VS 2A 2009 English Language Blog

Hi guys,

Most of you did fairly well in English and have shown some improvement. Congrats to Francis for topping the class in English and Xun Yi for showing the most improvement.

Do remember to read more short stories during the year-end break and make regular deposits in your Vocab Bank. This will help you get a better grasp of the language and aid you in your other subjects as well.

Please also check the LMS for your holiday homework.

Happy holiday!


MS Koo

DOs

• Analyse the question to determine what the question is asking for.
• Refer to the passage instead of relying on your memory/ knowledge to answer the question (this is important, especially for vocab questions!).
• Answer in the same tense as the question (a must for summary).
• Read instructions (especially for own words and quote questions)
• Answers for vocab question must follow the same word form (e.g., "frightened" = "scared", NOT "scary")

DON'Ts

• Don't be tricked by the question. Factual/ literal questions need not always start with the 5Ws1H (e.g., "what", "who", "when"), they could start with "list", "write", "state".
• Don't infer too far from the text (see example given at the end of this entry)
• Don't use the root word to explain the meaning (of the phrase).

Good luck for your exams!

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E.g., if given the statement, "The Minister confessed to owning the gun that was used to injure his wife", we may infer the following:

• the Minister is married (since he has a wife)
• the Minster is a man (since he has a wife)
• he owns a gun
• his wife was injured
• the minister acknowledged that he owned a gun

We may NOT infer the following (too far an inference):

• the Minister shot his wife (he only confessed to owning the gun)
• his wife is dead (statement only says she is injured)
• the Minister is covering up for someone

Sec2 2007 P2 Answer

Hi guys,

You should have received the 2007 Paper 2 from Ryan. Do try it under exam conditions. I will post the answers on the blog on Sunday.

REMINDER #1: Underline the key words in the question and look for these key words in the passage (you will usually be given the paragraph or line number). The answer is usually found within the paragraph/line stated (unless it is an inferential question).

Except for Own Words, Vocabulary and Summary questions, you may lift the answer directly from the passage (i.e. no need to substitute key words).

If you answer in your own words for factual/literal questions, you may risk losing the contextual meaning or accidentally giving an inferential answer (which is NOT what the marker is looking for!) You may also have wasted precious time (and brain cells) rewording your answer.

TIP #1: Assume all questions (unless told to write the answer in your own words) are factual/literal questions, and look for the answer in the passage. If you are unable to find the answer in the passage, deduce/infer your answer from the clues given in the passage.

TIP #2: If the key word in the question is not used in the passage, chances are that it is a factual/literal question. E.g., if the question asks you "What did Timmy do to punish Tommy?" and "punish" is not in the paragraph, it may be a factual/literal question and you should look for verbs that are related to "punish".

If you have problems recognising the type of question, drop by my window and I'll give you a mega tips on the wording usually used for each type of question. Do bring along the practice papers you have for 'live' examples.


MS Koo

How do you bring the reader into your story? How do you create a vivid picture with words? You could consider showing the reader instead of telling. What's the difference between showing and telling?

Consider these two simple examples:

• I grew tired after dinner.

• As I leaned back and rested my head against the top of the chair, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and the edges of the empty plate in front of me blurred with the white tablecloth.

The first sentence tells readers that you grew tired after dinner. The second sentence shows readers that you grew tired. An effective narrative essay will have such 'shows' because they enable readers to imagine or experience something for themselves.

The best way to create a vivid experience for your readers is to focus on the five senses.
• sight
• sound
• smell
• touch
• taste

When you focus your descriptions on the senses, you provide vivid and specific details that show your readers rather than tell your readers what you are describing.

(adapted from How to Write a Descriptive Essay by Jesse Seldess, Professional Writer)

Hi guys,

For those of you who wish to rest your brains, you may wish to visit these websites and read the collection of short stories there.

www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories

www.theshortstory.org.uk

www.americanliterature.com

www.shortstoryarchive.com


MS Koo

For your essays, do not use informal language (unless it's in a dialogue). Words like "kids" & "bike" are not allowed.


MS Koo

Hi guys,

Attached are some sample narrative scaffolds you may wish to refer to when planning your essays.

Remember, it is okay to keep the story simple - use language to retain the readers' attention.



MS Koo

Sample Narrative Scaffolds

For those who wish to know the solution to the Neightbours puzzle.

Neighbours

Unless the question specifically asks you to quote a word, you may quote the phrase you deem appropriate. When in doubt (i.e. you are not sure which is the relevant phrase), you may quote the entire chunk of text within the punctuation marks (e.g., all the words in the second half of the sentence, between the comma and the full-stop).

NOTE: Use this ONLY when you are desperate and unsure which is the correct answer. As you may inccur "excess denied".

Hi guys,

I am considering putting together some practice exercises targetted at skills needed to answer specific comprehension questions (e.g., inferential questions). Do let me know if anyone needs additional help on a specific type of question.


MS Koo

Hi guys,

For your info, you will most probably be tested only on narrative essays for your Paper 1. Do not assume that there will be factual or expository questions (or that you can write a factual/expository essay using a narrative topic).

