Sunday 26 October 2014

Noun Phrases

Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun …:
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
… perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.
- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase#sthash.0DXQHU2Y.dpuf

Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun …:
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
… perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.
- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase#sthash.0DXQHU2Y.dpuf

Noun Phrases
  
Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:

       People like to have money.
       I am tired.
       It is getting late.

or a determiner and a noun …:

       Our friends have bought a house in the village.
       Those houses are very expensive.

… perhaps with an adjective:

        Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
        Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
        All those children go to school here.
        Both of my younger brothers are married
        Some people spend a lot of money.





Numbers:

Quantifiers come before determiners, but numbers come after determiners:

          My four children go to school here. (All my children go to school here.)
          Those two suitcases are mine. (Both those suitcases are mine)

So the noun phrase is built up in this way:

  Noun: people; money
  Determiner + noun: the village, a house, our friends; those houses
  Quantifier + noun: some people; a lot of money
  Determiner + adjective + noun: our closest friends; a new house.
  Quantifier + determiner + noun: all those children;
  Quantifier + determiner + adjective + noun: both of my younger brothers

The noun phrase can be quite complicated:
           a loaf of nice fresh brown bread
           the eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob 
           a sweet shop with a pistol
           that attractive young woman in the blue dress 
           sitting over there in the corner
 




Some words and phrases come after the noun. 
These are called post-modifiers
A noun phrase can be post-modified in several ways:
Here are some examples:

       • with a prepositional phrase:
          
         a man with a gun
         the boy in the blue shirt
         the house on the corner

      • with an –ing phrase:
        
        the man standing over there
        the boy talking to Angela

     • with a relative clause:

       the man we met yesterday
       the house that Jack built
       the woman who discovered radium
       an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop

    • with a that clause.
 
      This is very common with reporting or summarising nouns
      like idea, fact, belief, suggestion:

      He’s still very fit, in spite of the fact that he’s over eighty.
      She got the idea that people didn’t like her.
      There was a suggestion that the children should be sent home.

   • with a to-infinitive.
 
      This is very common after indefinite pronouns and adverbs:

      You should take something to read
      I need somewhere to sleep.
      I’ve got no decent shoes to wear.

There may be more than one postmodifier:

      an eight-year old boy with a gun who tried to rob a sweet shop
      that girl over there in a green dress drinking a coke
 

Source:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase

Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun …:
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
… perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.

Numbers:

Quantifiers come before determiners, but numbers come after determiners:
My four children go to school here. (All my children go to school here.)
Those two suitcases are mine. (Both those suitcases are mine)
So the noun phrase is built up in this way:
Noun: people; money
Determiner + noun: the village, a house, our friends; those houses
Quantifier + noun: some people; a lot of money
Determiner + adjective + noun: our closest friends; a new house.
Quantifier + determiner + noun: all those children;
Quantifier + determiner + adjective + noun: both of my younger brothers
The noun phrase can be quite complicated:
a loaf of nice fresh brown bread
the eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop with a pistol
that attractive young woman in the blue dress sitting over there in the corner
- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase#sthash.0DXQHU2Y.dpuf

Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun …:
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
… perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.

Numbers:

Quantifiers come before determiners, but numbers come after determiners:
My four children go to school here. (All my children go to school here.)
Those two suitcases are mine. (Both those suitcases are mine)
So the noun phrase is built up in this way:
Noun: people; money
Determiner + noun: the village, a house, our friends; those houses
Quantifier + noun: some people; a lot of money
Determiner + adjective + noun: our closest friends; a new house.
Quantifier + determiner + noun: all those children;
Quantifier + determiner + adjective + noun: both of my younger brothers
The noun phrase can be quite complicated:
a loaf of nice fresh brown bread
the eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop with a pistol
that attractive young woman in the blue dress sitting over there in the corner
- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase#sthash.0DXQHU2Y.dpuf

Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun …:
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
… perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.

Numbers:

Quantifiers come before determiners, but numbers come after determiners:
My four children go to school here. (All my children go to school here.)
Those two suitcases are mine. (Both those suitcases are mine)
So the noun phrase is built up in this way:
Noun: people; money
Determiner + noun: the village, a house, our friends; those houses
Quantifier + noun: some people; a lot of money
Determiner + adjective + noun: our closest friends; a new house.
Quantifier + determiner + noun: all those children;
Quantifier + determiner + adjective + noun: both of my younger brothers
The noun phrase can be quite complicated:
a loaf of nice fresh brown bread
the eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop with a pistol
that attractive young woman in the blue dress sitting over there in the corner
- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/clause-phrase-and-sentence/noun-phrase#sthash.0DXQHU2Y.dpuf

Saturday 25 October 2014

Sentence Construction - Subject Verb Agreement (Section A)

Sentence construction

SUBJECT (S) - VERB (V) - OBJECT (O) /COMPLEMENT (C) 


       1.      S - boys          V - holding        O - candyfloss    
                                       V - running        O - ticketing counter
               
               Two boys, who are holding the sweet candyfloss, are running
               towards the ticketing counter.

       2.      S - girl            V - waiting             O - balloon
                S - clown        V - inflating            O - balloon - (it)

              The girl with plaited hair is waiting patiently for her balloon while
              the clown beside her is inflating it.

      3.      S - ladies       V - wearing          O - dress
                                     V - waving            O - children
                                     V - riding              O - pony           
                                                                  (+) add - merry-go-round
              Two ladies wearing beautiful dress are waving to their children who
              are riding the wooden pony on the merry-go-round.
 
     4.     S - man            V - standing          O - ticketing counter

             The man, who has short, straight hair is standing at the ticketing
             counter.

