Common Sense in English for PSLE Students

Common Sense in English

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Paper 1

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Continuous Writing

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Booklet A

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Graphic Stimulus

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Grammar

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Punctuation

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Vocabulary

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Vocabulary Cloze

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Comprehension

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Booklet B

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Grammar Cloze

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Editing

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Comprehension Cloze

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Synthesis and Transformation

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Comprehension Open-Ended This section consists of 10 questions, each worth 2 marks, making this section worth 20 marks in all. Students are assessed on their ability to answer the questions based on a correct understanding of the passage given.

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Comprehension Open-Ended Once again, we can recall what comprehension is about. Comprehension tests our ability to understand what someone has written. In this case, we must understand the passage, and the only way to show that we understand the comprehension passage given is by answering the questions correctly. That is where marks are also awarded. To manage this section, I suggest using a 3-step approach: 1) Observe the questions, 2) Read and Interpret the passage, then 3) Answer the questions. Such an approach is particularly useful, especially if the passage is difficult. It is useful for good, average and weak students. One reason why students find themselves having difficulty in this section is because they do not apply the above 3-step approach, rather, they would only look at the passage superficially, then answer the questions. Unless if the passage is very easy to understand, or you are a very good student, doing so would definitely spell disaster!

1) Observe the Questions Reading the questions first serves 2 main useful purposes: 1) gives us a rough idea what the content of the passage is, and 2) know what is important to pay attention to when reading the passage. a) Words contained in questions Most questions asked contain the 5 Ws and 1H: What – the thing referred to; sometimes asking Why Who/Which – the person or people/object (animal, colour, day etc.) Where – the place or surroundings something belongs to When – the time, date or surrounding situation (circumstances) Why – the reason How – using what way (method or means); in what way (manner) Does the 5Ws and 1H sound familiar? When you are writing a composition, the 5Ws and 1H are to guide you in planning and writing your story. When the author wrote the passage, he/she also used the 5Ws and 1H the passage. Each paragraph may contain just 1W, the 1H, more than 1W, or a mixture of Ws and the 1H. So it means that if we look at a paragraph

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containing only the details relating to what and why (for example), then a question like ‚Where did the driver get into an accident?‛ cannot be asked. Other common words used to ask us for an answer include: Did – yes or no Explain – make clearer (more easily understood); sometimes asking Why Quote – use open-inverted commas ‚ ‚ or ‘ ‘ to copy the phrase or sentence Evidence – supporting facts b) Highlight/Underline the key words In each question, the key words are also called ‚trigger words‛ that tell us the important things the question is asking. We want to make sure that we do not miss out anything important the question is asking. Key words include the 5Ws and 1H and the other common words listed above. For example, in the question Which house did the arsonists target? The keywords are ‚which‛, ‚house‛, ‚arsonists‛ and ‚target‛. We will highlight/underline these words accordingly: Which house did the arsonists target? Other examples of identifying the key words are as follows: Who was guilty of cheating during the exam? What did Mr Lin tell Richard to do? When did the thieves strike? Where is the museum located? Why did Peter choose to remain in the house even though it was on fire? How did the Carlos get to the roof of the house? Did Thomas die from the car accident? Give evidence to support your answer. ‚He felt a sharp pain at his left shoulder.‛Explain clearly what the problem was.

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Quote the phrase that suggests that the outdoor excursion began in the morning. Do you notice that the important things are picked out? This makes it easier for us to focus on what the question is asking for! It is important to know what each question requires, so that we can answer each question correctly. Of course, if you are a good student, there is no need to highlight/underline the key words for every question, except the more challenging ones. c) Write the meanings for the 5Ws and 1H If you find it hard to put together many pieces of information at the same time, writing the meaning beside the 5Ws and 1H, which are also words that ask a question, would make your task easier. Apart from highlighting, you may find understanding each question easier by following the examples below: Which person Who was guilty of cheating during the exam? At what time/in what situation When did the thieves strike? The reason Why did Peter choose to remain in the house even though it was on fire? Place Where is the museum located? The thing What did Mr Lin tell Richard to do? Using what way How did the Carlos get to the roof of the house? Once again, if you are a good student, there is no need to write the meanings beside all the 5Ws and 1H, except for the more challenging questions. It can be very time-consuming and precious time that can be used to look for the answer in the passage and for checking for mistakes will be used up. What I have recommended is only a guide to help students weak in this section! [Type text]

