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-Websters 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 (reader)

Interprets and answers 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 authors words and will give the correct answer to a question. Likewise, if we misinterpret the passage, we will eisegete (give our meaning to) the authors 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 InterpretationCorrect Answer; while Wrong InterpretationWrong Answer b) One Meaning Principle It is the lexicographers 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, lets 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! Toms children typically enjoyed being cuddled and stroked on their heads by their doting father, while Bobs 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 ones thinking be based on reason rather than emotions (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th edition). To be rational in ones interpretation means to make sure that the interpretation makes sense. Lets 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! Toms children typically enjoyed being cuddled and stroked on their heads by their doting father, while Bobs 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: Toms 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 fishmongers 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 teachers 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]

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< This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former classmate whom she had not met for ten years! He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. We can see that the above two paragraphs show that Sable was at a bus-interchange (both paragraphs are similar in this aspect). However, why did the author choose to divide the passage into two paragraphs? The reason is simple. If you observe carefully, the ONE key thing focused on is different for each paragraph: First paragraph: Sable was among several passengers who looked different Second paragraph: A stranger Sable met The ONE key thing focused on can also be used to give a paragraph its title. Has a TOPIC SENTENCE with a KEY PHRASE Identifying the KEY PHRASE in the TOPIC SENTENCE and the KEY PHRASE would also be useful if we want to give a title to sum up the paragraph. It is like labeling the box pencils since it contains mechanical pencils, blue pencils, red

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pencils etc. The TOPIC SENTENCE is also known as the most important sentence in the paragraph because it would tell us the ONE main focus of the paragraph. Let us relook at the example given before to illustrate: 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< This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former classmate whom she had not met for ten years! He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. What is the TOPIC SENTENCE and KEY PHRASE for each paragraph? Paragraph 1: The bus-interchange had several other passengers queuing at that berth to board the bus. (KEY PHRASE is in bold) Paragraph 2: 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< (KEY PHRASE is in bold) The TOPIC SENTENCE containing the KEY PHRASE would usually be the first sentence not always. (In the first paragraph it was not; in the second, it was). Has SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS elaborate (give more details) and help explain the ONE main focus of the paragraph better. It is like having a box containing mechanical pencils, red pencils, blue pencils etc. because it is labeled pencils. Let us relook at paragraph two of the example before to illustrate: 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< This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former classmate whom she had not met for ten years! He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. The SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS include: This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former classmate whom she had not met for ten years! (SUPPORTING PHRASES and WORDS are in bold) [Type text]

The SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS also give us clues to help us know the context of the stranger Sable met (key thing focused of second paragraph). Should the stranger be interpreted as literal? If yes, that means that the stranger should be interpreted as a human being (that Sable does not know). We can see that the SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS provide additional information to tell us clearly that the stranger was a human being. Has SUB-POINTS SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS may be seen as points to support the ONE key thing focused on. SUB-POINTS are sentences, phrases and words that support the SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS. It is like writing about the lead, pencil spring, wooden covering etc. that make up the mechanical pencil, red pencil, blue pencil etc. (We have already seen how the mechanical pencil, red pencil, blue pencil etc. may be likened to the SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS.) Let us use paragraph two as our example to illustrate: 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< This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former classmate whom she had not met for ten years! He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. The SUB-POINTS (to the above SUPPORTING SENTENCES, PHRASES and WORDS) include: Phrases and words: not met for ten years Sentence: He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. (phrases and words in this sentence are in bold) Has a CONCLUDING SENTENCE (but not always) A CONCLUDING SENTENCE is written as the last sentence of a paragraph. It shows how the ONE main focus (e.g. an event) ended, the lesson learnt from the ONE main focus, how the author felt about the ONE main focus, what can be determined from all the information in the paragraph etc. Using paragraph two of the example above to illustrate: 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< This made her turn behind, and she was immediately greeted with a pleasant surprise. It was Gary, her former

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classmate whom she had not met for ten years! He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. The CONCLUDING SENTENCE will be: He was well-dressed with an expensive tie, a branded shirt, but looked listless after a long day at work. The CONCLUDING SENTENCE in this case ends by mentioning how Gary was dressed and how he looked. A CONCLUDING SENTENCE does not always exist because it is often not needed as in this case above, it just gives us more information of the stranger Sable met.

