PPSMI: Describing a Process

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YELLOW

(Coldplay)

GOD is LOVE

Look at the stars,

Look how they shine for you,

And everything you do,

Yeah, they were all yellow.

I came along,

I wrote a song for you,

And all the things you do,

And it was called "Yellow".

So then I took my turn,

Oh what a thing to have done,

And it was all "Yellow".

Your skin,

Your skin and bones,

Turn into something beautiful,

You know, you know I love you so,

You know I love you so.

I swam across,

I jumped across for you,

Oh what a thing to do.

Cos you were all "Yellow",

I drew a line,

I drew a line for you,

Oh what a thing to do,

And it was all "Yellow".

Your skin,

Your skin and bones,

Turn into something beautiful,

And you know,

For you I'd bleed myself dry,

For you I'd bleed myself dry.

It's true,

Look how they shine for you,

Look how they shine for you,

Look how they shine for,

Look how they shine for you,

Look how they shine for you,

Look how they shine.

Look at the stars,

Look how they shine for you,

And all the things that you do.

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PPSMI SMK KIJAL

BASIC WRITING

8.00-12.30 P.M
April 12, 2008

CONTENTS:

Mastery Test
What is a sentence?
What is a subject?
What is a verb?
WEBassessment
Analysis & Practices

PRE-TEST : WRITING COMPETENCY

The main purpose of this pre-test is to help you identify problems you might have with mechanics of writing.

A. Parts of Speech
Identify the Parts of Speech in every sentence below.

1. I bought a beautiful dress at the mall. ..............................
2. What did she ask you to do?................................
3. I left my shoes under the kitchen table. .............................
4. If we finish our work quickly, we can go to the movies. ..............................
5. On Saturdays I work from nine to five. ......................................
6. I want to go to a university in the United States. .................................
7. I'm sure I have met your girlfriend before. .........................................
8. Well, I don't think I will be here to answer the phone. ................................
9. Andy knocked on the door but nobody answered. .....................................
10. After lunch let's go out for a coffee. .............................................

B. Subject-verb Agreement
Read the following sentences and underline the correct answer.

1. All of the students (have, has) come forward to support the environment campaign.
2. The tailor you and your cousins go to (is, are) reliable.
3. Eating out too often (is, are) unhealthy indeed.
4. The graduates (look, looks) smart in their robes.
5. The trainees (work, works) hard to complete their projects.
6. Cleanliness in our compound (is, are) everyone’s responsibility.
7. A bunch of bananas (is, are) not cheap nowadays.
8. Ida, like Elsie, (love, loves) Hindi movies.
9. Besides the coach, the team manager, (was, were) also invited to the opening ceremony.
10. Anybody who (is, are) qualified can apply to study at the college.

C. Agreement of Pronouns and Nouns
Fill in the correct noun or pronoun in the space provided.

1. Mary received many presents for ………………birthday. …………… loved all of ………………… .

2. Mrs. Lopez loves cats. …………… said that cats bring her good luck.

3. You have to write ……………….. personal details here.

4. These magazines are ………………… . They belong to us.

5. Most students brought ……………….. parents to the school fair.

6. Ahmad and Ridzuan finished ………………. ……………….. before dinner.

7. The ………………… flapped ……………… wings before …………….. flew away.

8. Mandy has a beautiful …………………… . She bought ……………… yesterday.

9. Congratulations! You all should be proud of …………………… .

10. The girls painted the house ……………………. .

INTRODUCTION

“To write well is to know what a sentence is made of”

What is a sentence?

1. A sentence is a group of words that contains:
i) a subject
ii) a verb
iii) and expresses a complete thought and makes sense.

2. The basic sentence structure is SVO. The subject(S) comes before the verb(V) and followed by an object(O) or a complement(C).

Example:
i) A man walked his dog.
ii) Malaysia is a peaceful country.
iii) I have three red cars.
iv) She and her son ate dinner at Siti’s house.
v) Either Ali or his sisters will go to Ahmad’s wedding ceremony.

3. Sentences can be
i) simple - containing only one subject (S) and one verb (V).
Example: Ahmad(S) went (V) home.

ii) complex - containing two or more subjects and verbs with a subordinating conjunction or a dependent clause.
Example: Although(SConj) Ahmad(S) went(V) home, he will come(V) again tomorrow.

iii) compound - containing two or more subjects and verbs joined by a coordinating conjuction or a semicolon. Two simple sentences (independent clauses) are joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
Example:

a) Ahmad(S) went(V) home, but(CConj) he will come(V) again tomorrow.
b) Ahmad(S) had(V) an interview;(semicolon)however, he was(V) late.

