Most of us know how the comparative adjectives work. When there is no comparison, we use the 'base form' of the adjective. For example: Richie is rich. There is no comparison. One person.
When we want to say that two people have the same quality of a thing, we can use 'as ... as'. For example: Mary is as tall as June. The car is as fast as the motorcycle.
Enter a better quality. We will us the 'er' form or with the word 'more'. In both cases, we add 'than'. We use 'than' when we 'compare'. Do not mix up with 'then'. 'The Harley is faster than the Honda.' (Is it true? Not sure!) 'My father is more handsome than that ugly man.'
In the case of three or more people, we use the 'est' form or with the word 'most'. This time, we do not use 'than', but we insert 'the' in front of the comparison. For example: Mickey is the smartest of the cartoon characters in 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'. Micky is tall. Donald is taller. Goofy is the tallest of them all. Simple stuff.
The complication comes when there are some irregular words that do not follow the guidelines I have listed above. For example: good-better-best; bad-worse-worst; much-more-most; little-less-least.
Another complication is comparing an individual and a group. When comparing a boy and a group of boys, we are actually comparing two entities. For example: Ali is shorter than most of the boys in the class (one group). Timmy is older than the animals in the class (one group). We are comparing two things in both examples, hence, we use 'er' and 'than'.
Also, do not be fooled by the use of the word 'the'. It is NOT ALWAYS an indicator to use the 'est' form! It merely points to things, sometimes. For example: Donald is the noisier of the two characters. The red pen is the cheaper of the pens I have. (implies that I have only two pens)
Last but not least, a common mistake made by students is to 'double use' the 'er' form with 'more'. Some tend to say: 'I am more taller than Frank.' 'Taller' has already been added with 'er', so there is no need for 'more' to be added. It is weird to hear 'more tall' too!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Composition: Paragraphing
It dawned upon me when I was teaching this week that students might know what a new paragraph is, but not when it is appropriate to start one.
I was teaching this primary six girl and was speaking to her before the lesson commenced, that she should keep in mind her paragraphs in her Situational Writing piece. She replied by telling me that she was not sure when to begin one...
I stopped to think. It seems easy for us to tell students to have paragraphs; do they know exactly when one is needed? Hmmm...
When we were doing writing in lower primary, writing began by answering simple sentences. We were told to repeat parts of the sentences in our answers. If the question went: "Why did John kick the ball?", the answer had to be "John kicked the ball because..." These days, answers have to be to-the-point. It should be "He was feeling bored(reason)." No need to repeat the question. Copy wrongly and get marks deducted. NIE's teacher training did not teach me this. I had to find this out through my stint in tuition teaching about a year into it. PSLE marking confirmed this fact I found out.
Then composition-writing set its roots in our primary school lives. We were told to write in three paragraphs, with at least eighty words. It seemed like a daunting task, but fortunately, we had the help of three or four pictures.
Moving on, it became four pictures, with a minimum of a hundred and twenty words. At least four paragraphs are needed. When do you start new paragraphs? A guide would be to open a new paragraph with a new picture. Fail to match the number of words? You'll fail on content, which will carry ten or twelve out of your twenty mark total.
It was a blur for me in upper primary and I cannot seem to recall what it was like in writing then. These days, primary five and six students write to a single picture, or a short one paragraph description of the situation / gist they are to write about. The four paragraph minimum remains, but stakes are raised. Content and language components take twenty marks each for a forty-mark piece of writing. Students have to write with beautiful language to score well in laguage (more will be written on this part later).
So for a primary five / six student, it means four paragraphs, right? Can they write less? NO. What about writing more paragraphs? Definately possible! I mean, you do not have teachers who penalise you for writing 'Too MANY paragraphs", do you? When do they start new paragraphs then, without the aid of the four pictures??
I did a little search on the Internet and found this article by The Learning Centre too difficult to comprehend for young children. For myself, I have a few 'cues' to move to a new paragraph when I write.
1. Length. There are approxiamtely thirty lines or so on a piece of foolscap. You leave lines after every line that you write. That makes it about fifteen writable lines. Does your paragraph take eight lines? That is almost half the page! This is a trap, especially easy to fall into for students with handwriting as messy and big as an unkempt Bid Bird on his bad-hair-day. Keep paragraphs to at most five or six lines (that is a lot already!). That can translate into about five to eight reasonably long sentences.
2. New scene/place/situation. You are writing about being excited for a trip to the beach. You write about the things we prepared. A whole laundry-list of it. You are going to write about reaching your destination next. Use a new paragraph.
Or you are writing about falling asleep in class. E.g.
"Kerry... Kerry!" Miss Maria's shrill-pitched voice suddenly pierced the air and rang like a fire-alarm in my ears. I shot up in my chair almost instantly, rubbing my bleary eyes while mustering only a meek reply. Students from 'Primary 6A' tried their hardest to stifle their laughter when they spied drool hanging by a thin thread at the left corner of my mouth.
"Sleeping in class... again!" I was 'sentenced' to detention without trial for committing one of the most vicious crimes in our form teacher's rulebook. Sigh! I had to go for recess ten minutes late. Queues would have long formed by then. It meant lining in queues as long as the River Nile, and only getting your food two minutes before the bell rang again for the end of recess.
The ten minutes spent writing lines of "I promise not to fall asleep in class again" seemed like eternity. Once the signal was given to me by my class monitor for the end of the ten minutes, I sprang, like a spring recoiled to its fullest and released, out of the classroom and cruised down the empty aisles towards canteen. Determined, I wanted to join the queues at the earliest opportunity and still have enough time for a game of 'Ice-and-Freeze' with my buddies, Frank and Chad.
The canteen was bursting at its seams. (End of example)
I kept number of lines in check as I write and start new paragraphs when I wanted to explore on a new area in my writing. Especially the last paragraph in my example, when I reached a new place.
3. Dialogue. Some teachers make it a point that dialogue starts on new paragraphs. Read commercial storybooks and they are written in that way too. Helps to get you 'out-of-jail' if you forget where to begin a new paragraph after writing a little too much.
