pixiedust:

Extracted from School Paper Grammar MCQ :

........
In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper __________ sides may be different in colour...

The answer key listed whose as answer.

but I thought \"which\" should be the answer as paper is an inanimate object ?
Both \"which\" and \"whose\" are available in the answer list but \"which\" is already used earlier on in the passage.
Is it correct that \"whose\" should be used for animated objects only ?

Still here...

These are relative pronouns. The way to think about relative pronouns is:

http://i44.tinypic.com/33w8kmr.jpg\">

Note from the above table that 'whose' is possessive and may be used with both people and things.

'Which' is used to provide further information about something already mentioned, not to show possession.

Some examples:
1. Snow White, whose mirror is world famous, smiled.
2. Teacher Ridcully, who is pretty ugly, looked and shattered the mirror.
3. Teacher Ridcully, whom Snow White only met five minutes ago, tried to repair the mirror.
4. The mirror, whose shattered condition was beyond repair, gave Teacher Ridcully seven years of bad luck.
5. The mirror, which was now useless, was thrown on the scrap heap

In your sentence \"In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper __________ sides may be different in colour...\" the sides belong to the sheet of paper; hence, you need the possessive 'whose'.

Rgds
R

Winx5015:

Hi,


Can anyone suggest a suitable word for the following question.

I was actually ___________ the right to participate in the field trip because I was not wearing a tie.

Thanks.

denied

Superbugs:

why you have made the decision or why you made the decision?

Hi Superbugs. Could you provide more information about your question?


Normally, we would say:
Why did you make that decision?

We could also say:
Why have you made the decision to listen to Ridcully rather than other teachers?

Rgds
R

Helping--Hand:

Last week, i went to popular to get some stuffs. I picked up a secondary 1 english practice book and began browsing it....

I was suprised :? that the practice is so similiar to p6's english: Synthesis, grammar,vocab, punctuation(i think there is) and etc.
Is Seconday 1's english similiar to p6? Can anyone tell me? Thanks ^^
(actually i thought that sec 1 is supposed to be difficult&different)

The Secondary English practice books in Popular vary considerably in style, content and quality.

Secondary English is much tougher than Primary English. In Secondary English, students have to focus on comprehension and composition. A new aspect to comprehension is summary writing; this is something many students, especially in Secondary One, find enormously difficult. There is a large focus on vocabulary in comprehension. In compositional writing, there are many new genres and text types; students find argumentative writing particularly difficult.

In Secondary English, the subskills of grammar, punctuation, vocabulary etc are treated as that: subskills. In other words, they support the main areas of comprehension and composition. This contrasts with the focus in Primary English where the subskills are taught as worthy in their own right, and tested accordingly.

To give an example: one of the reasons summary writing is done poorly is that students do not join ideas together succinctly. This reflects poor Synthesis and Transformation skills. Secondary schools do teach connectors, but they are taught in order to strengthen written expression, not because there will be a S&T assessment worksheet as there is in the PSLE.

With regard to teaching students secondary school material to prepare for the PSLE, I have one word of advice: Don't. Actually, that's a contraction of two words... Most primary children burdened with secondary school material will not see the wood for the trees. You should make sure a child has a firm grasp of the basics for the PSLE, so that the child does not throw away easy points. It is true that there will be the odd one or two questions, especially in maths and science, where an exposure to secondary school material will give an edge, but is it worth exhausting a kid to chase those one or two points? I have seen kids score the one or two points but have lost easier points through carelessness and over-confidence.

Just my five cents worth...

Rgds
R

Verysuperkiasu:

Normally I would wait for ridcully to answer, but he's not been visiting this forum for a while now...

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I prefer to help people learn how to fish rather than do the fishing on every occasion! You are doing a good job and don't always need my services...


:celebrate:

elkniwt:

Without giving it a second thought, he signed up for it in the hope of transforming himself.

(1) imperiously
(2) imprudently
(3) instinctively
(4) instantaneously
[The ans in ans key is 4, my dd asked me why (3) is not ok. I told that that instantaneously means immediately, i.e. the decision is made very fast hence without thinking, hmm... but not sure is my explanation correct?? Pls help

(3) is not all right because 'instinct' is to do with natural or innate impulse: It is not an inborn tendency to sign up for things.

elkniwt:

The speaker was the main reason that spurred him to complete and pass his course with distinction.
(1) inspired
(2) hastened
(3) compelled
(4) encouraged
[The ans is (4). Again, need some help in explaining to her. Her qn is why inspired is not ok]

I think the answer is (1). The sentence uses the term 'the main reason' and this implies a stronger influence than mere encouragement.

Rgds
R

pixiedust:

Q: In order to impress Susan, Nick bought a tuxedo.


A1 : Nick wanted to impress Susan so he bought a tuxedo.
A2 : Nick bought a tuxedo so as to impress Susan.

It looks to me both A1 and A2 acceptable ? Is there a preferance ?

The connectors 'so' and 'so as to' are used to state a purpose. Consequently, I would go for A2 because the purpose behind buying a tuxedo is to impress Susan. For A1, we cannot say that the purpose behind wanting to impress Susan is to buy a tuxedo.

However, 'so' can be used in a different way: to state a result or effect. In that case, A1 is perfectly all right.

Given that the source sentence uses 'in order to' which is to state a purpose, I would go for A2.

pixiedust:

Q: We have to come up with new strategies for our plan. Our plan has failed.

A1: Our plan failed so we have to come up with new strategies for it.
A2: Our plan has failed so we have to come up with new strategies for it.

Is A1 acceptable ? Is it important to include the 'has' which is in the question?

Yes, keep the 'has'. The consequences of the plan failing flow through to the present.

Rgds
R

Verysuperkiasu:

I must say it's a little bit confusing :scratchhead:


Taking the sentence 'John is rarely late for school'
can also be written as

1) John is not often late for school - in which case then the answer is 'is he'.

2) John is often early for school - in which case the answer is 'isn't he'.

pls correct me if i'm wrong - we should not use no. 2) but use no. 1) is that right?

The source sentence uses 'late', not 'early'. Do not change stated adjectives after adverbs in S&T otherwise you will end up in a quagmire.

Rgds
R

Some unusual question tags:


Ridcully hardly ever complains, does he?

Mr and Mrs Ridcully rarely eat at the Raffles Hotel, do they?

I am a grammarian, aren’t I?

Let’s enjoy the PSLE, shall we?

This is good fun, isn’t it?

That is even more entertaining, isn’t it?

Rgds
R

Verysuperkiasu:

vidhyalog:

I think it should be does she . Since there is already a negative implied in the neither, so the question should be does she? ( it is like saying - She does not like either of the twins, does she?)

I think there was another query using 'rarely' - which was similar.

John is rarely late for school, isn't he?

In this case - John is rarely late - implies something positive - as in he is always early for school . In other words it would be - John is always early for schoolm, isn't he?

Makes sense?

Hmm....yes, it does make sense. Thanks!

I was the one who previously answered about 'rarely'.

The issue is grammatical: Implying something positive is not what determines the question tag.

'Rarely' is grammatically negative. It means 'not often'. Thus, the sentence 'John is rarely late for school can be rewritten:

John is not often late for school.

Now you can see that the question tag has to be positive:

John is not often late for school, is he?

John is rarely late for school, is he?

Rgds
R