Revision for CA Week

Dear all,

Here are some questions to help you revise through for your paper next week.

Grammar:

1. Tommy saw the boy _________ the bag of money on the table.
a) steal 
b) stole
c) steals 
d) stolen

Answer: A
You have to apply the VNV rule (Verb-noun-Verb). The second verb is always in the present and plural form.

2) The pack of cards _________ to Mark.
a) belong
b) belongs

Answer: B
In this case, the word 'cards' might trick you. Even though cards is plural, the key noun here is the word pack. There is only one pack. Even though there are many cards in that one pack, we look at the word 'pack' only. Since pack is singular, we use the singular verb 'belongs'.

3) The patient _________ on the operation table as he awaited the doctor to arrive. 
a) lie
b) lay
c) laid
d) lied

Answer: B
This is a very commonly asked question. When we talk about lying down somewhere, the present tense is 'lie'. The past tense is 'lay' and the perfect tense is 'lain'. Since the tenses here should be past tense due to the word 'awaited', we use the past tense 'lay'.

4) Neither of the kids __________ at home just now.
a) is
b) was
c) are
d) were

Answer: B
Neither means 'not one'. This is singular. The words 'just now' means that it is a past tense event. Thus, we look at the word 'was' as the answer.

5) Either Tommy or Peter ___________ to do the work. 
a) has
b) have

Answer: A
Either....... or......... and Neither ........... nor ............. We look a the second Noun, the noun after the words 'or' and 'nor'. Here, we look at 'Peter'. Peter is just one boy and therefore, singular form has to be used. We then use the word 'has'.

 Homework:

• Finish up all unfinished corrections in your files. Look through your synthesis and grammar. Revise through the grammar rules taught to you. 

Tomorrow's morning lesson is as usual at 6.50am in the classroom. As mentioned, we are looking to focus on grammar and synthesis so as to drill and practice and help you remember as much as we can. :) Remember to not give up. English may contain alot of grammar specific rules but once you remember them and practise them each day, it will be stored and you will find it easier. You can do it!

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Revision & Pointers for the day

Dear all,

We are now into our revision phase and we are revising through the test paper for last year in detail. So far, I have gone through Synthesis, Grammar and Vocabulary with you.Vocabulary is a section in which I can teach you new words and expose them to you. You do need to read too in order to pick up new words. It is a section that may not seem easy. You can help yourself by using the elimination methods to cross out options that are not logical. However, for synthesis and grammar, it is all about the grammar rules that you can apply. You do need to make a point to remember the rules here:

• VNV rule (Verb noun Verb rule) 
• In this rule, the second verb is always in the Present tense and Plural form. 
• Example:
• Father made the boy eat the cake. 
• made is the first verb. the boy is the noun. eat is the second verb. 'eat' is present tense and plural form. 

• verbs that end with 's' or 'es' are usually singular. 
• What is a singular verb or plural verb? We first need to look at the nouns to help determine. 
• Plural noun --> Plural verb
• Singular noun --> Singular verb
• The table has four legs. 'table' is singular. 'has' is singular too. 
• The tables have four legs each. 'tables' is plural. 'have' is plural too.

• Unless (positive statement), (negative statement)
• (negative statement) unless (positive statement)
• Always remember that regardless of where the 'unless' is placed (be it at the start of the sentence or in the middle), it is always followed by a positive statement. 
• Example:
• He will not do well for this test unless he puts in effort.
• Unless he puts in effort, he will not do well for this test. 

• Either of, Neither of, None of, Every, Each, One of
• These words are all in the singular form.
• Example:
• Either of the girls has to keep the items. 
• Neither of the boys is to touch the items.
• Every boy is a student in this school.
• Each kid is to take home a candy. 

• Either........or..........
• Neither.......nor...........
• We always look at the second verb (the verb after 'or' and 'nor' to determine if the verb that follows is singular of plural).
• Example:
• Neither the boys nor Peter is responsible for the crime.
• Either you or I am to take charge of the project.

• Person whom Person
• Person who Verb
• That is the boy whom Peter is friends with.
• That is the boy who is a friend of Peter.

• Lie (present tense)
• Lay (past tense)
• Laid (perfect tense)
• These words refer to the action of laying on a bed or floor. 