For those who submitted a factual or expository essay on Thursday, I would strongly recommend that you attempt a narrative one over the weekend so that I can take a look at it next week and give you comments on how you could improve your essay.

Hi guys,

The baton is in your hands - we've already gone over all the material you will be tested on and you have been handed the necessary tools you need to get that A1 in your SA2. All that's left is for you to practice and hone your skills so that you can secure that oft-elusive distinction.

So, good luck guys and full steam ahead for the last leg of the 'race' (until 20 Oct anyway)!


MS Koo

p.s. Those who have any queries, feel free to look for me in the Staff Room. I should be in school till 5pm.

Hi guys,

I've created a new blog for the class' Vocab. Bank (http://vs2a2009vocab.blogspot.com) and given you the admin rights (via email). Please do visit the blog and actively post new words.


MS Koo

A good way to understand what you read is to ask youself questions when scanning the text. This is a technique good readers use (sometimes unconsciously) to make sense of and to internalise the information presented, as well as to make predictions based on the information given in the text.

In fact, most of you would already be familiar with this technique. For example, when watching a movie, you will be predicting which character will be killed next or when the bickering hero and heroine will start falling for each other.

Apply this technique when reading. Ask yourself why the character in the story is doing this, what he could be feeling, what he will be doing next, what factors contributed to his actions/ thoughts, etc.

This technique will help you start the thinking process needed to answer inferential questions.

It is also a very useful technique to use when studying content-based subjects (in this case you will be asking yourself whether the new information presented is true and trying to recall facts that support or refute the new information).

Please attempt the questions using the strategies we discussed yesterday BEFORE checking your answers. If you do not get the answers correct, analyse why this is so (it will help you get the right answer next time). Simply copying the answers will NOT help improve your comprehension skills.

SA2_2006_EL_Sec2_Ans

Common mistake
A common mistake students make in answering factual questions is to answer them as an inferential one, i.e. they tend to summarise details or give a general idea instead of lifting a specific answer from the text. [This usually happens because the answer is a straightforward one that you recall after reading the question.]

Another mistake is not rephrasing the answer to address the question (refer to Q4 of the 2004 paper where the exact phrase from the text is a "when" phrase whereas the question requires a "what" answer).

Tip
To avoid the above mistakes, read the question carefully, underline important words then zero in on the part of the passage containing the important words (or their synonyms).

Look at the sentence containing the important words (or the sentence before and after it), and look for your answer. Only if you are unable to spot the answer in the given paragraph, can you answer the question as an inferential one.

NOTE #1: DO NOT copy blindly. The examiner will deny you the marks even if the answer is within the chunk you have copied (excess denied).

NOTE #2: Check the use of tense in the question. Your answer must follow the tense used in the question.

Recap
You will be told explicitly that you are to express a word or phrase (from the passage) in your own words. This type of question is pretty much the same as substitution in summary writing. The aim of it is to ascertain that you know the gist of the phrase (as used in the passage).

Tips
When answering such questions, read the paragraph containing the given phrase first (to get contextual meaning).

Then, underline the important words in the phrase (usually the verbs, nouns and adjectives) and write down the meaning (as used in the text) or a synonym for each word.

Thirdly, join the meaning/ synonyms of the important words into a cohesive phrase (may rearrange the meaning/ synonyms, if necessary).

Finally, check that what you have written has the same contextual meaning as the original phrase.

IMPORTANT: The above method will not work if the phrase used is an idiom (e.g., "bite the bullet") as replacing individual words will only give you the literal meaning. In such cases, your answer will be a phrase (or word) that has the same contextual meaning as the given phrase.

IMPORTANT X 2: All verbs must be replaced.

NOTE #1: There is no restriction on the number of words you may use to express the given phrase in your own words.

NOTE #2: There are some nouns you may be unable to replace (e.g., "parents"). In such cases, it is usually acceptable to use them in your answer.

It was pointed out (to me) that the prefix "in" does not mean "not" for the word "ingenious" (thanks Lie Wen!). Do note that some prefixes may have more than one meaning. In this case, "in" may also mean "extreme". You will have to look for contextual clues to determine which is the correct meaning.

Recap
This type of question requires you to give either a synonym or definition for the word within the context of the passage and in the same part of speech (e.g. the noun, verb or adjectival form).

The starting point for successful answering of vocab questions is a correct understanding of the text as a whole, and the gist of the specific paragraph. [You must give the contextual meaning.]

Tips
When you get words that you have no idea of their meaning, use the following tips:

1. Look for contextual clues - locate the sentence/ paragraph containing the word, look for clues relating to the word and deduce the meaning of the vocab word (e.g. from a list of synonyms, a pair of words with contrasting meaning - such as "intuition and practice")
2. Break word into prefix-root word-suffix and analyse each part - e.g., infallible= in + fail + able --- in = not, fail = to fall short of success, able = capable of---thus infallible = not capable of failing (for list of suffixes and prefixes, visit http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/prefixtext.htm).