Q&A - P4 English

[HAPPYH]

grammartots:

CayennePepper:

Oops, these didn't get copied earlier.


4. The crowd cheered wildly when they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer.
(a) As soon as the crowd caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, they cheered wildly.
Or
(b) As soon as they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, the crowd cheered wildly.

5. Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course. She was afraid of heights.
(a) Despite Mary's fear of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.
Or
(b) Despite her fear of heights, Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course.

All the answers sound right to me!

You may get different opinions from different people with the questions you gave, because with Synthesis and Transformation, sometimes it's not so clear-cut whether an answer that changes the original meaning only slightly is acceptable.

Looking at example (4), I would say both are acceptable. The difference between the two lies in whether you have an anaphoric (backward) or cataphoric (forward) reference. Some people prefer version 4a (anaphoric) because there it may be easier to understand without the undefined pronoun \"they\".

As for (5), I would prefer to use the original word \"afraid\" instead of \"fear\", because there's less chance of making a mistake. You see, with an exam like PSLE, the student doesn't get a chance to look at how his or her paper is marked. And if his or her answer deviates from the agreed answer or answers, then you never know whether he's going to get any point for that question.

So I would go for version (5c) below:

(5c) Despite the fact that Mary was afraid of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.

Can we say like this if they do not give the word Despite?

Although Mary was afraid of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.

thank you

[Skyed]

HAPPYH:

grammartots:

[quote=\"CayennePepper\"]Oops, these didn't get copied earlier.


4. The crowd cheered wildly when they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer.
(a) As soon as the crowd caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, they cheered wildly.
Or
(b) As soon as they caught a glimpse of their favourite singer, the crowd cheered wildly.

5. Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course. She was afraid of heights.
(a) Despite Mary's fear of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.
Or
(b) Despite her fear of heights, Mary was determined to complete the obstacle course.

All the answers sound right to me!

You may get different opinions from different people with the questions you gave, because with Synthesis and Transformation, sometimes it's not so clear-cut whether an answer that changes the original meaning only slightly is acceptable.

Looking at example (4), I would say both are acceptable. The difference between the two lies in whether you have an anaphoric (backward) or cataphoric (forward) reference. Some people prefer version 4a (anaphoric) because there it may be easier to understand without the undefined pronoun \"they\".

As for (5), I would prefer to use the original word \"afraid\" instead of \"fear\", because there's less chance of making a mistake. You see, with an exam like PSLE, the student doesn't get a chance to look at how his or her paper is marked. And if his or her answer deviates from the agreed answer or answers, then you never know whether he's going to get any point for that question.

So I would go for version (5c) below:

(5c) Despite the fact that Mary was afraid of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.

Can we say like this if they do not give the word Despite?

Although Mary was afraid of heights, she was determined to complete the obstacle course.

thank you[/quote]Seems correct.

[KRR]

Hi,


Can you please help me with the following grammar questions.
1. _________ more plant life will be wiped out through Man’s irresponsible actions unless we take action against further environmental damage.
(Some, Much, Many, Hugely) Given ans: Much
Why the answer cannot be 'Many"?

2. "That is a lot ______ T-shirts than we had originally projected to sell to the school!" he protested, after looking at the sales figure.
(fewer, less, few, lesser) Given ans: fewer

Why the answer cannot be ‘lesser’?

3. If you _________ faster, you will reach there in time.
(walk, walks, walking, walked) Given ans: walked
My answer is ‘walk’. Which one is correct and why?

4. The courageous boy ________ on the thief.
(will spring, springs, sprang, spring) Given ans: sprang

There is no word in the question that indicates that the sentence must be in past tense, then why is 'sprang; the answer.

5. Science is a subject that has always been ________ of moral dilemmas.
(fuller, filled, full, fill) Given ans: full
Please explain why?

Thank you very much for the time and effort that you would take to reply these questions.

KRR

[Skyed]

Can you please help me with the following grammar questions.

1. _________ more plant life will be wiped out through Man's irresponsible actions unless we take action against further environmental damage.
(Some, Much, Many, Hugely) Given ans: Much
Why the answer cannot be 'Many\"?

Cannot be many because many refers to countable things. There's too much plant life in the world to be counted.

EDIT: However if the question was ______ more plants will be wiped out... then the answer is many.

2. \"That is a lot ______ T-shirts than we had originally projected to sell to the school!\" he protested, after looking at the sales figure.
(fewer, less, few, lesser) Given ans: fewer

Why the answer cannot be 'lesser'?