Reminder:

• Bring your practice paper for going through tomorrow.
• Tomorrow, there will be extra lessons in the morning from 6.50am - 7.20am. This will commence for tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to give you extra practice for your upcoming English paper on Wed. It is not compulsory. It will be in the classroom. This is to help you to revise through grammar and synthesis so that you can score well for these sections :)

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Basic Grammar Rules

Dear all,

As we are only about a week away from your CA, we will be finishing up the worksheets early next week and completing filing by the end of the week so that you can do your revision. For this weekend, I will be going through some basic Grammar Rules with you.

Basic Rule

The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb.

The trick is in knowing whether the subject is singular or plural. The next trick is recognizing a singular or plural verb.

Hint: Verbs do not form their plurals by adding an s as nouns do. In order to determine which verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you would use with he or she and which verb you would use with they.

Example:
talks, talk
Which one is the singular form?
Which word would you use with he?
We say, "He talks." Therefore, talks is singular.
We say, "They talk." Therefore, talk is plural.

Rule 1

Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb.

Example:
My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today

Rule 2

Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb as in Rule 1.

Examples:
Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.

Rule 3

As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected byand.

Example:
A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

Rule 4

Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not. Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.

Examples:
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.

Rule 5

The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, andsomebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.

Examples:
Each of the girls sings well.
Every one of the cakes is gone.

NOTE: Everyone is one word when it means everybody. Every one is two words when the meaning is each one.

Rule 6

When either and neither are subjects, they always take singular verbs.

Examples:
Neither of them is available to speak right now.
Either of us is capable of doing the job.

Rule 7

Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.

Examples:Ten dollars is a high price to pay.
Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.

Homework:

• Vocabulary Practice 2.1 and 2.2 (Look for the meanings of words you are unsure and complete the 10 MCQ questions)
• CA Revision Practice Paper

As promised, I have managed to find some videos on the topic of ants which we had done for the comprehension open-ended passage. Remember that you do not have to just look at comprehension open-ended passages as just your piece of work only. From the work you do in class, there are also facts and new knowledge to be learnt. This is the wonder of learning. If you just simply look at every piece of work in class as a torture and something you hate, you will not be able to think positively and make improvements. Learn to appreciate and see the positives out of your learning in school. :) Be positive and work hard.

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Week 6 (Grammar rules and Synthesis)

Dear all,

My apologies for the break in not updating. It has been a busy week on my side too. We are about to finish up on Unit 2 and 3 soon. I have given out the CA practice paper to you and given you ample time to complete the paper before next Monday. It has be to pass up next Monday so that I can mark through and go through with you. We will be doing filing soon so that you can revise through your work for the 3 units.

For this week, we focused on Comprehension Open-ended, Comprehension Cloze, Visual Text Information, Synthesis and Transformation and Situational Writing.

For today, I went through in detail about your comprehension open-ended questions. The second comprehension open-ended exercise was not that well done. Some mistakes to point out:

• Always identify for the tenses in the question first. Many of the questions would require you to answer in the past tense which many of you are not doing. You still disregard the importance of tenses. Past tense and Present tense are hugely important!!!
• Always highlight the key words in the question first. The 'Why' Questions would always require you to give a reason. 
• Your answers are not specific enough. If it is a 2 mark question, it usually involved 2 parts to the answers. Most of you answered only 1 part. 
• A phrase is part of a sentence. When you list your phrase down, check that it cannot be used as a sentence. 
• When you are asked to quote or write down the phrase, word or sentence, make sure that you write down word for word, spelling for spelling and punctuation for punctuation. You must follow exactly as in the passage.

We also finished up on our Synthesis and Transformation Practice. For Synthesis, there is alot of focus on the grammar rules that you have to know. Let us do an important recap:

In the sentence structure, "Having......................." A verb is after the word 'Having' and the verb is always in the perfect form. 

Having taken the file, I proceeded to pass it to Mr Tan.

In the sentence structure, "Despite" and "In spite of" ..................... We can use the words 'the fact that' after 'Despite' and 'In spite of' to complete the sentence.

In spite of the fact that he trained hard, he did not perform well for the competition.

Despite the fact that it was extremely sunny in the morning, it rained heavily in the afternoon.

In the sentence structure, ........................ whose ....................... Before the word 'whose', it is a person/people. After the word 'whose', it is a noun (item) belonging to the person. 