4. Dramatic effect. You are writing on a cookie stolen from the cookie jar. You think of possibilities and weigh them in your mind. Something then catches your attention. A trail of crumbs. You decide to follow the lead. You come to a room and see a shadow on the wall. You are about to disclose who the culprit is.
You might wish to start a new paragraph at this point. Let the reader catch his breath. Let him predict who it may be. Your new paragraph can reveal the culprit. Or you may skilfully write that it was actually some misunderstanding and throw your reader off his feet. Scores better on content.
Do pick up more books and read. At each paragraph, ask yourself why there was a need for a new one. See if they fall under my list of 'cues'. If you can understand the 'cues' well and use them appropiately, I think you may be on the way to better pensmanship. Happy writing!
I was teaching this primary six girl and was speaking to her before the lesson commenced, that she should keep in mind her paragraphs in her Situational Writing piece. She replied by telling me that she was not sure when to begin one...
I stopped to think. It seems easy for us to tell students to have paragraphs; do they know exactly when one is needed? Hmmm...
When we were doing writing in lower primary, writing began by answering simple sentences. We were told to repeat parts of the sentences in our answers. If the question went: "Why did John kick the ball?", the answer had to be "John kicked the ball because..." These days, answers have to be to-the-point. It should be "He was feeling bored(reason)." No need to repeat the question. Copy wrongly and get marks deducted. NIE's teacher training did not teach me this. I had to find this out through my stint in tuition teaching about a year into it. PSLE marking confirmed this fact I found out.
Then composition-writing set its roots in our primary school lives. We were told to write in three paragraphs, with at least eighty words. It seemed like a daunting task, but fortunately, we had the help of three or four pictures.
Moving on, it became four pictures, with a minimum of a hundred and twenty words. At least four paragraphs are needed. When do you start new paragraphs? A guide would be to open a new paragraph with a new picture. Fail to match the number of words? You'll fail on content, which will carry ten or twelve out of your twenty mark total.
It was a blur for me in upper primary and I cannot seem to recall what it was like in writing then. These days, primary five and six students write to a single picture, or a short one paragraph description of the situation / gist they are to write about. The four paragraph minimum remains, but stakes are raised. Content and language components take twenty marks each for a forty-mark piece of writing. Students have to write with beautiful language to score well in laguage (more will be written on this part later).
So for a primary five / six student, it means four paragraphs, right? Can they write less? NO. What about writing more paragraphs? Definately possible! I mean, you do not have teachers who penalise you for writing 'Too MANY paragraphs", do you? When do they start new paragraphs then, without the aid of the four pictures??
I did a little search on the Internet and found this article by The Learning Centre too difficult to comprehend for young children. For myself, I have a few 'cues' to move to a new paragraph when I write.
1. Length. There are approxiamtely thirty lines or so on a piece of foolscap. You leave lines after every line that you write. That makes it about fifteen writable lines. Does your paragraph take eight lines? That is almost half the page! This is a trap, especially easy to fall into for students with handwriting as messy and big as an unkempt Bid Bird on his bad-hair-day. Keep paragraphs to at most five or six lines (that is a lot already!). That can translate into about five to eight reasonably long sentences.
2. New scene/place/situation. You are writing about being excited for a trip to the beach. You write about the things we prepared. A whole laundry-list of it. You are going to write about reaching your destination next. Use a new paragraph.
Or you are writing about falling asleep in class. E.g.
"Kerry... Kerry!" Miss Maria's shrill-pitched voice suddenly pierced the air and rang like a fire-alarm in my ears. I shot up in my chair almost instantly, rubbing my bleary eyes while mustering only a meek reply. Students from 'Primary 6A' tried their hardest to stifle their laughter when they spied drool hanging by a thin thread at the left corner of my mouth.
"Sleeping in class... again!" I was 'sentenced' to detention without trial for committing one of the most vicious crimes in our form teacher's rulebook. Sigh! I had to go for recess ten minutes late. Queues would have long formed by then. It meant lining in queues as long as the River Nile, and only getting your food two minutes before the bell rang again for the end of recess.
The ten minutes spent writing lines of "I promise not to fall asleep in class again" seemed like eternity. Once the signal was given to me by my class monitor for the end of the ten minutes, I sprang, like a spring recoiled to its fullest and released, out of the classroom and cruised down the empty aisles towards canteen. Determined, I wanted to join the queues at the earliest opportunity and still have enough time for a game of 'Ice-and-Freeze' with my buddies, Frank and Chad.
The canteen was bursting at its seams. (End of example)
I kept number of lines in check as I write and start new paragraphs when I wanted to explore on a new area in my writing. Especially the last paragraph in my example, when I reached a new place.
3. Dialogue. Some teachers make it a point that dialogue starts on new paragraphs. Read commercial storybooks and they are written in that way too. Helps to get you 'out-of-jail' if you forget where to begin a new paragraph after writing a little too much.
4. Dramatic effect. You are writing on a cookie stolen from the cookie jar. You think of possibilities and weigh them in your mind. Something then catches your attention. A trail of crumbs. You decide to follow the lead. You come to a room and see a shadow on the wall. You are about to disclose who the culprit is.
You might wish to start a new paragraph at this point. Let the reader catch his breath. Let him predict who it may be. Your new paragraph can reveal the culprit. Or you may skilfully write that it was actually some misunderstanding and throw your reader off his feet. Scores better on content.
Do pick up more books and read. At each paragraph, ask yourself why there was a need for a new one. See if they fall under my list of 'cues'. If you can understand the 'cues' well and use them appropiately, I think you may be on the way to better pensmanship. Happy writing!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Subject-Verb Agreement (basic)
"He have a blue ball."
"The boys has to go home for dinner as it is late."
Looks wrong, isn't it? Their errors occur in the area where we call 'Subject-Verb agreement'. This is were the verb in the sentence does not match with the subject (or their do-ers).
Take for example: "Malek is a footballer."
The subject is Malek, therefore we use 'is'. Simply put - we are talking about one person - Malek - in the sentence. The verb changes if the number of people change.
"Malek and Fandi are footballers."
The verb changes due to the increase in the number of people and the noun 'footballer' that follows in the sentence have to be changed too. This should be simple stuff, chicken feed.
