Exercise Your Grammar Muscles 1 : There Is and There Are

When there is not emphasized, we frequently use a or an after the verb :
There's a boy waiting to see you in the office.
There's an English man in the gym.
However, when there is emphasized and refers to a particular place, we can use the/a/an according to the situation:
There is the boy I've been talking about.
There is a paper clip. Didn't I tell you that you could find one in that bookcase?

Put in is or are.

1. There ..... still a few old bicycles in the garage.
2. There ..... a lot of of work to be done.
3. There ..... a lot of things which need to be done before we can take a holiday.
4. There ..... not enough pencils to give to all the examination candidates.
5. There ..... a lot of money in the car boot.
6. There ..... something wrong with our project.
7. ..... there enough math teachers in our school?
8. There ..... only a few hockey sticks in the storeroom.
9. ..... there any computers in our school?
10. .....there any more apples in the fridge?
11. There ..... a lot of spelling mistakes in your essay.
12. There ..... quite a lot of sugar in this coffee!
13. There ..... usually quite a lot of students at the end-of-year dinner and dance party.
14. There ..... a number of cracks in the wall.
15. There ..... quite a bit of dust on my laptop screen.
16. There ..... quite a number of shops still open after midnight.
17. There ..... a number of people who saw what happened.
18. There ..... a lot of men in the boat.
19.  ..... there a lot of money left in the bank?
20. ..... there a lot of coins in your piggy bank?

Go to www.pmrenglish.com and www.spmenglish1119.com for additional resources.

Writing Your Essay : Paragraph Unity

Supposing you are writing an essay on "How I Relax Myself". Here's a paragraph written by a student. One of the sentences should not be there because it is out of place: it does not contribute to the unity of the paragraph. A paragraph is unified only when the points of the paragraph support the topic sentence or main idea of the paragraph. Rewrite the paragraph by removing the irrelevant sentence.

When I am in my garden, I feel relaxed. I like to sit in my garden and read a book or magazine while having a cup of tea. I love to look at the different flowers such as hibiscus, bougainvilleas and heliconias. When I look at them, all my worries and anxieties just evaporate. I also relax by watering the plants in the mornings and evenings. I also find it relaxing cutting the grass and pulling out the weeds every fortnight. My mother also likes to relax in the garden. Sometimes I like to watch the insects that are in my garden. My garden also attracts squirrels and birds because of the fruit trees. Watching them is also relaxing even though they are eating some of my fruits.

Imaginative Composition

Here's a GCE 'O' Level essay question I posed to a student of mine and this is what she came up with. The extract in bold is taken from John Wyndham's The Chrysallids. You're to continue the story in not more than 300 words, introducing dialogue wherever possible.

 "What's the matter?" I asked.
Her face was screwed up, tears stood in her eyes.
"My foot's stuck," she said.
Her left foot was buried. I scrabbled the soft sand clear with my hands. Her shoe was jammed in a narrow space between two up-pointed stones. I tried to move, but it would not budge.
"Can't you sort of twist it out?" I suggested.
She tried, lips valiantly compressed.
"It won't come."
"I'll help pull," I offered.
"No, no! It hurts," she protested.
I did not know what to do next. Very clearly her predicament was painful. I considered the problem.

"Should I call 911?" I asked.
Nervously, she agreed.
"Wait here and don't move," I said.
I ran as fast as I could searching for a phone booth. After five minutes running around, there it was- a phone booth!Quickly I ran to the phone booth and dialled 911.
"Thud!"my heart pounded when it did not accept my coins. I kept trying.
"This is the last try," I cried. Finally, it accepted my coins.
"This is the Fire Department. How may I help you?" a man asked.
I quickly gave him all the information and ran back to where the girl was.The girl was still sobbing. I stared at the stones, and I noticed that the gap was now bigger.
"That's it!" I screamed.
The girl had been sobbing so hard that her tears had loosened the stones a bit. Coming to my senses, I took out some olive oil and poured it on the girl's feet. With a pull of her leg, she was finally free. Thanks to the oil.
The firemen arrived with an ambulance.
"We're glad you're alright," one of them said.
Luckily the girl had only sprained her ankle; so, there was no need for her to go to the hospital. Before the girl could thank me, I had fled the scene, grinning happily, feeling like a superhero.

Schools Are 4 Fools

What's a school
If there are no rules?
What's a school
If there are no fools?
What's a schfool
If there are no schrules?
Schfools are for fools
Schrules are for fools
Wake up, schfools!
Speak up, schfools!
Down with the schfools!
Down with the schrules!

(Image: bullypolice.org)

SPM English 1119

The SPM English 1119 Exam comprises two papers: Paper I and Paper 2. Paper 1, which is strictly on essay writing, requires candidates to write two essays: Directed Writing and Continuous Writing. Paper 2 tests students in the following areas: reading and comprehension, information transfer skills, vocabulary, summary writing skills, and literature. Writing skills are given a very much higher weightage than other language skills.