Looking at the word or phrase within a paragraph would usually be sufficient to determine its meaning. However, it is not always the case, as we will have to ensure that our interpretation of the word or phrase is consistent (discussed as CONSISTENCY later) with other parts of the passage. Interpreting a word or phrase in a Paragraph

Let us recall what we should do when we want to interpret a word or phrase to determine whether it is to be taken literally or as a figure of speech we look at the information BEFORE and AFTER. We have also observed the Characteristics of a Paragraph to help us understand the meaning of a word or phrase used in the context of a paragraph. Let us now try to interpret the meaning of the words and phrases in the paragraph below: He had to make a decision. He was at this time marked by his enemies belonging to a rival gang, who were trying to close in on him after identifying him as a member belonging to a rival gang, from the style of tattoos he had on his skin. What could he do? Thoughts of inadequacy raced through his mind as he pondered whether to surrender himself to the law, or take his foes on which would be tantamount to walking into a lions den. marked means specially noticed. Clues: words and phrases like by his enemies belonging to a rival gang, identifying him show that this is the meaning of marked, not other meanings like an examiner putting a tick or cross beside an answer. The preposition by following marked also gives us a clue to choosing the correct meaning in a dictionary. close in means moving closer to attack. Clues: words and phrases like enemies, identifying him as a member belonging to a rival gang show that this is the meaning of close in. Furthermore, close in in this case is used [Type text]

as a phrasal verb (verb + preposition), where the meaning of words close and in put together has a different meaning compared to close in used as a phrasal verb. (close and in put together would have the idea allowing something less space) skin should be interpreted as literal (and as a noun), not figurative. Reason: tattoo (literally) can be seen on someones skin. Furthermore, the preposition on specifies the position of the tattoo and refers to skin. Other possible reasons include rival gang members being able to identify him because they could see the tattoos on his skin. The information given before and after skin does not suggest skin as a verb as in stripping off the surface of an animal. skin belongs to the skin of which body part? We do not know and do not make a guess. Reason: there is no information to tell us whether the skin is of his arm, back, leg, thigh etc. foes refer to his enemies belonging to a rival gang (in the first and second lines). Reason: foes has the meaning of enemy (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th edition). To be consistent with the two other Cs to guide interpretation, CONSISTENCY and CLEARER PART (discussed later) interpreting the less clear part, foes cannot refer to enemy soldiers, germs that are harmful, opponent in a game etc. walking into a lions den should be interpreted figuratively, not literally. Reason: there is no other information to show that there was a lions den somewhere around, and that he was going to into it. Another reason is that the word tantamount has the idea of being equal to something, so to take his foes on which would be tantamount to walking into a lions den, should mean taking his foes on would be equal (as good as) to walking into a lions den (which is used as an Idiom here). walking into a lions den in this case should hence be interpreted as putting himself in great danger. (The word tantamount changes the whole meaning of the phrase!) the law means the police force. Reason: the law in this case is related to gang it is in opposition to gang. In addition, being able to surrender himself to the law shows that the law is something that is going after him and against him. Therefore, the law cannot mean anything else like the law of gravity (which he cannot surrender himself to). Using Personal Knowledge to Interpret