A level of difficulty when they refer to one person or item in a group.
Example: "One of the boys ___ (kick) now."
In this case, the word 'now' tells us it is happening, so we have to use the present continuous form. So we say 'is kicking'. We are referring to a single 'one' of the boys. I always use this rule 'One person is lonely. So one person has a friend, called 'S'' with my students.
Whenever we see 'One __ of the ___', we can safely say we shall pick the singular form as our answer. The problem is that we have to tell between using present or past tense. We have to look for clues from the rest of the question.
"One of the girls ______ (clap) her hands. The other girls looked at her, astounded." Answer here is 'clapped', clue is 'looked'.
Then we have the items or people being grouped together. Example: 'The bouquet of flowers ______ (sit) beautifully on the table." 'Bouquet' refers to a single 'bunch' (nicely wrapped). Do not look at the words 'of flowers' when you answer the question. They are there to trick you.
The words 'Each', 'Every', 'Everybody', and 'Everyone' are all to be taken as singular nouns too. The verbs that follow them in the sentence all take the singular form. These sentences are correct:
a. Each of you is unique. (It changes when you say 'All' - 'All of you are unique.')
b. Every student has to work hard towards scoring well.
c. Everybody reads a book when they come to school in the morning. (It'll be good, but not every student does that...)
d. Everyone sings the National Anthem during flag raising. (Really?)
The last tricky part is that there are some nouns that end with a letter 's'; they DO NOT take the plural form! For example: 'Mathematics is my favourite subject.' or 'Chess is a game I always lose at.'
Or 'The news shows a man singing to his dog to rouse it from its deep slumber.' Some nouns, however, may take the plural form, even though there is no 's'. Example: 'The cattle are grazing the large green field.' or 'Police are looking for the suspect, whom they believe is a tall Chinese male."
There are quite a few more examples, but I shall not attempt to list everything here. Read and ask yourself questions as you do. "Why is this written in this way?" "Shouldn't this be (the other way) instead?"
Have fun trying to make sense of this mysterious language. While you are at it, you might wish to try these to see how much you have understood:
a. One of the babies ____ (be) crying loudly.
b. A few of the boys _____ (be) being punished now for playing truant yesterday.
c. Each student ______ (borrow) a book from the library later.
d. None of the dwarves ________ (drink) the poisoned water that is being passed to them.
e. Billards _______ (be) a game Joe likes to play.
"The boys has to go home for dinner as it is late."
Looks wrong, isn't it? Their errors occur in the area where we call 'Subject-Verb agreement'. This is were the verb in the sentence does not match with the subject (or their do-ers).
Take for example: "Malek is a footballer."
The subject is Malek, therefore we use 'is'. Simply put - we are talking about one person - Malek - in the sentence. The verb changes if the number of people change.
"Malek and Fandi are footballers."
The verb changes due to the increase in the number of people and the noun 'footballer' that follows in the sentence have to be changed too. This should be simple stuff, chicken feed.
A level of difficulty when they refer to one person or item in a group.
Example: "One of the boys ___ (kick) now."
In this case, the word 'now' tells us it is happening, so we have to use the present continuous form. So we say 'is kicking'. We are referring to a single 'one' of the boys. I always use this rule 'One person is lonely. So one person has a friend, called 'S'' with my students.
Whenever we see 'One __ of the ___', we can safely say we shall pick the singular form as our answer. The problem is that we have to tell between using present or past tense. We have to look for clues from the rest of the question.
"One of the girls ______ (clap) her hands. The other girls looked at her, astounded." Answer here is 'clapped', clue is 'looked'.
Then we have the items or people being grouped together. Example: 'The bouquet of flowers ______ (sit) beautifully on the table." 'Bouquet' refers to a single 'bunch' (nicely wrapped). Do not look at the words 'of flowers' when you answer the question. They are there to trick you.
The words 'Each', 'Every', 'Everybody', and 'Everyone' are all to be taken as singular nouns too. The verbs that follow them in the sentence all take the singular form. These sentences are correct:
a. Each of you is unique. (It changes when you say 'All' - 'All of you are unique.')
b. Every student has to work hard towards scoring well.
c. Everybody reads a book when they come to school in the morning. (It'll be good, but not every student does that...)
d. Everyone sings the National Anthem during flag raising. (Really?)
The last tricky part is that there are some nouns that end with a letter 's'; they DO NOT take the plural form! For example: 'Mathematics is my favourite subject.' or 'Chess is a game I always lose at.'
Or 'The news shows a man singing to his dog to rouse it from its deep slumber.' Some nouns, however, may take the plural form, even though there is no 's'. Example: 'The cattle are grazing the large green field.' or 'Police are looking for the suspect, whom they believe is a tall Chinese male."
There are quite a few more examples, but I shall not attempt to list everything here. Read and ask yourself questions as you do. "Why is this written in this way?" "Shouldn't this be (the other way) instead?"
Have fun trying to make sense of this mysterious language. While you are at it, you might wish to try these to see how much you have understood:
a. One of the babies ____ (be) crying loudly.
b. A few of the boys _____ (be) being punished now for playing truant yesterday.
c. Each student ______ (borrow) a book from the library later.
d. None of the dwarves ________ (drink) the poisoned water that is being passed to them.
e. Billards _______ (be) a game Joe likes to play.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Forming singular to plural nouns
I am boldly assuming that you have no problem with the basic rules of changing singular nouns to its plural forms as I write this. You know the drills - adding 's' behind most words, changing 'y' to 'ies', adding 'es' to words ending with 'o', etc.
Did a little search on youtube today and found a video that is an idea for lower primary English teachers, to add some interest to your lessons when you are at this topic. All of us should have no problems clearing the words in the video. Go ahead, try it:
video for teaching lower primary:
What I have here is a little extra information. We know that there are always some nouns that are always singular? Can you think of a few? Example: Gold
They are silver, wheat, corn, cotton, sugar, copper, etc.
What about words that may mean singular or plural? This is easier, right? Example: Sheep
They are cod, deer, salmon, bison, moose, fish, etc.