    5.      S - man         V - walking           O - funfair
             S - watch       V - is                     O - hand
          
             The man wearing a vest, is walking leisurely at the funfair.




      1.      S - boy      V - strumming        O - guitar
                                 V - sitting               O - gazebo

               The boy, who is strumming the guitar, is sitting under the wooden
               gazebo.

      2.     S - boy      V - eating        O - sandwich  
                                V - sitting        O - mat

              The boy, who is eating a slice of sandwich, is sitting on the mat.

      3.     S - girl       V - sitting        O - stool
                                V - painting     O - picture   (+) add - tree

             The girl with a pony tail, is sitting on the stool and she is painting
             a beautiful, nice picture under the shady tree.

     4.      S - boy      V - reading         O - book    
                                V  - sitting          O - girl

             There is a teenage boy reading a book and he is sitting beside the
             beautiful girl.

     5.     S - boy      V - wearing      O - spectacles
                              V - listening       O -children

             The boy wearing a pair of spectacles, is listening to the children
             playing the musical instruments.

Sample of Excellent Essay Writing for Section C - Paper 2

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the hard work done by the my pupils and all UPSR pupils throughout their 6 years of schooling. Hope that they will keep improving their EL.

These are some samples to be shared.
Hope that the pupils will get the idea on how to score high marks for Section C.

Theme: Stung by the bee (Good deed)

                              Anisa - garden - used -trowel - watered

                              mother - stung - bee - pain - swollen - skin

                              worried - quickly - phoned - father - office

                               went - clinic - doctor - medicine - felt better

Sample 1

          One sunny morning, Anisa and her mother, Puan Sara were in  the garden, tending to their plants.
Puan Sara used the trowel to uproot some plants from the pots and placed them in the soil while Anisa watered the plants using a large watering can.

          As her mother uprooting the last plant, a bee flew by and stung in her arm. Her mother cried out as she fell. She was sobbing uncontrollably as she never felt such excruciating pain in her entire life. Puan Sara's entire arm was swollen by the time she finished crying.

         Anisa was so worried, she immediately ran to her house phone and phoned her father who was working in his office. He drove back home as fast as he could and took Puan Sara and Anisa to the clinic.

        When they finally arrived at the clinic, Puan Sara's entire arm was throbbing in pain. The doctor bandaged Puan Sara's arm and prescribed her some medicine to numb the pain. Puan Sara felt better and was thankful for having such a wonderful and caring family.


Sample 2

         Two Fridays back, Anisa and her mother were doing some gardening in their garden. Her mother, Puan Anita was using the trowel to flatten up the damp soil in the pot that Anisa had watered. They both had green hands.

         Puan Anita was very happy that day. As she whistled her favourite song, out of the blue, a bee stung Puan Anita's right arm. Puan Anita dropped the trowel she was using.  Puan Anita started screaming her lungs out in pain. Anisa thought her mother had been clumsy once again but when she heard her scream, she turned around as quick as lightning. Puan Anita told Anisa what had happened. Anisa saw her mother's swollen hand. Her skin was also turned red.

         Anisa was very worried. Quickly, she phoned her father and explained to him the situation and to urge him to rush back. So, quickly her father left his office. While waiting for her father, Anisa dabbed some ice on her mother's swollen arm to reduce the swell.

        In a jiffy, her father arrived. He picked up his wife and they went to the nearby clinic. After the doctor questioned them and they explained, the doctor examined her arm. He told them that the swelling area would heal soon and the pain would lessen. The doctor prescribed her some medicine and ointment. Her husband took her home and she applied the ointment .She ate the medicine that the doctor gave as well. After a while, she felt better. Then she thanked her kind and helpful daughter for being so caring.


Sample 3

        It was a fine day. Anisa and her mother were doing their usual Saturday gardening together. Anisa was busy watering the plants as her mother used a trowel to prepare a pot of soil for a new plant. Since they had a beautiful garden, it was not uncommon to see a few bees buzzing around.

        However, when Anisa's mother tried to lift a small plant, she was unaware that she had disturbed a bee. Sensing danger, the bee immediately stung her in the arm. Anisa's mother cried out in pain as the stung area swelled within minutes.

        Anisa rushed to her mother's aid. After Anisa's mother told her what had happened, Anisa quickly went inside and phoned her father's office. When her father picked up, Anisa hastily retold what her mother had said, worry evident in her voice. Her father told her to stay calm and that he would take her mother to the clinic shortly. Anisa hung up after saying goodbye and went back to her mother.

       Sure enough, a few minutes later her father arrived and took her mother to the clinic.There she was examined by a doctor named Randy. Dr. Randy told her to be more careful at her age and gave her some cream to soothe the pain. After putting the cream on, she instantly felt a little bit better. She was very grateful and thanked Dr. Randy. Anisa's parents bid the doctor goodby and went home. Anisa was as happy as a lark as her parents reached home and knocked the door because she knew that her mother was okay.




Monday 18 August 2014

Paper 1 - Grammar Section



Sample 1
SECTION  C

Questions 16 – 21 :
Choose the best answer to complete the sentences.

16.       Giraffes are the  ____________animals.
            A         tall
            B         taller
            C         tallest

17        They _____________ talking about the terrible incident.
            A         are
            B         is
            C         am

18.       We must not to eat too ______________ sweet food.
            A         much
            B         little
            C         some

19.       Abu has three _______________ and a ______________ in his pencil box.
            A         pencil , sharpener
            B         pencils , sharpeners
            C         pencils , sharpener

20.       I like sunny days _______________ I can go out to play.
            A         and
            B         but
            C         or
            D         because