Lesser refers to uncountable things. Like, you can't say I had lesser points than you for math. You say I had fewer points than you for math because fewer is for things that can be counted.


3. If you _________ faster, you will reach there in time.
(walk, walks, walking, walked) Given ans: walked
My answer is 'walk'. Which one is correct and why?

I think walk is correct. IMO, walked would only be correct if it was \"If you had walked faster, you would have reached there in time\"

4. The courageous boy ________ on the thief.
(will spring, springs, sprang, spring) Given ans: sprang

There is no word in the question that indicates that the sentence must be in past tense, then why is 'sprang; the answer.

I think the past tense is implied because the fact that you say the boy is courageous means that he must have done something to make you say that.


5. Science is a subject that has always been ________ of moral dilemmas.
(fuller, filled, full, fill) Given ans: full
Please explain why?

Cannot be fuller because you're not comparing to anything. \"filled - of\" doesn't make sense, for it to be filled has to be filled with. And fill of is wrong because it's in present tense I think. But yeah full is correct.

Thank you very much for the time and effort that you would take to reply these questions.

[KRR]

Skyed, thank you so much for your help.


KRR

[Skyed]

KRR:

Skyed, thank you so much for your help.


KRR

Welcome

[HAPPYH]

Skyed:

Can you please help me with the following grammar questions.



2. \"That is a lot ______ T-shirts than we had originally projected to sell to the school!\" he protested, after looking at the sales figure.
(fewer, less, few, lesser) Given ans: fewer
Why the answer cannot be 'lesser'?

Lesser refers to uncountable things. Like, you can't say I had lesser points than you for math. You say I had fewer points than you for math because fewer is for things that can be counted.


Thank you very much for the time and effort that you would take to reply these questions.

T-shirts are countable nouns so fewer is the correct choice.

[grammartots]

KRR:

Can you please help me with the following grammar questions.


4. The courageous boy ________ on the thief.
(will spring, springs, sprang, spring) Given ans: sprang

There is no word in the question that indicates that the sentence must be in past tense, then why is 'sprang; the answer.

Skyed:

I think the past tense is implied because the fact that you say the boy is courageous means that he must have done something to make you say that.

Yes, \"sprang\" is the correct answer.

Here's an alternative explanation:

Verbs like \"spring\" are called dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs are often called action verbs. With dynamic verbs, there is often an implied sense of beginning and end. For this reason, the action of \"spring\" is understood to have completed in the question you provided, reproduced below:

4) The courageous boy sprang on the thief.

We thus use the past tense form \"sprang\" to indicate the action has completed, even though there's no time indication.

It's uncommon to use the present tense with dynamic verbs because it would suggest on activity that's factual or habitual:

5) ?The courageous boy springs on the thief.

Unless sentence (5) is used as a narrative present, it's odd (as indicated by the ?) because the sentence means the boy does the springing regularly.

Dynamic verbs are contrasted with stative verbs. These verbs describe a state and have undefined duration. So, we often see the present used with stative verbs:

6) The courageous boy knows all our names.

Notice that no time is indicated, yet the present tense is acceptable because the duration of \"knowing\" is a state rather than an action and thus is not bounded in time.

[KRR]

Hi grammartots,


Your explanations were SO CLEAR. Thank you very much.

Can I get help with this question.

1."Are you living here?”
She asked me _________________.
Given answer: She asked me if I was living here.
Why can’t it be - She asked me if I was living there.


2. “Don’t smoke here!”
He told us __________________.
Given answer: He told us not to smoke there.

When does the word ‘here’ change to ‘there’ and when does it not change.
Please help.

Thank you very much.
KRR

[grammartots]

KRR:

Hi grammartots,


Your explanations were SO CLEAR. Thank you very much.

Can I get help with this question.

1.\"Are you living here?”
She asked me _________________.
Given answer: She asked me if I was living here.
Why can't it be - She asked me if I was living there.


2. “Don’t smoke here!”
He told us __________________.
Given answer: He told us not to smoke there.

When does the word 'here' change to 'there' and when does it not change.
Please help.

Thank you very much.
KRR

Welcome

Generally, the backshift version with \"there\" for both questions is acceptable.

The version with \"here\" is acceptable if, say, the speech is reported soon after it is spoken:

(3) Janet asked, \"Are you living here?\"

If I report that utterance to someone and I'm still at the location where Janet spoke, then, yes, the \"here\" version is possible:

(3a) Janet asked if I am/was living here.