Fish? I know this will create some contention. Now, I learnt it as one fish, two fish, three fish... It is only when there are more than one type (i.e. two types of fishes) that we use the word 'fishes'. Then again, as I went through NIE's teacher training, the lecturers say that the boundaries have been blurred along the way and teachers started to accept fishes for as long as there is more than one fish, so I guess it is alright.
The final two points I'll bring up today deals with the unconventional types of plural forms. No, I'm not going to touch on the 'foot' to 'feet' type. I am highlighting this one about not adding the letter 's' at the end of the last word to form plurals. Examples are passers-by, brothers-in-law, parents-in-law, etc.
The last one is on words that end with 'o', but not taking the 'es' form. We simply put a letter 's' at the end of the word, just like the conventional ones. They include:
piano, albino, zoo, sirocco, lasso, kangaroo, halo, momento, vidoe, portfolio, folio, cameo, studio, etc.
These final two examples take the last form of adding an 's' to it, but I have to remind students that these are words in short forms and should only be used within quotes (for example dialogues). Know what I am referring to? Well, they are much used by adults and children alike: memo and photo. =)
Did a little search on youtube today and found a video that is an idea for lower primary English teachers, to add some interest to your lessons when you are at this topic. All of us should have no problems clearing the words in the video. Go ahead, try it:
video for teaching lower primary:
What I have here is a little extra information. We know that there are always some nouns that are always singular? Can you think of a few? Example: Gold
They are silver, wheat, corn, cotton, sugar, copper, etc.
What about words that may mean singular or plural? This is easier, right? Example: Sheep
They are cod, deer, salmon, bison, moose, fish, etc.
Fish? I know this will create some contention. Now, I learnt it as one fish, two fish, three fish... It is only when there are more than one type (i.e. two types of fishes) that we use the word 'fishes'. Then again, as I went through NIE's teacher training, the lecturers say that the boundaries have been blurred along the way and teachers started to accept fishes for as long as there is more than one fish, so I guess it is alright.
The final two points I'll bring up today deals with the unconventional types of plural forms. No, I'm not going to touch on the 'foot' to 'feet' type. I am highlighting this one about not adding the letter 's' at the end of the last word to form plurals. Examples are passers-by, brothers-in-law, parents-in-law, etc.
The last one is on words that end with 'o', but not taking the 'es' form. We simply put a letter 's' at the end of the word, just like the conventional ones. They include:
piano, albino, zoo, sirocco, lasso, kangaroo, halo, momento, vidoe, portfolio, folio, cameo, studio, etc.
These final two examples take the last form of adding an 's' to it, but I have to remind students that these are words in short forms and should only be used within quotes (for example dialogues). Know what I am referring to? Well, they are much used by adults and children alike: memo and photo. =)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Writing an interesting opening
"One day, Tom was kicking a ball at the park." This is not your idea of a gripping opening, I hope. This was the kind of opening you might use when you were in primary one of two. Definitely not beyond.
Then came the influx of the nuggets - "The sun shone like a golden nugget in the clear blue sky." Hundreds of compositions in recent years began with openings like this one. Sigh. It was original for a while, until we read more and more of it. Then it became stale. We started to nit-pick. "The weather has nothing to do with the rest of the story," I would comment.
The above are just two of the types of openings used when writing. Do they look familiar to you? Are you guilty of using these openings? If you are, then it is high-time you change! The introduction is the first impression the reader (especially markers!) gets of your story. Is a run of the mill - something like the tens of scripts they have read before? Is this something different? A good introductory paragraph whets the marker's appetite in what he/she is going to read about.
A mistake made after choosing to write based on a given scenario is to copy the entire paragraph given in the question as the student's opening paragraph. This shows a lack of imagination! Also, do not get the question wrong. Read carefully and be sure to understand the painted scenario so as not to write out of point / focus!
I try to suggest some ways you might wish to use for your writing. Do try a variety of them as they are not relevant for all scenarios. Find mistakes you might make in using certain openings by writing in classroom compositions and that might help you by avioding the same mistakes later in examinations.
Option 1 - Describe weather. This is most common but will only work well if the writer has good descriptive skills. Do link it to the story to give it some relevance. What do I mean?
Example: "The rays of the sun shone mercilessly on Earth from the azure blue sky. Harry and Dino walked home happily after the bell rang and chatted excitedly about what they were going to do that afternoon."
This type of opening is overused and has nothing to do with the boys chatting excitedly!
Try: "The afternoon sun beamed brightly like a thousand-watt spotlight from the clear sky. Clouds were mysteriously missing on this day and did nothing to shield the people on the streets from the powerful rays. Harry and Dino trudged along their daily path in the intense, scorching heat towards their block of flats."
Option 2 - Dialogue. A personal favourite. There are just too many different things you can say that you could hardly find two pieces of writing with the exact same dialogue. Use this to good effect to lead the reader into your story. There is a pitfall, however. Overuse of this in your writing will veer your composition to look like a script for a play.
Scenario: You see two men behaving suspiciously at the void deck of a block of flats on your way home. You felt that they were up to no good and decided to watch them.
1. "Sshh... not so loud!" hushed the lanky man in a pair of dark-blue overalls, peering around for passers-by whom they might have alerted with their actions. His partner, who donned a pair of white workers' gloves,
lay prone on the ground, seemingly searching for something on the cold concrete floor. I was on the way home...
2. "I want you love and I want your revenge," I hummed to the tune of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' from my earphones. There was nothing like enjoying the great hit from my favourite singer on my usual walk home from school. Lessons were a bore today. Science laboratory lessons were cancelled due to the 'surprise' fire-drill. English and Chinese lessons were dry and could revive the dead in the class, only for him to wake up and dash away into a more peaceful place of rest, away from the droning voices of our form teacher, Mrs. Chan.
3. "I wonder what they are up to..." John pondered when he saw from the corner of his eyes two suspicious-looking men. They were dressed in matching black singlets and dark-blue shorts in the middle of this cold wintry-day.
Three quick examples. Three different dialogues. Each sounding original.