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Our personal knowledge would only be useful if it helps us to be more familiar with the topic of a passage and the technical terms (words and phrases of a specialized field e.g. biology). Other than that, we should not use our personal knowledge to interpret the passage. (Remember? Our task is to understand the meaning of the authors words, not to give our meaning to the authors words.) Using the following example to illustrate: Raphael was warded in hospital for an accident. Finally, the doctors diagnosis was out: he had ruptured several tendons and ligaments. As a result, he had to keep away from vigorous sports like soccer as well as strenuous activities stressing the coordination between his limbs. It was a case of more pain less gain! The above paragraph is related to a topic about biology (or more precisely health science). So someone who has read up before on the terms tendons and ligaments would know better how these terms are linked to the rest of the information in the paragraph. However, we do not add our own knowledge to the authors words, and assume things like: Raphael would be able to play football again in three weeks There was a lot of bleeding, so that caused the pain

Firstly, doing so would mean ADDING information and making guesses that may or may not be true. Secondly, it is not a case like a boy accidentally cut himself with a knife and thick, red liquid oozed out from his wound in this case, we can tell without any doubt that the red liquid is definitely blood. ii) CONSISTENCY Consistency is the noun of the adjective consistent. Being consistent in telling a story means that all the different parts of the story would agree with or can be matched with each other (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th edition; Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 4th edition). The opposite of consistent is inconsistent. A simple example would be, if someone at first says that she scored eighty marks, and tells you the marks she scored for each section but the marks do not tally to eighty, she is inconsistent in what she has said. She is consistent in what she has said if all the all the sections tally up to eighty marks. a) Assume perfect agreement When we read the passage, we should have the thinking that there is consistency in the information given. Sometimes, we may experience difficulty at first in finding consistency, especially if the passage is a story. That is because the story is usually a portion of a novel in a book. Even though we may only be given a limited amount of information, we should not think that one part disagrees with other parts. [Type text]

b) Consistency in Interpretation Our interpretation of one part of the passage must agree with other parts of the passage. In order to confirm that our interpretation of one part is correct, we have to look at the parts BEFORE and AFTER to know the whole CONTEXT that part belongs to, then we can we be very sure. Let us look at the example below for an illustration: It was going to be another routine Monday, thought Mdm Wen. As she flipped the newspapers she was reading, a ghastly piece of news appeared, bringing a feeling of great horror and disbelief. Even though the report about a hit-and-run incident stated that police were still in the process of identifying the deceased victim, the photo of the victim beside the article looked very familiar. Why has this thing happened to my son? She choked back tears as her heart lamented with grief and anguish. ... (A few paragraphs later)< Still hopeful, Mdm Wen eagerly turned the pages of the newspapers on a Wednesday morning, and prayed hard that her hopes were not in vain. At this moment, her mobile phone rang. Hello Mum, Id be dropping by for dinner tonight,< Did Mdm Wens son die? Analysis: Had we only looked at the context of the first paragraph, most likely yes, Mdm Wens son died. The key words and phrases in the first paragraph include ghastly piece of news, horror and disbelief, hit-and-run accident, deceased victim, photo of victim< looked very familiar and heart lamented with grief and anguish. However, we can see from the second paragraph given that it is very clear that Mdm Wens son was alive! The key phrase of the second paragraph to confirm that Mdm Wens son was alive is Hello Mum, Id be dropping by for dinner tonight. Thus, the correct interpretation would be: Mdm Wen at first thought that her son was the hit-and-run accident victim who died, since the photo of the victim looked like her son; two days later (Monday to Wednesday), she found that the victim only looked like her son but was not her son. We have seen that most of the time, just by looking at the context of a paragraph we would be able to interpret the meaning of a word or phrase. However, we must look at the whole CONTEXT of the passage to be sure that our interpretation is correct. We must change our interpretation accordingly looking at information in other paragraphs of the passage. This would then help us have CONSISTENCY in our interpretation. [Type text]