2) Read and Interpret the Passage Most of the time, the passage given would be a story or narrative (recall of things that happened) written by an author. a) Interpreting the passage To interpret means to explain or tell the meaning of: present in understandable terms (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition). Looking at how something is communicated, the author is the communicator, and we are the receivers (listeners or readers). Our task is to interpret what the author has written for us, then answer the questions accordingly. Figure 1 shows what we do: Communicator

Writes something to

Receiver

Interprets and answers

(reader)

questions

Figure 1: Communication to a reader

Whether or not we give the correct answer to each question depends on our interpretation of the passage. If we interpret the passage correctly, we will successfully exegete (draw out) the meaning of the author’s words and will give the correct answer to a question. Likewise, if we misinterpret the passage, we will eisegete (give our meaning to) the author’s words and get a wrong understanding of what the author actually meant; this would lead to giving the wrong answer to a question. Therefore, Correct InterpretationCorrect Answer; while Wrong InterpretationWrong Answer b) One Meaning Principle It is the lexicographer’s task to give meanings to words. In order to find out what a word or phrase means, we would of course look for its meaning in a dictionary. A word in a dictionary almost always has many meanings given. However, only one of the meanings to a word or phrase in the dictionary would fit the CONTEXT (one of the 3Cs to guide interpretation discussed below), and that is the meaning which we want to find to interpret the word correctly. In order to find the one meaning of a word or phrase, we must start with using the correct methods to interpret. c) Methods to use in Interpreting We should use only the following 2 methods, and combine them to interpret a passage. i) Literal method The literal meaning of a word or expression is its basic or original meaning (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 4th edition). Using the Literal method of interpretation means that we take the author at his/her word; the author means what he/she says and says what he/she means! This is consistent with the ONE MEANING PRINCIPLE. [Type text]

For example, let’s look at the following sentence: Tom owned three cats while Bob owned four dogs. The correct interpretation would be: there were seven animals in total. However, if more information is given, we might have to change our original interpretation. Consider the following: Tom owned three cats while Bob owned four dogs. That was how their respective children behaved! Tom’s children typically enjoyed being cuddled and stroked on their heads by their doting father, while Bob’s children would bark angrily when they did not have their way. In such a case, the question would be: would the Literal method of interpretation be sufficient? No! We have to combine the Literal method with the Rationalistic method below. (A useful guideline would be: if the literal interpretation makes sense, seek no other ways to interpret a word or phrase). ii) Rationalistic Method The word rationalistic comes from the word rational. The opposite of rational is irrational. To be rational means to make one’s thinking be based on reason rather than emotions (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 6th edition). To be rational in one’s interpretation means to make sure that the interpretation makes sense. Let’s relook at the case above (to see why it is important to use the Rationalistic Method of interpretation): Tom owned three cats while Bob owned four dogs. That was how their respective children behaved! Tom’s children typically enjoyed being cuddled and stroked on their heads by their doting father, while Bob’s children would bark angrily when they did not have their way. By combining the Literal and Rationalistic method of interpretation, the correct interpretation would be: Tom’s had three children who behaved like cats while Bob had 4 children who behaved like dogs. The information given does not tell us whether Tom and Bob owned any pets. From the above example, we can see that even though we should interpret the information given as literal, the interpretation should make sense. We must be alert to Figures of Speech (discussed below) used, as we see from the above example, that the cats and dogs are used as figures of speech to the behavior of the children. d) Figures of Speech An author sometimes uses a phrase not meant to be literal, but mean it to be a figure of speech (or what is known as a figurative expression).

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A figurative word or phrase is used in a different way from its usual meaning, to give you a particular idea or picture in your mind (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 4th edition). A figure of speech often uses a picture to illustrate what the author compares something with. Figures of speech include the following categories: i) Similes (comes from the word similar i.e. appears the same) E.g. It was like having to climb Mount Everest. This means that the task was very arduous (tiring and difficult). E.g. He was as sly as a fox. This means that he is very cunning. ii) Metaphors (analogies; likeness of two things matched) E.g. Her life is a rollercoaster. This means that her life has both good and bad times. iii) Idioms E.g. He would kick the bucket sooner or later if he continues doing that. This means that he would die. iv) Proverbs (common sayings) E.g. Even a river 50 miles wide would not be able to satisfy his desire for wealth. This means that his greed for money can never be satisfied. v) Hyperboles (exaggerations; making things sound ridiculous) E.g. The books he saw in the bookstore were innumerable. This means that there were plenty of books in the bookstore; he most likely felt amazed by what he saw. vi) Antithesis (two opposing statements side by side) E.g. It was a case of being so near, yet so far.