Daniel whose wallet was stolen had reported the matter to the police. 

In the sentence structure, ............. prefers................ We always use the rule 'Prefer ........ to ........" 

Prefer (Verb in the -ing form) to (Verb in the -ing form)

Tom prefers walking to jogging.

Ali prefers cooking at home to eating out at hawker centres.

In the sentence structure, ................ rather.................... We always use the rule "Rather ........ than ........."

Rather (Verb) than (Verb)

I would rather study than play.

I would rather revise for my examinations than go out and play with my friends.

Homework:

Visual Text 3.1

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

End of Week 5

Dear all,

Half of the term has passed by. Two more weeks before you begin your CA. Remember to start revising through, especially for your Maths and Science. You should have started revising through past year topics. Today, we finished up on Grammar practices. We went through idioms and grammar practice.

Homework for the day: 

• Comprehension Practice 2.1 and 2.2

Please take seriousness in your homework and really put in effort.

For comprehension cloze, do not forget to read for understanding, then highlight key words and check for tenses/singular/plural. 

Have a good weekend,

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Composition 1 Feedback

Dear all,

I have returned your composition scripts today and do have a look at the comments and ways to improve your compositions. As mentioned,

• Tenses are a huge error in your composition. Many of you are using present tenses which is wrong. When we write a story, it is recapping and talking about what happened, thus you should use the past tense. 
• Elaboration is important. I want to know about the feelings and how and why the person did what he did. 
• Example: Tom is wearing his favourite red sneakers. The sneakers mean alot to him as it is the first birthday gift he has received from his parents and it is his lucky charm. (Here, you are elaborating on his action and how and why he wears that pair of red sneakers)
• Do not just talk about the actions. Elaborate and explain more. 
• Many of you talked about yourself being separated and then reuniting but you left out about your parents who were also being separated from you. What happened to them? Explain more. 

As homework, look through your composition and rewrite in green pen the whole composition again so that while writing, you are also reading through and correcting your mistakes. Don't rewrite the same mistakes again. Look at my corrections for you. 

If you have not done well, don't be upset. Don't give up. Remember that there are a few more compositions coming up and I will be taking the best 2 or 3 compositions. Those who have done well, do not be complacent. Remember to put in more effort and find ways to improve further. 

Homework:

Composition Corrections

Grammar Worksheet 2.1 on Idioms

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Week 5 - Back to working hard

Dear all,

We went through vocabulary mcq and cloze today with vocabulary being one of your greatest weaknesses. I taught you the elimination method in which you read the question, highlight the key words and then strike out the options that are not logical. In this case, even if you are unsure, you can narrow down your options and make a good guess for the answer.

In order to improve vocabulary, you have to read widely and pick up new words. Also, make it a point to look for the meanings of the other options that you are not sure of. You do not just concentrate on the answer but also find out why the other options are not possible. This means that you have to research and find out the meanings of the vocabulary words you are unsure of which I have set you as homework over the long holiday weekend. I want you all to see the meaning behind doing certain practices rather than have you just doing them.

We pick up new meanings today through the reading of the comprehension Open-ended passage.

• Bonnet - Front cover of the vehicle
• Hood - Back cover of the vehicle

To tackle comprehension open-ended, we first look at the questions and understand the questions. We can understand the story by looking through the questions as what I have modelled to you in class today. This is known as the Pre-Reading Thinking Activity. Before reading, we think about the questions. 

Example:

1. Who was Mrs Morgan to James?

We know that the main characters are Mrs Morgan and James. We want to find out their relationship.

2. In Paragraph 3, why would James enjoy staying with Mrs Morgan?

We know that James would be staying with Mrs Morgan. James would feel happy staying with Mrs Morgan. We want to find out the reasons that would make him feel happy staying with Mrs Morgan. To stay with Mrs Morgan would also suggest that they were rather close. 

Hence, we did the Pre-reading thinking activity first to think deeply before we then read the passage. 

Today's reading is not that fantastic. I feel that you guys need to build up confidence in reading aloud first before we talk about higher level skills like voice intonation and expression. Read loudly and practise reading in front of the mirror if you can. 

Homework:

• Comprehension Open-ended Practice 1.3

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong