Q&A - PSLE English

[tianzhu]

anneshirleygilbert:

Hello Tianzhu,

I'm just a little curious ... why do you choose (2) for your answer?

Hi

Thank you for your response. It gives me an opportunity to think about the question again.

The present perfect tense signals that one event or action will be finished before the second.

Take this sentence,

Unless Alan has been to Japan, he will not be permitted to lead the tour.

In this example, it is necessary to emphasise the earlier action as it’s a prerequisite.

For the zoo question, I am of the opinion that it is not so necessary to emphasise the act of buying the ticket as an earlier event. You have to buy the ticket before you enter the zoo, so that’s quite a natural thing to do.

That’s why I chose the present tense. But I might be wrong.

I do agree with you that the lack of context in some questions might lead to multiple answers.

Best wishes

[anneshirleygilbert]

Thank you, Whitety, for your upadte on the "tag-on" question.


Yes, I also think "positive statement-positive tag" is a little above PSLE level. But it’s good to know there exists such a rule. Language is so fluid, and even within the English language, there can be exceptions to the rule. Indeed, learning is a journey. I endeavour to make this journey as pleasant and enjoyable as I can for my daughter.

I share your hope that no such question appear in the PSLE exam paper.

Thanks, again.

[whitety]

Hi anneshirleygilbert,


You’re welcome! I’m also finding ways to make this year a pleasant journey for my dd…er…enjoyable??? … I only hope she can have sufficient rest/sleep everyday.

[CayennePepper]

Hi all

I have a question about quoting sentences, for comprehension questions such as: Which sentences tells us...?

How do we quote? Can we just write the relevant sentence as the answer? Are quotation marks needed?

E.g. Ans:
1- They urged her not to quit.
2- \"They urged her not to quit.\"
3- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit.\"
4- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit\".
For (3) and (4), where should the full stop be placed? After the ending quotation mark or before?? :scratchhead:

Much thanks in advance!

[Mdm Koh]

CayennePepper:

Hi all

I have a question about quoting sentences, for comprehension questions such as: Which sentences tells us...?

How do we quote? Can we just write the relevant sentence as the answer? Are quotation marks needed?

E.g. Ans:
1- They urged her not to quit.
2- \"They urged her not to quit.\"
3- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit.\"
4- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit\".
For (3) and (4), where should the full stop be placed? After the ending quotation mark or before?? :scratchhead:

Much thanks in advance!

Quotation marks are needed. You also need a comma after the word \"is\". The full-stop can be placed before the quotation mark or after. It's a matter of style.

[CayennePepper]

Mdm Koh:

CayennePepper:

Hi all

I have a question about quoting sentences, for comprehension questions such as: Which sentences tells us...?

How do we quote? Can we just write the relevant sentence as the answer? Are quotation marks needed?

E.g. Ans:
1- They urged her not to quit.
2- \"They urged her not to quit.\"
3- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit.\"
4- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit\".
For (3) and (4), where should the full stop be placed? After the ending quotation mark or before?? :scratchhead:

Much thanks in advance!

Quotation marks are needed. You also need a comma after the word \"is\". The full-stop can be placed before the quotation mark or after. It's a matter of style.

:thankyou: for your response, Mdm Koh.
Is it acceptable to just answer with the quoted sentence enclosed within quotation marks, without prefacing with: The sentence is, ...
E.g. \"They urged her not to quit.\"
It would be so much simpler; fewer chances of punctuation errors!

[Mdm Koh]

CayennePepper:

Mdm Koh:

[quote=\"CayennePepper\"]Hi all

I have a question about quoting sentences, for comprehension questions such as: Which sentences tells us...?

How do we quote? Can we just write the relevant sentence as the answer? Are quotation marks needed?

E.g. Ans:
1- They urged her not to quit.
2- \"They urged her not to quit.\"
3- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit.\"
4- The sentence is \"They urged her not to quit\".
For (3) and (4), where should the full stop be placed? After the ending quotation mark or before?? :scratchhead:

Much thanks in advance!

Quotation marks are needed. You also need a comma after the word \"is\". The full-stop can be placed before the quotation mark or after. It's a matter of style.

:thankyou: for your response, Mdm Koh.
Is it acceptable to just answer with the quoted sentence enclosed within quotation marks, without prefacing with: The sentence is, ...
E.g. \"They urged her not to quit.\"
It would be so much simpler; fewer chances of punctuation errors![/quote]It's not advisable as the answer is not complete. The students have been taught in school that they must begin their answers with \"The word is...\", \"The phrase is...\" and \"The sentence is....\"

I've seen an exam paper where the school teacher gave the student zero because the phrases were left out, despite the fact that she had written down the correct quotes.

[CayennePepper]

Thank you again, Mdm Koh! Really appreciate your help on this. I'm shocked that my nephew has never been told this by his teachers! :skeptical:

[struggling]

leexue_dwx:

Synthesis:


Regardless of the cost, I am buying this latest mobile phone in the market.
It has had lots of advertisements on it.

Answer A,
Regardless of the cost, I am buying this latest mobile phone in the market which has had lots of advertisements on it.

Answer B,
Regardless of the cost, I am buying this latest mobile phone which has had lots of advertisements on it in the market.

Any parent can tell me which one is correct and why?


Thanks a lot.

For this, the correct answer is A.

This is because the original sentence talks about the mobile phone in the market, but not that the ads are everywhere 'in the market'. So the phrase 'in the market' should be directly linked back to the mobile phone.

Hope this helps!

[mumworks]

Hi


Anyone can help to answer the following questions with some explanations ?

(1) May I know what is the difference between "died of old age" and "died from old age" ?

(2) The bush fire (spread or spreads) quickly due to the high temperature.

(3) Among all the designers, Celine is the only one who (come or has come) up with the new designer pieces every other month.

(4) The committee members (decided or has decided or have decided) to make Mr Lee the next Chairman of the Greenland Club two months ago.

(5) All the windows rattle. The wind blows.
Answer : (a) or (b)
(a) When the wind blows, all the windows rattle.
Or
(b) When the wind blows, all the windows rattled.

(6) The chairman of the debate competition advised the two teams to speak (loud/loudly/louder/ more loudly) in the finals as the audience gave feedback that the debaters did not speak loud enough in the semi finals.


Thank you very much in advance.