Option 3 - Flashback. I try to avoid this as the opening gives the end away and the reader knows the outcome of your story. The only way to score better is to have an outstanding plot and use wonderful language. That is not easy to do! Moreover, some students just use a simple: "John smiled to himself as he recalled what happened to him when he foiled the kidnappers' plan and landed himself a medal for showing being courageous. This was what happened." What triggered the flashback? Not sure. Game plan given away. Sigh.
Option 4 - Question. Ask a question and make the reader read on to find out. But DO PROVIDE ANSWERS in your writing!
Example: What can the two men be doing, pacing up and down like husbands of wives wheeled in an operating theatre? Walking past block '343', I felt puzzled to see two European-looking men in our old, dilapitated neighbourhood in old Chinatown. Where they touring visitors?
Option 5 - Use phrase, quote, idiom, etc. It must have something to do with your story! You must be well-read to know enough of these to use at the opportune time.
Example: "Lightning doesn't strike twice" I remembered the saying when I saw the men creeping surreptitiously at the neighbouring block of flats again. I had earned myself a hush reprimand the other time when I had my father believe that they were up to no good, confronting the men then, only to find out they were 'lost' and waiting for their friend to bring them to their destination in Sentosa. However, there they were again. What excuse did they have this time?
Option 6 - Open with the climax. Not easy to begin stories like these. If you can write well and describe vividly, you can try this. It opens with the most exciting part of the story and draws the reader into the story from the start. The other parts of the story can be told later in the form of 'flashback'.
Example: Upon seeing the two knights in blue approach, "Big Head" and "Small Eyes" darted in the opposite direction like a mouse seeing a ravenous cat. The two policemen immediately gave chase and hollered for them to stop. With the two suspicious-looking men running for dear life, one could easily guess that they had been trying to break the law, waiting for some opportune time whilst loitering at the void deck earlier.
Pick up model compositions. See which ways they have tried to open. Challenge yourself to use alternative ways. Do you think you can do better?
Then came the influx of the nuggets - "The sun shone like a golden nugget in the clear blue sky." Hundreds of compositions in recent years began with openings like this one. Sigh. It was original for a while, until we read more and more of it. Then it became stale. We started to nit-pick. "The weather has nothing to do with the rest of the story," I would comment.
The above are just two of the types of openings used when writing. Do they look familiar to you? Are you guilty of using these openings? If you are, then it is high-time you change! The introduction is the first impression the reader (especially markers!) gets of your story. Is a run of the mill - something like the tens of scripts they have read before? Is this something different? A good introductory paragraph whets the marker's appetite in what he/she is going to read about.
A mistake made after choosing to write based on a given scenario is to copy the entire paragraph given in the question as the student's opening paragraph. This shows a lack of imagination! Also, do not get the question wrong. Read carefully and be sure to understand the painted scenario so as not to write out of point / focus!
I try to suggest some ways you might wish to use for your writing. Do try a variety of them as they are not relevant for all scenarios. Find mistakes you might make in using certain openings by writing in classroom compositions and that might help you by avioding the same mistakes later in examinations.
Option 1 - Describe weather. This is most common but will only work well if the writer has good descriptive skills. Do link it to the story to give it some relevance. What do I mean?
Example: "The rays of the sun shone mercilessly on Earth from the azure blue sky. Harry and Dino walked home happily after the bell rang and chatted excitedly about what they were going to do that afternoon."
This type of opening is overused and has nothing to do with the boys chatting excitedly!
Try: "The afternoon sun beamed brightly like a thousand-watt spotlight from the clear sky. Clouds were mysteriously missing on this day and did nothing to shield the people on the streets from the powerful rays. Harry and Dino trudged along their daily path in the intense, scorching heat towards their block of flats."
Option 2 - Dialogue. A personal favourite. There are just too many different things you can say that you could hardly find two pieces of writing with the exact same dialogue. Use this to good effect to lead the reader into your story. There is a pitfall, however. Overuse of this in your writing will veer your composition to look like a script for a play.
Scenario: You see two men behaving suspiciously at the void deck of a block of flats on your way home. You felt that they were up to no good and decided to watch them.
1. "Sshh... not so loud!" hushed the lanky man in a pair of dark-blue overalls, peering around for passers-by whom they might have alerted with their actions. His partner, who donned a pair of white workers' gloves,
lay prone on the ground, seemingly searching for something on the cold concrete floor. I was on the way home...
2. "I want you love and I want your revenge," I hummed to the tune of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' from my earphones. There was nothing like enjoying the great hit from my favourite singer on my usual walk home from school. Lessons were a bore today. Science laboratory lessons were cancelled due to the 'surprise' fire-drill. English and Chinese lessons were dry and could revive the dead in the class, only for him to wake up and dash away into a more peaceful place of rest, away from the droning voices of our form teacher, Mrs. Chan.
3. "I wonder what they are up to..." John pondered when he saw from the corner of his eyes two suspicious-looking men. They were dressed in matching black singlets and dark-blue shorts in the middle of this cold wintry-day.
Three quick examples. Three different dialogues. Each sounding original.
Option 3 - Flashback. I try to avoid this as the opening gives the end away and the reader knows the outcome of your story. The only way to score better is to have an outstanding plot and use wonderful language. That is not easy to do! Moreover, some students just use a simple: "John smiled to himself as he recalled what happened to him when he foiled the kidnappers' plan and landed himself a medal for showing being courageous. This was what happened." What triggered the flashback? Not sure. Game plan given away. Sigh.
Option 4 - Question. Ask a question and make the reader read on to find out. But DO PROVIDE ANSWERS in your writing!
Example: What can the two men be doing, pacing up and down like husbands of wives wheeled in an operating theatre? Walking past block '343', I felt puzzled to see two European-looking men in our old, dilapitated neighbourhood in old Chinatown. Where they touring visitors?
Option 5 - Use phrase, quote, idiom, etc. It must have something to do with your story! You must be well-read to know enough of these to use at the opportune time.
Example: "Lightning doesn't strike twice" I remembered the saying when I saw the men creeping surreptitiously at the neighbouring block of flats again. I had earned myself a hush reprimand the other time when I had my father believe that they were up to no good, confronting the men then, only to find out they were 'lost' and waiting for their friend to bring them to their destination in Sentosa. However, there they were again. What excuse did they have this time?
