All About English Creative Writing

[rifferama]

The Alternative Story:

2) Emigrant vs Immigrant


Emigrant - Someone who leaves his country to settle in another country.

How it is used: He emigrated from Vietnam to settle down in Malaysia.

How do you remember that? - The 'E' in Emigrant can stand for 'Exit' so you need to exit your country

Immigrant - Someone who enters into a country and settles there.

How it is used: He immigrated to Singapore to join his family who had already become permanent citizens.

How do you remember that? - The 'I' for Immigrant can stand for 'In' so you need to go into another country to be an immigrant

TAS

Wow! This has really helped me! I've always thought they had the same meaning, didn't pay much attention to the difference. Thank you for clearing the confusion!

Hi TAS,

I have a question too if you don't mind!
Is there a difference between \"regardless\" and \"irregardless\"?
I've pondered over it and I thought they both meant the same.. Is that the case? If it is, is the 'IR' in irregardless redundant since IR- usually carries a negative connotation like regular vs irregular.

Thank you in advance! (=

[colours123]

Wow!


Its really interesting and very creative in how we can learn English.

I have a question too!
What is the difference between optional vs alternative?

[tianzhu]

Hi


Hidden in one corner of this dynamic forum is a rare gem, a trained teacher who is willing to devote much of his or her time to help parents/students with their questions in Primary English.

English seems easy, but in my opinion, is tricky with its rules and exceptions. I’ve often wondered why there are many outcries from parents concerning difficulties in learning PSLE Chinese but not PSLE English. Judging by past records, the national average for students achieving A/A* in PSLE Chinese is about 80% but for English, it’s about 44%.

I am sure many parents/students appreciate what TAS is doing, and we hope that TAS will continue his/her journey in this thread.

Best wishes

[Herbie]

Hi TAS, I have sent you a PM. Tx

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


I have a Synthesis and Tranformation qn.
Can help to provide the solution?

I did not expect this to be a lot a more difficult.

_________________________________ than ________________________.

[The Alternative Story]

rifferama:

The Alternative Story:

2) Emigrant vs Immigrant


Emigrant - Someone who leaves his country to settle in another country.

How it is used: He emigrated from Vietnam to settle down in Malaysia.

How do you remember that? - The 'E' in Emigrant can stand for 'Exit' so you need to exit your country

Immigrant - Someone who enters into a country and settles there.

How it is used: He immigrated to Singapore to join his family who had already become permanent citizens.

How do you remember that? - The 'I' for Immigrant can stand for 'In' so you need to go into another country to be an immigrant

TAS

Wow! This has really helped me! I've always thought they had the same meaning, didn't pay much attention to the difference. Thank you for clearing the confusion!

Hi TAS,

I have a question too if you don't mind!
Is there a difference between \"regardless\" and \"irregardless\"?
I've pondered over it and I thought they both meant the same.. Is that the case? If it is, is the 'IR' in irregardless redundant since IR- usually carries a negative connotation like regular vs irregular.

Thank you in advance! (=

Hi rifferama,

Sure, the question you asked is one that many people get confused about.

Regardless is the correct word to use, while there is actually no such word as 'irregardless'.

How do you use 'regardless'?

- He did not give up on his dream to climb Mount Everest regardless of all the mockery he got.

It means to have no regard OR In spite of OR to be unmindful

Irregardless is often used in the same way as regardless but there is no such word as 'irregardless' in the English Language.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

colours123:

Wow!


Its really interesting and very creative in how we can learn English.

I have a question too!
What is the difference between optional vs alternative?

Hi colours123,

Yes English can be really fun

Optional means possible but not compulsory.

It can be used in this way:

- Taking Higher Chinese is optional for most students. Hence, usually, only a small percentage of students take Higher Chinese.

Alternative means having a choice between 2 possibilities.

It can be used in this way:

- If you want to lose weight, you should eat more healthily or alternatively, you could exercise more.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

tianzhu:

Hi


Hidden in one corner of this dynamic forum is a rare gem, a trained teacher who is willing to devote much of his or her time to help parents/students with their questions in Primary English.

English seems easy, but in my opinion, is tricky with its rules and exceptions. I’ve often wondered why there are many outcries from parents concerning difficulties in learning PSLE Chinese but not PSLE English. Judging by past records, the national average for students achieving A/A* in PSLE Chinese is about 80% but for English, it’s about 44%.

I am sure many parents/students appreciate what TAS is doing, and we hope that TAS will continue his/her journey in this thread.

Best wishes

Hi Tianzhu,

Thank you for kind words of praise! English seems easy but it does takes quite a bit of work like you say to be able to get the As and A*s. We will definitely continue to help any parents and students in this area.

By the way, it is not one teacher answering all these questions but a group of teachers from TAS

Do let us know if you need any help..we will try to recommend good books to get for kids to do well in English as well.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi Herbie,


We will analyze the composition but not use specific examples taken from the essay itself. We are doing so here to help more parents/children as we believe that the mistakes made as ones that are common to many children.

Analysis of composition:

1) In the beginning, your child uses an idiom which is great. It shows that he is trying to start a composition in a different way and it also displays his knowledge of the idiom. However teachers often look for appropriate use of idioms and vocabulary. His sentence structure in using the idiom is a little problematic. It would be better if he could use an idiom in this way:

- I have always heard of the saying 'Once bitten, twice shy'. It did not mean much to me until something happened to me recently that made the saying come alive. I was literally and figuratively bitten and it has indeed made me 'twice shy'. It all started when I took a short-cut home.


2) Your child uses quite good vocabulary in his composition, however his main problem is in his sentence structure. The sentences are too long and the grammar gets 'messed up' in a sense because of that.

An example(adapted from what he wrote):

- There was only one thing on my mind and ....(he goes on to say something about wanting to watch a show)

In this sentence, he wants to express 3 main ideas in this sentence. - 1) having one thing on his mind, 2) grabbing his bag 3) walking home.

However, in putting them all together in one sentence, he makes grammatical mistakes.

He could have written something like this:

- There was only one thing on my mind and it was my favourite drama serial. Swiftly grabbing my bag, I began walking home. (In this way, he breaks up his ideas into 2 sentences)

3) He writes at times in an informal way:

- I shoved all my books in....(he goes on to say something about him not caring about the state of the books)

Instead he could have written:

- I did not care about the messing up my books, I had to rush home immediately. Shoving all my books into my bag, I hoisted the bag onto my shoulders and left the classroom in a hurry.

4) He has a number of mistakes in his sentence structure but overall his basic grammar is quite strong. He should focus on having shorter sentences but also have a variety of sentence structures- starting a sentence with 'ing', with 'ed' etc. He should also not write in the way he talks i.e. write in an informal way.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


I have a Synthesis and Tranformation qn.
Can help to provide the solution?

I did not expect this to be a lot a more difficult.

_________________________________ than ________________________.

Hi Herbie,

I think there is a grammar mistake in the question itself. It should be 'I expected this to be a lot more difficult'

If this was the question, then the answer would be:

- I expected this to be a lot more difficult than it actually was.

TAS