Thursday, May 19, 2005
Continuous Tense Firstly, I hope you are familiar with Simple Present and Simple Past Tenses now. We shall continue to practise writing simple sentences before we go on to compound sentences. Let's continue with ontinuous Tense. !y the way, in "uoting sample "uestions, I shall be using the boo# 'Format Penta#siran $PS% S&' published by (alindo Printers Sdn !hd with the cooperation of Lembaga Peperi#saan (alaysia. This boo# is readily a)ailable at boo#stores at %(*.+ per copy. Loo#ing at the - "uestions in Section / Paper 0 1pages 2 to 234, we can identify the sentences to be constructed in such tenses5 Suggested answers5 1SPT 6 Simple Present Tense7 SPastT 6 Simple Past Tense7 PT 6 Present ontinuous Tense4 a. plays8badminton 6 Tom plays badminton with badminton with &erry e)ery e)ening 8 SPT b. man8fishing 6 The man is fishing by fishing by the ri)er 8 PT c. tele)ision8e)ening 6 Lily and &ane watch television e)ery evening 8 SPT d. grows8beautiful 6 (y father grows beautiful flowering plants in the garden 6 SPT e. collects8stamps 6 I)an collects stamps from all o)er the world 6 SPT f. loo#ing8butterfly 6 &erry is looing at a beautiful butterfly beautiful butterfly 6 PT g. customer8restaurant 6 The customer is ordering food in a restaurant 6 PT h. family89oo 6 (aniam too# his family to )isit the !oo last Sunday 6 SPastT i. feeding8baby 6 The nanny is feeding the baby the baby 6 PT :. crocodile8ri)er 6 / crocodile li)es in a river 6 SPT / brea#down on the - sentences gi)es us simple sentences sentences constructed in Simple Present Tense, * sentences in Present ontinuous Tense and a sentence in Simple Past Tense. In "uestions b, f and and i, gi)en words such as fishing, as fishing, looking and feeding and feeding are )erbs and are #nown as Present Participles. Students with basic grammar s#ills will #now that a )erb 'to be' must be used before a Present Participle. In short, ontinuous Tense is formed when )erb 'to be' is used together with a Present Participle. To understand better, refer the table below. Pronoun 8888888 Sub:ect 888888888888888 Present 8888 ;erb 8888 Past 8888 ;erb I 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888 am 888888 going 8888 was 8888 going
e 88888888 Tom 8888888888888888888888888 is 88888888 going 8888 was 8888 going She 8888888 &ane 8888888888888888888888888 is 88888888 going 8888 was 8888 going It 888888888 The dog 888888888888888888888 is 88888888 going 88888 was 8888 going /s the table shows, )erb 'to be' are am/is/are in the present form while was/were are in the past form. Present Participle is 'going' . Simply, Present Participle is a )erb with the suffi? -ing. >ere are some e?amples to construct simple sentences in ontinuous Tense5 Present ontinuous Tense5 -. I am going to school. 0. Tom and &erry are going to school. 2. &ane is going to school. Past ontinuous Tense5 -. I was going to school. 0. Tom and I were going to school. 2. &ane was going to school.
3. (rs Lee @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 1put4 her daughter to bed. -. &ane and Lily @@@@@@@@@@@@ 1sit4 in the classroom when the headmaster came in. onstruct simple sentences in Present ontinuous and Past ontinuous Tenses.
#ednesday, May 11, 2005
The Triciest $anguage Called %&'$()* I'll begin with a mouse /nd two are called mice !ut the plural of house Is houses and not hice.
!ut a person who coos an ne)er be a cooer. Words li#e honest and hour !oth ha)e a silent h Imagine saying hoo and hood Without the sound of h. Gon't you agree that The %nglish $anguage Is indeed the Triciest $anguageE I hope you all ha)e a good time attempting the e?ercises on Simple Present and Simple Past Tenses. The answers can be found at Cnglish $PS% /nswers. For future e?ercises, you can go there for answers. I shall continue with Present ontinuous and Past ontinuous Tenses on Sunday. >a)e a lot of homewor# to do and can only find time during wee#ends. >a)e fun. posted by poocee D *5-- p.m. comments
)unday, May 0-, 2005
#elcome. Welcome to Cnglish $PS%. I hope this space can help you in your preparations for $PS%. (any students ha)e difficulty in constructing simple sentences. The new $PS% Cnglish Paper 0 Section / re"uires students to write - simple sentences based on the pictures and words pro)ided. (y semester e?amination is :ust o)er and I see that many students did terribly in Section /. I hope I can help students to write simple sentences based on what I ha)e learnt. First of all, we must at least ha)e the basic grammar #nowledge. It is indeed confusing for a lot of students to try to understand and put into practice what's taught under ;erb /greement. ;erb /greement teaches that a singular sub:ect must ta#e on a plural )erb. Some students argue that pronouns 'I' and 'ence, it can be confusing. >owe)er, I ha)e been taught differently to follow the rules under primary )erb 'Go'. I find it easier to comprehend and to follow this simple set of rules. !elow is the table, reprinted with permission from my Cnglish tutor. -. Simple Tenses H Present and Past using primary )erb 'do'. Pronoun 8888888888 Sub:ect 888888888888888 Present 88 ;erb 88 Past 88 ;erb I 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888 do 8888888 go 88888 did 888 went