Option 6 - Open with the climax. Not easy to begin stories like these. If you can write well and describe vividly, you can try this. It opens with the most exciting part of the story and draws the reader into the story from the start. The other parts of the story can be told later in the form of 'flashback'.
Example: Upon seeing the two knights in blue approach, "Big Head" and "Small Eyes" darted in the opposite direction like a mouse seeing a ravenous cat. The two policemen immediately gave chase and hollered for them to stop. With the two suspicious-looking men running for dear life, one could easily guess that they had been trying to break the law, waiting for some opportune time whilst loitering at the void deck earlier.
Pick up model compositions. See which ways they have tried to open. Challenge yourself to use alternative ways. Do you think you can do better?
Sunday, December 5, 2010
When do we use 'A', 'An' or 'The'?
We have always been told that we use 'a' or 'an' to refer to a single item, for example - a ball (one ball), a cat (one cat), an umbrella, etc. Teacher also said we use 'the' to refer to an item when there is only one of it. Confused?
We use 'a' to refer to one of many items. There are many cats. There are many mice. I want to ask if cats chase one mouse. Any cat. Any mouse. Not referring to one particular one, nor am I pointing to one. So I say: "Does a cat chase a mouse?"
New scene. I visit my friend. He owns a cat and a mouse (the mouse has to be caged up to be out of reach of the cat!). I ask if his cat chases his mouse. I point to the items and ask: "Does the cat chase the mouse?"
See the difference? We use 'the' to point to that person / thing / animal / place (noun) that we are talking about. That is why we use 'a' or 'an' when we refer to something for the first time, and we use 'the' when we talk about it subsequently. For example: We have a dog as a pet. The dog we have is red in colour and its name is 'Clifford'. OR I have a fat, red pencil. The pencil is so fat that it cannot pass through the slits of the drain when I dropped it onto the drain cover.
We use 'the' to talk about a thing that it is the only one on Eath. For example: The sun rises from the east. (There is only one sun and one east)
Some countries, seas and groups of islands/mountains use 'the' in its name too. A classic example is the United States of America or the Philippines, the Atlantic Ocean, the Himalayas, etc.
Confusion looms for some people when we have 'a' or 'an'. For ease of teaching, teachers tell you "use 'an' for most cases in front of a vowel word". They are not exactly wrong. Only that it is not a 'vowel word', but a 'vowel sounding word'. We say 'an umbrella', 'an usual story', but 'a university' and 'a European'. Notice these last two words are pronounced with a 'U' sound. Not how it sounds in 'umbrella'. When in doubt, I will always sound the word and remember the example of 'university' and 'umbrella'. It will use 'a' or 'an' according to which word its start sounds like.
'An' honest person (silent 'H') rather than 'a'. 'An' hour instead of 'a' (silent 'H' again). Check against examples you can remember. You should get the hang of it.
Now, the test for today:
Use 'a' or 'an' in the examples below:
a. ____ hospital
b. ____ piece of advice
c. ____ advice
d. ____ honest beggar
e. "____ apple ___ day keeps the doctor away" goes the saying. However, the one that you just ate will send you to hospital as it contains ____ worm!
We use 'a' to refer to one of many items. There are many cats. There are many mice. I want to ask if cats chase one mouse. Any cat. Any mouse. Not referring to one particular one, nor am I pointing to one. So I say: "Does a cat chase a mouse?"
New scene. I visit my friend. He owns a cat and a mouse (the mouse has to be caged up to be out of reach of the cat!). I ask if his cat chases his mouse. I point to the items and ask: "Does the cat chase the mouse?"
See the difference? We use 'the' to point to that person / thing / animal / place (noun) that we are talking about. That is why we use 'a' or 'an' when we refer to something for the first time, and we use 'the' when we talk about it subsequently. For example: We have a dog as a pet. The dog we have is red in colour and its name is 'Clifford'. OR I have a fat, red pencil. The pencil is so fat that it cannot pass through the slits of the drain when I dropped it onto the drain cover.
We use 'the' to talk about a thing that it is the only one on Eath. For example: The sun rises from the east. (There is only one sun and one east)
Some countries, seas and groups of islands/mountains use 'the' in its name too. A classic example is the United States of America or the Philippines, the Atlantic Ocean, the Himalayas, etc.
Confusion looms for some people when we have 'a' or 'an'. For ease of teaching, teachers tell you "use 'an' for most cases in front of a vowel word". They are not exactly wrong. Only that it is not a 'vowel word', but a 'vowel sounding word'. We say 'an umbrella', 'an usual story', but 'a university' and 'a European'. Notice these last two words are pronounced with a 'U' sound. Not how it sounds in 'umbrella'. When in doubt, I will always sound the word and remember the example of 'university' and 'umbrella'. It will use 'a' or 'an' according to which word its start sounds like.
'An' honest person (silent 'H') rather than 'a'. 'An' hour instead of 'a' (silent 'H' again). Check against examples you can remember. You should get the hang of it.
Now, the test for today:
Use 'a' or 'an' in the examples below:
a. ____ hospital
b. ____ piece of advice
c. ____ advice
d. ____ honest beggar
e. "____ apple ___ day keeps the doctor away" goes the saying. However, the one that you just ate will send you to hospital as it contains ____ worm!
Writing a composition - overview and the plot
Writing is not science. It is a little like an art. I am no expert. However, having read quite a bit and being in the teaching profession before, I might be able to help by telling you what we look for in a composition. I can tell you as much as I can, but you hold the key. You have to put the bits together. There is no secret too, that you will need a good array of vocabulary, good ideas. You can only get these from reading, reading or reading.
I told my P6 students - a P5/P6 composition is worth 40 marks. Average students normally score 20 to 27. That means more than ten marks lost! Write well and you have the chance of scoring an 'A'. Else, do not even think about it!
