All About English Creative Writing

[Poohbear]

The Alternative Story:

for the usage of picnic, it can be used as both a VERB and a NOUN.

TAS

Hi TAS,

Thks for the sharing :celebrate:

[The Alternative Story]

Hi Poohbear,


No problem!

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


I have the following questions which need yr help.

1. A large number of monkeys ________ captured and sent abroad every year.

(1) is
(2) are

Why is the answer are and not is? Since it is stated as \"A large no\" can the large no be treated as collective noun.

2. Some of the equipment in the PE store _________ store yesterday?

(1) was
(2) were

Why is the answer was? I tot \"some\" is plura?

S&T qn
1. Ahmad asked, \"How do you know Sally met with an accident yesterday, Osman?\"

Ans: Oman asked Osman how he knew that Sally met with an accident the day before.

2. John was present at the ceremony. His brother, Jack was also present.
John as well as his brother, Jack was present at the ceremony

3. You cannot watch television. You must finish your homework.

You cannot watch television until you finish your homework.


4. These children are going on an excursion to the zoo. Aileen is not going.

These children except Aileen, are going on an excursion to the zoo.

Thanks and regards,

[The Alternative Story]

[quote]Hi TAS,


I have the following questions which need yr help.

1. A large number of monkeys ________ captured and sent abroad every year.

(1) is
(2) are

Why is the answer are and not is? Since it is stated as \"A large no\" can the large no be treated as collective noun.[/quote]Hi Herbie,

Clarification about collective nouns:
'A large number' is not really a collective noun. Collective nouns are more
specific: A swarm of bees, a bevy of ladies etc.

'A number' is very general, it can be used with most nouns.

Explanation about answer:

The answer is 'are' and not 'is'.

The word 'number' itself is singular:

- The number of people becoming obese is increasing

(The emphasis is more on a general number, on a proportion
of people, hence it is singular as it is an uncountable noun.
You can't count a proportion)

When you say 'A large number of', it becomes plural.

- A large number of my classmates are coming to my party.

- A number of Korean stars have been coming to Singapore.

(Here, the emphasis is on a more specific number,
for example: a large number of my classmates, you can
roughly estimate the number coming. Hence it is a countable noun,
and it is thus in the plural form)

[quote]2. Some of the equipment in the PE store _________ store yesterday?

(1) was
(2) were

Why is the answer was? I tot \"some\" is plura?[/quote]The answer is 'was' because we are focusing on 'equipment' and not
'some'. 'Equipment' is an uncountable noun and hence the verb is singular.
[quote]S&T qn
1. Ahmad asked, \"How do you know Sally met with an accident yesterday, Osman?\"

Ans: Oman asked Osman how he knew that Sally met with an accident the day before.[/quote]The answer is wrong. For reported speech S&T qns, the present tense
of the verb is changed to the past tense and the past tense is changed to
the past perfect tense.

(This is true for questions that are not based on
scientific facts).

For questions that are based on scientific facts, the tense
is always in the present tense.

Eg:

Qn: \"The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West,\" my mother told me.

Ans: My mother told me that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.

So for the question that you asked, the answer should be:

Ans: Ahmad asked Osman how he knew that Sally had met
with an accident the day before.

[quote]2. John was present at the ceremony. His brother, Jack was also present.
John as well as his brother, Jack was present at the ceremony[/quote]The answer is correct but there is a punctuation mistake.
'as well as his brother Jack' is extra information, it is a relative clause,
to identify it as such, you either put 2 commas to bracket it
or no commas at all.

Ans should be: John, as well as his brother Jack, was present at the ceremony.

[quote]3. You cannot watch television. You must finish your homework.

You cannot watch television until you finish your homework.[/quote]The answer is correct.
[quote]4. These children are going on an excursion to the zoo. Aileen is not going.

These children except Aileen, are going on an excursion to the zoo.[/quote]'except Aileen' is extra information/relative clause and the same rule
applies - double comma or no comma at all.

Ans should be: These children, except Aileen, are going on an excursion
to the zoo. (or you can remove the commas)

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS,


Can I check if the qn is -

A few of the equipment in the PE store ______ stolen yesterday.

Would the answer still be "was"?

Next, can we ignore the text infront of the sentence be it "a large no." or "A number" and just check whether the text infront of the ___________ is in plural or singular to answer the qn???

Kindly advise.

Tq

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS,


Can I check if the qn is -

A few of the equipment in the PE store ______ stolen yesterday.

Would the answer still be \"was\"?

Next, can we ignore the text infront of the sentence be it \"a large no.\" or \"A number\" and just check whether the text infront of the ___________ is in plural or singular to answer the qn???

Kindly advise.