What is a subject?

1. The subject is the noun or pronoun (person or thing) doing the action of the verb.

2.i) A noun is often defined as a word which names a person, place or thing. Here are some examples of nouns: boy, river, friend, Mexico, triangle, day, school, truth, university, idea, Siti Nurhaliza, movie, aunt, vacation, eye, dream, flag, teacher, class, grammar. Siti Nurhaliza is a noun because it is the name of a person; Kuala Lumpur is a noun because it is the name of a place; and boy is a noun because it is the name of a thing.

ii) Some grammar books divide nouns into 2 groups - proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are nouns which begin with a capital letter because it is the name of a specific or particular person place or thing.
Some examples of proper nouns are: Kuala Lumpur, Siti Nurhaliza, Atlantic Ocean, February, Monday, Malacca, Ahmad, Petaling Street, Pizza Hut.
If you see a word beginning with a capital letter in in the middle of a sentence, it is probably a proper noun.
Most nouns are common nouns and do not begin with a capital letter.

iii) Many nouns have a special plural form if there is more than one. For example, we say one book but two books. Plurals are usually formed by adding an -s (books) or -es (boxes) but some plurals are formed in different ways (child - children, person - people, mouse - mice,
sheep –sheep).

3. i) A pronoun is often defined as a word which can be used instead of a noun. For example, instead of saying Ahmad is a student, the pronoun he can be used in place of the noun Ahmad and the sentence becomes He is a student. We use pronouns very often, especially so that we do not have to keep on repeating a noun.

ii) A personal pronoun often refers to a person. Like nouns, personal pronouns sometimes have singular and plural forms (I-we, he-they).

iii)Unlike nouns, personal pronouns sometimes have different forms for masculine/male, feminine/female and neuter (he-she-it). Also unlike nouns, personal pronouns have different forms depending on if they act as subjects or objects (he-him, she-her).

A subject is a word which does an action and usually comes before the verb, and an object is a word that receives an action and usually comes after the verb.

For example, in the sentence Yesterday Ida called her mother, Ida is the subject and mother is the object. The pronoun she can be used instead of Ida and the pronoun her can be used instead of mother.

The form of a personal pronoun also changes according to what person is referred to. Person is used here as a grammar word and means:

1st person or the self (I, me, we), =>me is only being an object in a sentence NEVER a subject

2nd person or the person spoken to (you),

3rd person or the person spoken about (he, she, him, her, they, them). =>him, her, them are object pronouns.

Example sentence: Pronoun as the subject in a sentence.

a) I love cycling and mountain climbing.
b) We are leaving for London.
c) You drive me crazy.
d) He called me last night.
e) She broke the window glass.
f) They were garbage collectors.

What is a verb?

1. A verb is a word which shows action: eat, read, drive, think
or state of being:

is/was (singular:present/past)
are/were (plural:present/past)
has/had (singular:present/past)
have/had (plural:present/past)
does/did (singular:present/past)
do/did (plural:present/past)

2. A verb shows time (tenses): past, present, or future time.
Example: Ridzuan was here.

Ridzuan is here.

Ridzuan will be here.

Ridzuan ran home.

Ridzuan runs home.

Ridzuan will run home.

3. A word that does not show time is not the main verb of the sentence. Look at the following sentence. Which word is the main verb in the following sentence?

The barking dog jumped on the woman.

4. Try changing the sentence to future tense. Which word would you change? The word that changes to future tense is the main verb of the sentence.

Is the following group of words a sentence?

The will bark dog jumped on the woman.

It isn't a sentence because bark is not the verb of the sentence. The word barking in the original sentence is functioning as an adjective and is modifying the noun dog. The verb in the original sentence is jumped. The tense of the verb jumped can be changed.

The barking dog will jump on the woman. [future tense]

The barking dog is jumping on the woman. [present progressive]

The barking dog jumps on the woman every day. [simple present]

SUMMARY (Part 1)

1. A sentence contains a subject and a verb. It is a complete thought and makes sense.
2. The basic sentence structure is SVO (Subject,Verb,Object).
3. A subject can be a noun or a pronoun.
4. Nouns are names for any things: boy, food, rattan, John, Singapore, beauty, toilet, university, bus, etc. Nouns can be divided into 2 categories:

----------------------------------------------------
COMMON NOUN // PROPER NOUN

----------------------------------------------------

man------------------- Ahmad

building---------------- KLCC
bus-------------------- Maraliner
school------------------ SMK Kijal
television------------ Samsung
restaurant-------------- KFC

5. A Pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. It avoids repetition of a noun and monotonous in sentences. Only the subject pronoun is used as the subject in a sentence.

http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/POS/pos6.htm

6. A verb comes after the subject (SVO)

7. The verb can be divided into 2 classes:
i) Main verb (actions): jump, eat, kick, smile, jog, cycle
ii) State of being (auxiliary verbs):is/was,are/were,has,have/had,

8. A verb shows time (tenses):past, present, future

TIPS:
i) A subject must agree with the verb and this is called Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA).