Most books I have read on composition writing will tell you about the same thing. That writers need a good structure:
- A gripping opening
- An interesting body with good descriptions
- An unexpected, normally happy ending
Do not try to ask me why endings are normally of the happy type. As a teacher grading a piece of writing, I frown at pieces that give strange endings. Or of people dying. Sad. We normally prefer one that throws us off the feet, that has all details sewn up tightly to arrive at an unexpected ending. There is just too much to write about conclusions - I shall leave this to another article.
Some books recommend a 'Hamburger Model' for writers. Where the 'top bun' provides an interesting opening to the story, the vegetables/cheese to 'spice up' the story, the beef patty as the most important part, and the 'bottom bun' to hold the story well.
Or they say a story is like taking a trip up a hill/mountain. You need to start readers off on the right foot, introduce the characters and the build-up to the problem along your way to the summit. The tip of the hill/mountain is the climax of the story - the problem. You then go on the way to descend the hill/mountain, by resolving the conflict and explain the actions after the climax. The last part is concluding - akin to resting a the foot, perhaps to look back at the climb and reflect on it.
I shall put it to you in simple words. Depending on the picture / pictures you get or the stage that is introduced to you, you need to plan your story. Sure, if you have to write according to the three or four pictures given, there leaves little creativity and imagination. You can still make the best of everything that is given, but it is not easy.
How do you plan your story? Easier said than done. You have to decide how to end your story. Yes, plan how you wish your story to end before you even start the opening. Heard of people saying, "Write with an end in mind"? This is what is means. If your story is going to end off with the main character, Peter, being saved by his friends, Tom and Jerry, then his friends cannot appear "out of nowhere". You probably introduce them before the climax. Or do that in the conclusion. They cannot just 'appear' without good rhyme or reason. Decide on your type of ending, then plan your story to reach the end.
If I were to plan to write about pickpocket striking on a bus and being caught in the end, I might write on where the main character was going, what he saw along the way, when the pickpocket appeared, if anyone noticed and got suspicious and how he stole, before writing about how he was caught, and a lesson learnt by the main character.
Perhaps it was a story about a fire at home. I might write about how lucky the main character escaped death after being saved by his neighbours. I will then plan for my story to include why my main character was at home that day and why he had decided to cook, if he was an expert or novice at it. Why did the fire start? What was the distraction? Why could the main character not put it out in the first place? How did the neighbours discover the fire and how did they save the main character? After describing in detail about how he was saved, do I want to write about a lesson learnt? A promise made? A reflection on how to avoid it in future?
Telling the story is about answering questions readers may have. If your readers read your story and put it down with many question marks, you have not done well. If you write with an expected ending, you may have just passed. Write and surprise the reader pleasantly, you might have scored well for content. Do this last part and use good vocabulary, you might just ace the writing test.
I told my P6 students - a P5/P6 composition is worth 40 marks. Average students normally score 20 to 27. That means more than ten marks lost! Write well and you have the chance of scoring an 'A'. Else, do not even think about it!
Most books I have read on composition writing will tell you about the same thing. That writers need a good structure:
- A gripping opening
- An interesting body with good descriptions
- An unexpected, normally happy ending
Do not try to ask me why endings are normally of the happy type. As a teacher grading a piece of writing, I frown at pieces that give strange endings. Or of people dying. Sad. We normally prefer one that throws us off the feet, that has all details sewn up tightly to arrive at an unexpected ending. There is just too much to write about conclusions - I shall leave this to another article.
Some books recommend a 'Hamburger Model' for writers. Where the 'top bun' provides an interesting opening to the story, the vegetables/cheese to 'spice up' the story, the beef patty as the most important part, and the 'bottom bun' to hold the story well.
Or they say a story is like taking a trip up a hill/mountain. You need to start readers off on the right foot, introduce the characters and the build-up to the problem along your way to the summit. The tip of the hill/mountain is the climax of the story - the problem. You then go on the way to descend the hill/mountain, by resolving the conflict and explain the actions after the climax. The last part is concluding - akin to resting a the foot, perhaps to look back at the climb and reflect on it.
I shall put it to you in simple words. Depending on the picture / pictures you get or the stage that is introduced to you, you need to plan your story. Sure, if you have to write according to the three or four pictures given, there leaves little creativity and imagination. You can still make the best of everything that is given, but it is not easy.
How do you plan your story? Easier said than done. You have to decide how to end your story. Yes, plan how you wish your story to end before you even start the opening. Heard of people saying, "Write with an end in mind"? This is what is means. If your story is going to end off with the main character, Peter, being saved by his friends, Tom and Jerry, then his friends cannot appear "out of nowhere". You probably introduce them before the climax. Or do that in the conclusion. They cannot just 'appear' without good rhyme or reason. Decide on your type of ending, then plan your story to reach the end.
If I were to plan to write about pickpocket striking on a bus and being caught in the end, I might write on where the main character was going, what he saw along the way, when the pickpocket appeared, if anyone noticed and got suspicious and how he stole, before writing about how he was caught, and a lesson learnt by the main character.
Perhaps it was a story about a fire at home. I might write about how lucky the main character escaped death after being saved by his neighbours. I will then plan for my story to include why my main character was at home that day and why he had decided to cook, if he was an expert or novice at it. Why did the fire start? What was the distraction? Why could the main character not put it out in the first place? How did the neighbours discover the fire and how did they save the main character? After describing in detail about how he was saved, do I want to write about a lesson learnt? A promise made? A reflection on how to avoid it in future?
Telling the story is about answering questions readers may have. If your readers read your story and put it down with many question marks, you have not done well. If you write with an expected ending, you may have just passed. Write and surprise the reader pleasantly, you might have scored well for content. Do this last part and use good vocabulary, you might just ace the writing test.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Capital letters - part two
Why do we use capital letters for the following? Why not for the other words?
a. Buzz likes to go to parks to jog. He went to Tiong Bahru Park to jog this morning and is going to Pasir Ris Park in the evening.
(The first use of 'parks' refers to parks in general, not pointing to a specific one and does not need to be capitalised. The other two are proper nouns.
b. Damien ran to Uncle Tom's rescue, shoving his way through the group of uncles. Damien asked, "Are you alright, Uncle?"