Tq

Hi Herbie,

For the first question, 'few' cannot be used as equipment is an uncountable noun and 'few' is used for countable nouns.

For the next question, whether it is 'a large no.' or 'a number', the
answer is plural.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


The reported speech kind of questions in Synthesis & Transformation
is one where children make a lot of mistakes. We will show
what are some of the more difficult aspects of reported
speech here

Reported Speech (S & T)

When the tense is past tense, it should be changed to the past
participle tense in the reported speech.

QN: \"Did you swim last week?\" I asked

ANS: I asked Tim if he had swum the previous week.

Mistake: I asked Tim if he swam the previous week.

Many children would focus on 'swim' in the question and not 'did'
and forget that the tense is past tense in the question and hence
should be changed to the past perfect - had swum.

Mistake 2: I asked Tim if he had swam the previous week.

Some children are not too sure of their past participles and so they
think 'swam' is the past participle of 'swim'. They would need to
revise on their past participles.

QN: \"He went to town just now and is still
shopping there,\" my mother told me.

ANS: My mother told me that he had gone to town just then and was still shopping there.

Mistake: My mother told me that he went to town just then and
was still shopping there.

Sometimes, where there are several verbs in the sentence, and one
verb is in the present tense and another is in the past, they get confused
or careless and forget to change the verb that is in the past tense
to the past perfect tense.

Another common mistakes for reported speech is reported questions
and we will show some common mistakes related to that as we go on.

TAS

[Herbie]

Hi TAS


Thanks for the info on reported speech. Can also provide info on common mistake for reported qn?

I have one S&T qn.

Sam likes to swim in the ocean, but Samuel likes to lie on the beach.

_________________________ unlike ____________________.

Tx

[The Alternative Story]

Herbie:

Hi TAS


Thanks for the info on reported speech. Can also provide info on common mistake for reported qn?

I have one S&T qn.

Sam likes to swim in the ocean, but Samuel likes to lie on the beach.

_________________________ unlike ____________________.

Tx

Hi Herbie,

For reported qns, I will divide them into 2 types:

(a) 'Yes'/'No' questions (the answer can be only 'yes' or 'no')

- For such questions, the word 'if' or 'whether' has to be
put in front.

- When there are the verbs 'did'/'do'/'does' as the first word
of the question, they should not appear in your reported speech form.

Eg: \"Did you go out?\" I asked

Ans: I asked Tim if/whether he had gone out.

Common mistake: I asked Tim did he go out. (the child does not
put 'if'/'whether' and forgets to remove the verb 'did')

(b) 5 'W's and 1 'H' qn

These questions start with 'where', 'what', 'why', 'when', 'which' or
'how'.

- For such questions, there is no need for 'if' or 'whether'.

- It is important to take note that the verb is at the back of the noun-
(when in reported speech form) and not in front- (when in question form)

Eg: \"When are you going out?\" I asked.

Ans: I asked Tim when he was going out.

Common mistake: I asked Tim when was he going out.

Eg2: \"How much is the deposit for the car?\" Joan asked.

Ans: Joan asked how much the deposit for the car was.

Common mistake: Joan asked how much was the deposit of the car.


Some words that children forget to change when it comes to reported speech:

- 'must' is changed to 'had to'
- 'come' is changed to 'go'

Eg: \"I must go now,\" I said.

Ans: I told my mother that I had to go then.

Eg: \"Come here now!\" my teacher ordered.

Ans: My teacher ordered me to go there then.
(imagine you going home to tell your mother what your teacher
had said, you cannot say that your teacher ordered you to
come here (because 'coming here' is your home but
at that time, your teacher was talking about going to stand
where she was in the classroom)

The answer for the 'unlike' question is:

Sam unlike Samuel likes to swim in the ocean

However, this question is flawed in the sense that 'lying on the beach'
is not an opposing idea to 'swimming in the ocean'. I can both like to swim in the ocean and lie on the beach.

When you use the linking word 'unlike', it should be to connect 2
opposing ideas.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


A query was sent to us about the use of 'and', 'but' and 'because'.

The question was is it alright to use these words to start a sentence,
we have been taught not to but you see them often in storybooks and
in some writing in comprehension texts.

It is usually not accepted to do so. However this rule
is used more for formal writing- for eg: an argumentative essay on the
belief that the internet can corrupt young minds. In narratives (fiction),
the rules are not as strict as the main emphasis is on the story.

However, many teachers have grown up knowing that we should not
start a sentence with 'and' 'but' and 'because' and although this rule
is more relaxed for narratives, it is better to advise your child not to
do so as he would probably get marked down for it.

For authors, they can get away with doing so as they can use what is
called a narrative license when an author can distort the use of grammar
to improve his work of art or writing.

However, our kids are not authors yet, so they have to follow the
standard rules

TAS