Q&A - PSLE English

[chrisu]

This question is from PSLE English Model Exam Papers by EPH;

Exam Paper 5 Q.11)
The hostages ______________ their arms down on the ground and surrendered to the police.
(1) lie
(2) lay
(3) laid
(4) lain

Book answer is (3) laid

I think I have read here;
Human : Lie (present tense), Lay (past tense), Lain (past participle)
Chicken : Lay (present tense), Laid (past tense), Laid (past participle)

My daughter answer is lain.
Anyone can help to verify? Thank you.

[ridcully]

P5G:

8. Alice was cycling at East Coast Park with her family where she saw her classmate, Susan ___________ a picnic with her family.


(1) has
(2) had
(3) have
(4) is having

'Saw' is a verb of perception. We normally have this pattern of usage:

verb of perception + object + base form/gerund

Therefore, the answer is (3)

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

P5G:

70. Adrian was bored. He went to catch a movie with his friends.


_______________________ out of _________________.


Adrian out of boredom went to catch a movie with his friends.

Adrian went to catch a movie with his friends out of boredom.

Please advise if both answers are acceptable?


TIA.

Here 'out of' means what caused Adrian to catch a movie [How did he 'catch' a movie - did it fall from the sky?!]. As such, it is acting as a connector of reason for a subordinate idea.

The main clause is 'Adrian went to catch a movie'. We do not normally separate a subject from its main clause by inserting the subordinate idea. Thus, the second sentence is the correct one. To illustrate this, the second sentence could be rewritten:

Adrian went to catch a movie with his friends because he was bored.

We would not say:

Adrian because he was bored went to catch a movie.

The first sentence would be permissible if you used commas:

Adrian, out of boredom, went to catch a movie with his friends.

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

P5G:

66. Sarah does not want to study medicine as much as she does law.


________ prefers ____________.


Sarah prefers to study law to medicine.

Sarah prefers to study medicine to law.

Please advise if any of the answers is correct..

TIA.

Both are wrong as they ignore parallelism, that is you should have the same grammatical units. In both answers, 'prefers' is followed by infinitive+noun whereas 'to' is followed by a noun.

Should be:
Sarah prefers law to medicine.
Sarah prefers to study law rather than to study medicine.

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

chrisu:

This question is from PSLE English Model Exam Papers by EPH;

Exam Paper 5 Q.11)
The hostages ______________ their arms down on the ground and surrendered to the police.
(1) lie
(2) lay
(3) laid
(4) lain

Book answer is (3) laid

I think I have read here;
Human : Lie (present tense), Lay (past tense), Lain (past participle)
Chicken : Lay (present tense), Laid (past tense), Laid (past participle)

My daughter answer is lain.
Anyone can help to verify? Thank you.

The distinction between human and chicken is not quite a grammatical explanation! However, your listing of the base forms, past tenses and past participles is correct.

The distinction is between a transitive and an intransitive verb. 'Lay' is transitive, that is it takes an object, and means to put something down or spread something on something. 'Lie' is intransitive, that is it does not take an object [the action stops with the subject] and means to recline.

Humans can lay objects too. For instance:
We laid the table.
We laid the Ming Dynasty vase onto the soft cloth.

Therefore, the correct answer is (3) because the hostages put down their arms. However, I wonder why hostages are carrying arms? Shouldn't it be the kidnappers laying down arms? :scratchhead:

As for 'lain', you can use it like this:

Teacher Ridcully has lain on his sofa for two hours.

Rgds
R

[indigoblue]

ridcully:

P5G:

8. Alice was cycling at East Coast Park with her family where she saw her classmate, Susan ___________ a picnic with her family.


(1) has
(2) had
(3) have
(4) is having

'Saw' is a verb of perception. We normally have this pattern of usage:

verb of perception + object + base form/gerund

Therefore, the answer is (3)

Rgds
R

hi
shouldn't it be ' ..... saw her classmate, Susan having a picnic with her family.'?