(We use the capital letter when we refer to a specific person, not when referring to a group or 'uncles' in a wide and general way.
c. We have not visited our aunty in some time. OR
We have not visited Aunty for a long time.
(Family relationships can be capitalised when used in place of proper names. The word 'aunty' can be written as 'auntie', according to Dictionary.com. Not 'aunt' as that is informal. You may use 'aunt' in dialogue, but not formal writing.
d. Some children want to be doctors when they grow up, just like Doctor Chan (or Dr. Chan).
(Doctors in the first instance refers to no one in particular, but the second case refers to a particular person. Do note that it is acceptable for titles to be shortened, for e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.
a. Buzz likes to go to parks to jog. He went to Tiong Bahru Park to jog this morning and is going to Pasir Ris Park in the evening.
(The first use of 'parks' refers to parks in general, not pointing to a specific one and does not need to be capitalised. The other two are proper nouns.
b. Damien ran to Uncle Tom's rescue, shoving his way through the group of uncles. Damien asked, "Are you alright, Uncle?"
(We use the capital letter when we refer to a specific person, not when referring to a group or 'uncles' in a wide and general way.
c. We have not visited our aunty in some time. OR
We have not visited Aunty for a long time.
(Family relationships can be capitalised when used in place of proper names. The word 'aunty' can be written as 'auntie', according to Dictionary.com. Not 'aunt' as that is informal. You may use 'aunt' in dialogue, but not formal writing.
d. Some children want to be doctors when they grow up, just like Doctor Chan (or Dr. Chan).
(Doctors in the first instance refers to no one in particular, but the second case refers to a particular person. Do note that it is acceptable for titles to be shortened, for e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
When should we use capital letters? - part one
There are many instances when we use capital letters. We will look at the cases:
1. Start of a new sentence. When we start a new sentence after the previous one has ended, we use a capital letter to begin the first letter of the first word of the new sentence. We do so after a full-stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!). Not after a comma (,)! We sometimes do so after an ellipsis (...). Examples of when we use a capital letter for the first word of a new sentence are underlined in this paragraph.
2. Start of a dialogue. We sometimes use dialogue in our writing to make the piece more interesting. However, we should note that we should not overuse it too (as students tend to do so)! Over-using dialogue makes the writing seem like a comic book (less pictures).
For example:
Sally informed June,"Our form teacher, Mrs Loh, is looking for us." June took a brief glance at Sally, nodded in agreement and returned to her work. Sally reminded her friend that Mrs Loh seemed worried.
Not:
Sally informed June, "our form teacher, Mrs Loh, is looking for us." June replied,"wait, let me finish my work first." Sally reminded June, "hurry, Mrs Loh seemed worried."
3. Always use capital letters for first letter of proper nouns. Proper nouns identify a specific person, boy, woman, animal, building, etc. We say: There are three boys in the room. This is an example of using a common noun - no extra information on who the boys are and which room they were in.
It would be more informative to write the same sentence as:
Three boys, Ali, Bala and Charlie are in their classroom, '3 Oxford'.
We are introduced to the three boys and we know exactly who they are. We do not leave it to the imagination of the reader to fill in the names.
Proper nouns include names of places (Orchard Road, Singapore United School) races, ethnic groups, religions, languages (Indian, Tamil, Hinduism, Malay, Muslim, Bahasa Malaysia), titles of people (the President of the Republic of Singapore, the Principal of the school, Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr Lee Hsien Loong), and days of the week, months of the year (Monday, Thursday, February, December).
That is all for today. More on capital letters tomorrow. Before we end off, a little test.
Rewrite the following sentences using capital letters as appropriate. Answers will be appended as comments tomorrow.
a. john said, "we are going to malaysia for the june holidays!"
b. Dibo, cro, ello and Bunny are actually american citizens. they cannot come to singapore to visit all prime ministers in asia. our prime minister, mr lee, expresses his regret.
c. Did we book our chalet in november at pasir ris road? can we invite our friends, mickey and donald?
1. Start of a new sentence. When we start a new sentence after the previous one has ended, we use a capital letter to begin the first letter of the first word of the new sentence. We do so after a full-stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!). Not after a comma (,)! We sometimes do so after an ellipsis (...). Examples of when we use a capital letter for the first word of a new sentence are underlined in this paragraph.
2. Start of a dialogue. We sometimes use dialogue in our writing to make the piece more interesting. However, we should note that we should not overuse it too (as students tend to do so)! Over-using dialogue makes the writing seem like a comic book (less pictures).
For example:
Sally informed June,"Our form teacher, Mrs Loh, is looking for us." June took a brief glance at Sally, nodded in agreement and returned to her work. Sally reminded her friend that Mrs Loh seemed worried.
Not:
Sally informed June, "our form teacher, Mrs Loh, is looking for us." June replied,"wait, let me finish my work first." Sally reminded June, "hurry, Mrs Loh seemed worried."
3. Always use capital letters for first letter of proper nouns. Proper nouns identify a specific person, boy, woman, animal, building, etc. We say: There are three boys in the room. This is an example of using a common noun - no extra information on who the boys are and which room they were in.
It would be more informative to write the same sentence as:
Three boys, Ali, Bala and Charlie are in their classroom, '3 Oxford'.
We are introduced to the three boys and we know exactly who they are. We do not leave it to the imagination of the reader to fill in the names.
Proper nouns include names of places (Orchard Road, Singapore United School) races, ethnic groups, religions, languages (Indian, Tamil, Hinduism, Malay, Muslim, Bahasa Malaysia), titles of people (the President of the Republic of Singapore, the Principal of the school, Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr Lee Hsien Loong), and days of the week, months of the year (Monday, Thursday, February, December).
That is all for today. More on capital letters tomorrow. Before we end off, a little test.
Rewrite the following sentences using capital letters as appropriate. Answers will be appended as comments tomorrow.
a. john said, "we are going to malaysia for the june holidays!"
b. Dibo, cro, ello and Bunny are actually american citizens. they cannot come to singapore to visit all prime ministers in asia. our prime minister, mr lee, expresses his regret.
c. Did we book our chalet in november at pasir ris road? can we invite our friends, mickey and donald?
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