They 8888 Tom and &erry=The dogs 888888 do 88888888 go 88888 did 8888 went >e 88888888Tom=Tom's father 88888888888does 8888888 goes 888 did 8888went She 88888&ane=&ane's mother 88888888888 does 8888888 goes 888 did 888 went It 888888 The dog=(y bag 88888888888888 does 8888888 goes 8888did 888 went /s the table shows, Pronouns 'I', 'e', 'She' and 'It' ta#e on the primary )erb 'does'. The simple guide is to memorise which sub:ect ta#es on which primary )erb. It is simpler than memorising time tables for (athematics. The ne?t step would be to identify Singular and Plural sub:ects. To begin with, ta#e out any boo#s you ha)e and identify them. %egular practice ma#es perfect and you will soon find it easy to put into practice primary )erb 'do'. /ll you need to remember is which Pronoun ta#es on 'Go' and which Pronoun ta#es on 'Goes'. $sing primary )erb 'Go' gi)es us Simple Tenses. 'Format Penta#siran $PS% S&', "uestion - Section / 1page 24 pro)ides us with a picture of 0 boys playing badminton. The 0 words pro)ided are5 plays/badminton. Identifying the plural sub:ects 10 boys4 as 'they', many students made mista#e. ne most common sentence is5 The boys plays badminton e)ery e)ening. This can be said to be a tric# "uestion. The )erb 'plays' is plural and therefore a singular sub:ect must be used. / correct sentence would be5 Tom plays badminton e)ery e)ening or if you wish to include the second person in the picture, you may write the sentence as5 Tom plays badminton with &erry e)ery e)ening. In Section / 1Paper 04, most of the sentences are in the Present form. >owe)er, identifying sentences in the Past form is e"ually important when we attempt Section . To begin with, here is a set ofsimple e?ercises that you might find challenging. ircle the right answers5 -. &ane go=goes=went to school e)eryday. 0. The brothers li)e=li)es=li)ed with their grandfather when they were young. 2. hildren has=ha)e=had to be obedient. *. The cat chase=chases=chased the mouse. . Tom come=comes=came to our house this morning. A. The lion roar=roars=roared in its cage. B. (y sisters wear=wears=wore spectacles. +. Lily in)ite=in)ites=in)ited her friends to her house last hristmas. 3. We learn=learns=learnt something new e)eryday. -. (y brother and I share=shares=shared a room at home. ircle the mista#es 1if any4 and write the correct answers in the space pro)ided.
-. Giamonds is a girl's best friend. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 0. She came this afternoon but you are not in. @@@@@@@@@@@ 2. The blue cap and yellow )est belongs to him. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ *. The bags hanging on the gate was ta#en away by the guard. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ . The old man belie)es that gold are buried under the bridge. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ A. The farmer and his wife stays up all night to nurse the sic# cow.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ B. She accidentally #noc# down the )ase on the table :ust now. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ +. We has to pay him a lot of money to find us a hotel room during our trip to &apan@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 3. People comes to pray at the new temple e)ery day. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -. / couple of deer escapes when the fence collapsed. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ --. We :ogged daily in the par#. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -0. She pac#s her picnic bas#et with lots of fruits and drin#s. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -2. / parcel arri)es for you this morning. @@@@@@@@@@@@@ -*. When the rain stopped, you can go out to play. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -. The lea)es in the tree fall slowly to the ground. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -A. The cage is open when the birds flew away. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -B. louds form interesting shapes in the s#y. @@@@@@@@@@@@@ -+. The postman always came in the afternoon. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -3. They en:oyed themsel)es )ery much at the party last night. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 0. >er mother went to the mar#et e)ery morning. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 0-. >er children attends tuition classes e)ery Saturdays.@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 00. They gardener came once a wee#, on Sundays.@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 02. The bo? of boo#s on the table are for you. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 0*. &erry was :ogging when he steps into a hole. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 0. I does not #now what he wants. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ onstruct 2 simple sentences from the words gi)en. Sentences must be constructed in 8 - 8 Simple Present Tense using )erb 'do'. 0 H Simple Present Tense using )erb 'does'. 2. H Simple Past Tense using )erb 'did'. To begin this practice, remember to write simple sentences which are as short as possible in order to a)oid grammatical mista#es. / long sentence tends to ha)e more grammatical mista#es. Thus, to begin with, write short simple sentences as per the e?amples below. C?ample5 wal morning -. Simple Present Tense 1do4 H I wal to school e)ery morning. 0. Simple Present Tense 1does4 H Tom wals to school e)ery morning. 2. Simple Past Tense 1did4 H &erry waled to school this morning. -. comb H hair 0. farmer H grow
2. throw H stone *. caterpillar H butterfly . hang H curtains A. buy H shoes B. whisper H ear +. ta#e H bath 3. run H fast -. sweep H floor --. wor# H restaurant -0. )isit 8 hospital -2. li#e H fried chic#en -*. wash H car -. sleep H ele)en !est of luc# and ha)e fun I shall continue with ontinuous Tense ne?t Sunday, followed by Perfect Tense. /fter the 2 e?ercises, you should be on your way to write correct sentences in attempting Section /, $PS% Cnglish Paper 0.