To read the whole article, please click the following link:

http://ezinearticles.com/?SPM-English-1119-Essay-Writing&id=4160137

PLEASE HELP BABY CHIN YOU HAYNE

BABY CHIN YOU HAYNE NEEDS YOUR HELP. Three- week-old You Hayne is suffering from a congenital heart condition called patent ductus arteriosus whereby an additional  blood vessel channels extra blood into the lungs. Now, he lies in bed with the aid of a ventilator support at the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre waiting for the surgery that will give him a normal life. I call upon charitable Malaysians to help Baby You Hayne who needs RM30,000 for the surgery that will give him a normal life.  If you wish to help Baby You Hayne, please visit my website at http://www.spmenglish1119.com to purchase the SPM English 1119 Self-Tuition Course for your children, relatives, or friends. RM 6.00 (USD 2) from every purchase will go to You H ayne. The donation will be handed over to the New Straits Times Charity Unit which highlighted You Hayne’s plight on 26 April 2010. Please hurry as Baby You Hayne’s surgery should not be delayed for too long. This donation drive will be from May to October 2010.For more information, please contact Aida at NST, tel: 03-2282 2323 (ext.6659)  

How Not To Write A Dialogue or Conversation

Just the other day Maria rather tactlessly drew Kennot Waite's attention to the rashes on his left cheek. That made him blush and now the rashes seem redder than a red rose and so he decides he must make an appointment with a skin doctor (that's a dermatologist) before the rashes paint his whole face red. Here's the exchange on the phone with the clinic's receptionist:

KW: Excuse me, I want to make an appointment with the doctor.
Woman : Err...may I know...?
KW: Okay, my name is Kennot Waite. What time can I see the doctor?
Woman : Mr Waite, I'll put your name down for three o'clock. Is that alright?
KW: Yes, that's fine.
Woman: Mr Waite, we'll see you at three. Goodbye.

You'll notice that the customary greeting is missing at the beginning of the exchange. Kennot Waite appears to be rather polite by saying "Excuse me" before he 'requests' an appointment. Actually his request is more like a demand : I want to make an appointment with the doctor. He should have said : Excuse me, I would like to make an appointment with the doctor.

When the woman asks Kennot for his  name, he cuts her off. And the interruption is rather rude and abrupt although he guessed correctly that she was going to ask him his name. At times one may have to interrupt, but one has to do it politely. For example, you may say: Excuse me, if I may inteerupt/Sorry for interrupting... Then you proceed with what you are going to say.

Another shortcoming of this dialogue is that there is no proper close. This is the conclusion before you hang up the phone. Kennot Waite should have responded by saying something like this: Thanks. Goodbye.

So, whether you are writing a dialogue in the PMR English exam or SPM English exam, the features of a dialogue are the same. Apart from the fact that the speakers must respect each other, a dialogue is just like other forms of essay writing; it has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

SPM English 1119- Directed Writing (Paper 1)

In Paper 1 of the SPM English 1119 exam., there are two compulsory essay questions Directed Writing (Section A) and Continuous Writing (Section B).

As the name suggests, in Directed Writing, you have been directed to write with suggested short notes.What is required of you is to expand the given notes into an essay which can be in any of the following forms: a) a narrative story b) a descritption of an event c) a speech or talk d) a message e) a description of a place f) a description of a person g) a description of a process h) a dialogue or conversation i) a letter j) an opinion piece.

Are there differences in the way we write the different essays?

Firstly, the form of the essay will differ. Say, you're writing a dialogue which means you will have two speakers engaging in a conversation. If you are asked to write a conversation, then you should have at least three speakers. Your essay, therefore, is not written in the usual essay form: a continuous prose passage, one paragraph after another, from beginning to end. A dialogue would look like this:

Peter: How are you, Pan?
Pan :  Great! And you?
Peter: So, what have you been doing these days?

Secondly, the style may vary with the different essay forms. When writing a dialogue, you write in the conventions of a conversation. For instance, you may use contractions (I'll, You won't) and there are certain social courtesies involved. By courtesies, I mean the form of expressions used in greetings, interrupting politely, and closing a conversation.

Thirdly, you'll have to pay attention to your grammar and how you link the given notes into a cohesive dialogue or conversation. As an example, what tense should you use? That depends on the subject matter.If you are talking about a football match in the papers, you would most likely say: "Inter Milan played much better throughout the game. They deserved to win. Anyway, I think they are a much better team compared to Manchester United." You will notice that two tense forms are used : simple past (relating a past event) and simple present (stating your opinion, what you think at the time of speaking).

As a way of helping you write better dialogues or conversations, I would suggest as a first step to listen. Yes, listen to others talking. You can do plenty of listening by watching the movies or shows on TV.spmenglish1119.com

SPM English 1119 Exam

spmenglish1119.comThe SPM English 1119 exam comprises two papers : Paper 1, which essentially tests students on essay writing, and Paper 2, which tests students on grammar, vocabulary, information transfer, reading comprehension, summary writing, and literature.

Generally, most students find questions that require writing skills the most challenging or difficult. I remember tutoring a group of science undergraduates of a public university and almost all the students I encountered had horrendous writing skills. The science essays and reports were almost incomprehensible because the content was often overwhelmed by the grammar mistakes and faulty syntax. So, it's no surprise that SPM students taking their English exam find essay writing the most challenging. In the SPM English exam essay writing skills are tested in Paper 1's Directed (Section A) and Continuous Writing (Section B) questions as well as Paper 2's Summary Writing (Section C) and Literature (Section D) questions. As you can see, there's quite a lot of stress on essay writing skills.

In subsequent posts, I'll be dealing with essay writing in the SPM (and PMR) English exam as well as the other sections. In the meantime, I'm  giving away one (1) "SPOT" Essay Question (2010) for the SPM English 1119 Examination which comes with guidelines, notes, an essay outline, and a sample answer to the first 100 readers who FOLLOW my BLOG and leave a comment.

Acknowledgement: I wish to thank Berlin for the breezy artwork. Her blog is at http://berlin-fashionunplugged.blogspot.com