SUMMARY (Part 2)

A singular subject uses a singular verb and so does a plural subject that uses a plural verb.

ii) A singular subject refers to single or one object/item.
iii) Every singular verb has the ending ‘s’.
iv) A plural subject refers to more than one object/item.
v) Every plural verb does not have the ending ‘s’, yet maintains the original form.
vi) Memorize the formula below and study the examples to understand better.

Formula 1 (Singular/main verb/present tense):
Sing= V+s

Example sentence:
1. He enjoys the Math class.
2. The pencil costs 60 sen each.
3. A cat eats fish.
4. A computer helps us in many ways.
5. My mother picks up the phone.
6. Salleh reads the book three times.

Formula 2 (Plural/main verb/present tense):
Plu= V-s

Example sentence:
7. They enjoy the Math class.
8. The pencils cost 60 sen each.
9. Cats eat fish.
10. Computers help us in many ways.
11. My sisters pick up the phone.
12. We read the book three times.

WEBassessment

Instructions:
Please copy the given link and paste it in the browser.

Then, click to be directed to the respective website which provides the assessment.

Take the assessments. Good luck!

QUEST 1: Subject and Verb (SVO)
http://www.johnsesl.com/Projects/Sentences.shtml

QUEST 2: Subject-verb Agreement (SVA)
http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/sva1.html

QUEST 3: Word order
http://esl.vcc.ca/eslvoc/ESLWEB/person1.htm

ANALYZING ERRORS
Read through the following sentences. Then, correct them where necessary.

The uses of Telephone

1. We use the telephone to communicate with my parents.
...................................................................

2. We use the telephone when in emergency condition.
...................................................................

3. We use the telephone when we miss someone.
...................................................................

4. We call the taxi to go to shopping at the town.
...................................................................

5. We call the police to inform the robbery.
...................................................................

Checklist
1. SVO
2. SVA (singular/plural,tenses),Pronoun & Noun Agreement
3. Coherence (Flow of ideas)-Use WH-questions technique.
4. Punctuations
5. Spellings
6. Outline: Topic sentence, supporting points, conclusion, transitional or signal words

Sites:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/01/
http://buckhoff.topcities.com/using_transition_words.htm
http://english-zone.com/writing/para-strctr.html
http://english-zone.com/writing/mini-i.html


How to Generate Ideas for your paragraph?

Topic: My most embarrassing moment

A: Question yourself (WH-questions and coherence)

1. What is your most embarrassing moment? Which one?
Answer: My most embarrassing moment is...................
2. Why did you think it was the most embarrassing?
Answer: It was really embarrassing because.......................
3. When did it happen?
Answer: It happened ....................................
4. Where did it happen?
Answer: It happened in/at .............................
5. How did it happen?
Answer: It happened because I.........

B: Rewrite all your answers and do the checklist as above.

PRACTICE 1
Write a short description about your grandmother.

1. ......................................................................

2. ......................................................................

3. ......................................................................

4. ......................................................................

5. ......................................................................

PRACTICE 2
Write five sentences based on the graphic given below.

Graph: Death Causes in the United States

1. ...........................................................................................

2. ..........................................................................................

3. ..........................................................................................

4. ..........................................................................................

5. ..........................................................................................

PRACTICE 3
Write a short paragraph (five sentences) about the topic below.
You may use the given outline to assist you in generating the ideas.

Suggested Outline (WH Technique):
1. What is my job?
2. Where do I work?
3. Why do I like my job? (3 reasons)
4. What are the examples (supporting details) that prove my 3 reasons?
(Reason 1/Example 1, Reason 2/Example 2, Reason 3/Example 3)

Tip: Use transitional words to show coherence:
First, then, another, finally

5. Conclusion (Restate the topic sentence and reasons)
Example: In conclusion, I love my job (topic sentence) because (state the 3 reasons).

“Why I Love My Job”
.....................................................................

.....................................................................

.....................................................................

.....................................................................

.....................................................................