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This means that a person had nearly achieved a goal (or looked like he/she had achieved the goal), but unfortunately, the person did not succeed in achieving the goal. (For example, a winning goal is scored, but the whistle is blown a second before the goal). In order to determine what the figure of speech refers to in the passage, we have to look at the Context (discussed as one of the 3Cs to guide interpretation below) to see how the author has used the figure of speech. e) 3Cs to guide interpretation i) CONTEXT A CONTEXT refers to the situation, events and information related to something that help you understand it (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 4th edition). So, in order to understand the meaning of a word or phrase, we have to look for all the information related to it. Determining the meaning of a word or phrase In order to determine which meaning is according to context, we will have to look at information BEFORE and AFTER the word or phrase. Below are examples of looking BEFORE and AFTER the word or phrase to determine its meaning: In the case of a word, E.g. The fishmonger’s hands gave an unpleasant, fishy smell. In this case, fishy means that the smell is like fish. E.g. At her void deck, Felicia noticed a sign scribbled on the wall ‚O$P$ (owe money, pay money)‛. She then remarked to her husband, ‚Something looks fishy.‛ In this case, fishy means suspicious. In the case of a phrase, E.g. He broke up (a phrasal verb) with his girlfriend after a quarrel. In this case, broke up means that a romantic relationship is ended. E.g. The audience broke up (a phrasal verb) as soon as the clown started doing weird acts.

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In this case, broke up means started laughing. E.g. The old man next door finally kicked the bucket at the age of 98. In this case, kicked the bucket (used as an idiom) means died. E.g. The girl kicked the bucket and water was spilled on the floor. In this case, kicked the bucket means the girl struck the bucket with her leg. The above examples show that we cannot take a word or phrase and interpret its meaning. We have to look at the context the word or phrase is used to determine its meaning. Now let us look at an example of taking a piece of information out of context: E.g. The teacher told the class: ‚Do not use the handicap toilet.‛ The question asked follows: What was the teacher’s instruction to the class? If the answer is: The teacher told the class to use the handicap toilet. Problem with answer: SUBTRACTING relevant information The phrase ‚use the handicap toilet‛ is clearly taken out of context! The student has left out a very important adverb (discussed later in Major Word Forms) ‘not’, which makes the meaning completely opposite – and different! Or, if the answer is: The teacher told the class not to use the handicapped toilet unless any one of them was handicapped. Problem with answer: ADDING information not given The condition stated in the answer that ‚unless any one of them was handicapped‛ is not stated in the context given by the author. The student is making a guess to whom the teacher allows to use the handicap toilet. If the student chooses to interpret information not based on what is written but by making guesses, then if someone gives an answer like ‚The teacher told the class not to use the handicapped toilet unless the normal toilet was unavailable‛, this answer or any other guesses would also have to be marked as correct! We can tell from this example that every word is important. When we look at the passage to answer a question, we must neither ADD any information not written nor SUBTRACT any information written. [Type text]

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Characteristics of a Paragraph

The passage is divided into several paragraphs. Paragraphs in a passage may be compared to several boxes, each containing objects. Each paragraph has the following characteristics:  Focuses on ONE key thing When we want to separate many objects into boxes, we try our best to put similar objects (having similar characteristics) into each box. So the first box may contain only pencils (of different types), the second box pens (of different types), the third box Therefore, each paragraph concentrates on ONE key idea, event, type of animal, way of doing something etc. In the example below, two different paragraphs may show the same event, yet, the focus of the author for each paragraph is different: Sable waited at the bus-interchange for her bus to arrive. The bus-interchange had several other passengers queuing at that berth waiting to board the bus. Some were seen with shopping bags, some with plastic bags containing groceries, while others appeared lethargic after a long day at the office. As Sable nursed the thought of studying for her test the next day, a low-toned voice of a fellow passenger sounded from behind: ‚Excuse me miss