iii) CLEARER PART If we say that information is clearly given, it means that the meaning is obvious and leaves no doubt at all (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th edition). Often in the passage, there are two parts or more each referring to the same thing. We should use the CLEARER PART to interpret the less clear part(s), not the other way round. Take the following example: Mrs Yun drank some water. It was refreshing, since it was a hot day and she was feeling very thirsty. < The bottle of water cost two dollars, which was quite costly probably because the bottle had a label which identified it being a prominent brand. The label read Ivien, one company which supplied mineral water. What kind of water did Mrs Yun drink? Analysis: If we look at the phrase drank some water (in the first line), we can only tell that Mrs Yun took in liquid through her mouth. This phrase does not tell us whether the water was drinkable, how it tasted, or what type of water it was. It is only when we see the phrase mineral water (in the fourth line), then we know that the type of water Mrs Yun drank was mineral water. What does it in identified it being (third line) refer to? Analysis: it is a pronoun (discussed under section on Pronouns under Major Word Classes later) which is a word used in place of a noun. We need to find the noun which it represents. In this case, we consider the information that is very close to it we look at the sentence it is in The bottle of water cost two dollars, which was quite costly probably because the bottle had a label which identified it being a prominent brand. The first bottle and the second bottle refer to the same thing, and had a label is just more information given to the bottle. it follows after, therefore, it must refer to the bottle more specifically the bottle of water. We may find ourselves lost sometimes when we are unable to see how one piece of information connects with other pieces of information. Therefore, we could use arrows to link the less clear parts with the CLEARER PART referring to the same thing: Mrs Yun drank some water. It was refreshing, since it was a hot day and she was feeling very thirsty. < The bottle of water cost two dollars, which was quite costly probably because the bottle had a label which identified it being a prominent brand. The label read Ivien, one company which supplied mineral water.

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f) Useful Major Word Classes to know Words belonging to the Major Word Classes are often used to test our understanding. Most of the time, by carefully looking at the context and the related information, we will be able to interpret the meaning of a paragraph and the words and phrases it contains. However, students who are better at identifying how Major Word Classes affect the meaning of sentences, phrases and words will find understanding the comprehension passage easier. We will only want to look at some Major Word Classes that would be especially helpful to pay attention to. i) Linking Pronouns to their Nouns Pronouns are used in place of nouns, so that the writer of the passage need not repeat the noun again and again. Examples include he, hers, your, it, that, the animal etc. A noun in contrast is more specific and gives more information about a thing. Since each pronoun is linked to a particular noun, we must find the noun the pronoun is referring to. Let us have a look at the following example: Simone was on her way home from school after a grueling training session had ended. Her coach pushed her extra hard compared to the rest of her team mates since she was the teams star player. She made her run six rounds round the school track. Since it was quite late by the time the session had ended and she could not wait to have a good, hot shower, she decided to take a shortcut route against her mothers advice. She opted for the route that was dark and deserted. Little did she expect, however, that someone had been observing her. With only 200 metres before her block would be seen, a burly, dark figure loomed unpleasantly in front of her. Analysis: We will understand each pronoun by knowing the context each of them belongs to. In order to understand the context, we will look BEFORE and AFTER to identify the noun each pronoun refers to. her in the first line clearly refers to Simone. Each of the hers in the second line also refer to Simone, as well as she. However, She in the third line clearly refers to Simones coach, since the information linked to Her coach is pushed her extra hard in line 2 and She made her run six rounds (in line 3) is an elaboration of pushed her extra hard. Furthermore, it only makes sense that it is the coach who directs Simone to run six rounds. So She in line 3 refers to the coach while her in the same line refers to Simone.

