.