[chrisu]

Thank you teacher Ridcully. Your explanation is very clear.

ridcully:

chrisu:

This question is from PSLE English Model Exam Papers by EPH;
Exam Paper 5 Q.11)
The hostages ______________ their arms down on the ground and surrendered to the police.
(1) lie
(2) lay
(3) laid
(4) lain

Book answer is (3) laid

I think I have read here;
Human : Lie (present tense), Lay (past tense), Lain (past participle)
Chicken : Lay (present tense), Laid (past tense), Laid (past participle)

My daughter answer is lain.
Anyone can help to verify? Thank you.

The distinction between human and chicken is not quite a grammatical explanation! However, your listing of the base forms, past tenses and past participles is correct.

The distinction is between a transitive and an intransitive verb. 'Lay' is transitive, that is it takes an object, and means to put something down or spread something on something. 'Lie' is intransitive, that is it does not take an object [the action stops with the subject] and means to recline.

Humans can lay objects too. For instance:
We laid the table.
We laid the Ming Dynasty vase onto the soft cloth.

Therefore, the correct answer is (3) because the hostages put down their arms. However, I wonder why hostages are carrying arms? Shouldn't it be the kidnappers laying down arms? :scratchhead:

As for 'lain', you can use it like this:

Teacher Ridcully has lain on his sofa for two hours.

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

indigoblue:

ridcully:

[quote=\"P5G\"]8. Alice was cycling at East Coast Park with her family where she saw her classmate, Susan ___________ a picnic with her family.


(1) has
(2) had
(3) have
(4) is having

'Saw' is a verb of perception. We normally have this pattern of usage:

verb of perception + object + base form/gerund

Therefore, the answer is (3)

Rgds
R

hi
shouldn't it be ' ..... saw her classmate, Susan having a picnic with her family.'?[/quote]The forward slash '/' in my answer means alternative. I wrote that you can use base form (have) or gerund (which would be 'having' as you say). However, answer (4) 'is having' is present continuous tense, not a gerund.

Rgds
R

[indigoblue]

indigoblue:

ridcully:

[quote=\"P5G\"]8. Alice was cycling at East Coast Park with her family where she saw her classmate, Susan ___________ a picnic with her family.


(1) has
(2) had
(3) have
(4) is having

'Saw' is a verb of perception. We normally have this pattern of usage:

verb of perception + object + base form/gerund

Therefore, the answer is (3)

Rgds
R

hi
shouldn't it be ' ..... saw her classmate, Susan having a picnic with her family.'?[/quote]The forward slash '/' in my answer means alternative. I wrote that you can use base form (have) or gerund (which would be 'having' as you say). However, answer (4) 'is having' is present continuous tense, not a gerund.

Rgds
R[/quote]


thank you for your explanation ridcully!

i agree that (4) is having , is definitely not the answer, but somehow 'have' doesnt seem right also.
'was cycling' is past continuous, Susan's picnic is also past action happenning at the same time,so i thought Susan should be 'having a picnic....' ?
:? now i am confused!

[P5G]

Please help.



Q1. As a school boy, he was an outstanding athlete, but now he is so out of _____ that he can scarcely run fifty metres without panting heavily.

(1) health
(2) fitness
(3) strength
(4) condition


Q2. The courageous trucker said that it was a small price to pay for preventing an innumerable number of deaths.

(1) slew
(2) untold
(3) incalculable
(4) immeasurable


Q3. The pupils, one of _____ was Martin, represented the school in the scrabble competiton.

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


Q4. Jane does not have a red pen. Neither does Mary.
Neither of ______________________________ .


Q5. Jim eats a lot. He is still underweight.
However ________________________ .


Q6. Mala is a perfectionist who will only be satisfied with the best results.
Nothing but ________________________ .


Q7. Despite the hazards to their health, many came forward to help the survivors of the disaster.
_____________ although ______________ .


TIA.