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What does it in line 3 refer to? If we look at the phrase (in lines 3-4) it was quite late by the time the session had ended, we can know that it has to be a measure of time. Therefore, it refers to the time the session had ended. She in line 5 refers to Simone, since the information linked to She is opted for the route which only Simone can do. It is useful to draw arrows to link a pronoun with a noun to make your task easier if you feel confused seeing so many pronouns used. The below is what we can do: Simone was on her way home from school after a grueling training session had ended. Her coach pushed her extra hard compared to the rest of her team mates since she was the teams star player. She made her run six rounds round the school track. Since it was quite late by the time the session had ended and she could not wait to have a good, hot shower, she decided to take a shortcut route against her mothers advice. She opted for the route that was dark and deserted. Little did she expect, however, that someone had been observing her. With only 200 metres before her block would be seen, a burly, dark figure loomed unpleasantly in front of her. ii) Prepositions Prepositions occur before a noun or pronoun to show time, place, position and how something is done. They commonly include on, above, at, below, inside, in, by etc. By looking at preposition before a noun or pronoun, we must picture in our mind what the author is telling us. Take the following for an example: The boy jumped over the fence and landed in the canal filled with water. Analysis: the prepositions are over, in and with. over has the idea of The boy jumping to a height higher than the fence and not touching it. in is the opposite of out and has the idea of The boy covered by the canal which took his landing. with means having something in this case so the phrase canal filled with water may be rephrased canal containing water.

and [Type text]

iii) Adverbs Adverbs are words are used to tell us more specific information about a verb, an adjective, a noun and a pronoun, and can be used to change the meaning of sentences. Adverbs ending with -ly

Compare the two sentences below which follow: He dashed to the bathroom. He dashed anxiously to the bathroom. In the first sentence, we would not know the quality of dashed. However, in second sentence, we know that he was feeling very anxious when he did the action of dashing. One class of adverbs, as shown above, has the suffix (letters added to the end of a word) -ly. Adverbs that give an indirectly opposite idea

This class of adverbs usually appears at the beginning of sentences. We should pay special attention to this class of adverbs, since it is not so obvious to students how they should interpret information looking BEFORE and AFTER this class. Take the following example: Janet was feeling irritated with the other students around her. Despite this, she managed to do well for that paper in the examination. Analysis: The adverb used in this case is Despite, which gives the information following it an indirectly opposite idea to the information before it. This means that feeling irritated would usually lead to Janet doing badly for that paper in the examination. The reason why the author has used Despite is to tell us that what had happened in fact turned out not to be so. Adverbs like However, In spite of, Unfortunately, Fortunately, Even though, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, Even so, Still etc. have the same idea as Despite the reader seeing these adverbs will know that the information AFTER has an indirectly opposite idea to the information BEFORE. Adverbs that add a similar idea

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This class of adverbs also usually appears at the beginning of sentences. Likewise with the previous class of adverbs, we should pay special attention to this class, since it is not so obvious to students how they should interpret information looking BEFORE and AFTER this class. Take the following example: Benny recalled that it was very obvious that they wanted to harm him. One of the gang members blew smoke at him, while another held him by the neck in a chokehold grip. Moreover, the gang leader shouted and cursed him with a torrent of expletives. Analysis: The adverb used in this case is Moreover, which gives the information following it a similar idea to the information before it. This means that it was obvious that the gang leaders behaviour was out to harm Benny. In this sense, it is similar to the behaviour of the other two gang members, obvious that they wanted to harm Benny. Adverbs like Furthermore, On top of that, In addition, Besides, Also etc. have the same idea as Moreover the reader will know that the information AFTER has a similar idea to the information BEFORE. iv) Conjunctions Use of and

and is one of the most common conjunctions used. and occurring between two pieces of information often shows two different things that are closely related, if not a continuation of an action. For example, in the sentences: He was feeling hot and sticky. (hot and sticky were the two different feelings but are closely related.) She was feeling grouchy and irritated. (irritated is very close to the meaning of grouchy, but the author is not unnecessarily repeating an idea. His or her purpose is to emphasise and explain more clearly how she was feeling.) The girl was asked to jump and catch the ball. (The girl was to catch the ball after a jump.) g) The significance of Punctuation marks i) Comma (,) A comma is very commonly used for a pause, especially if the sentence is too long, to separate all the information into parts. This would then make it easier also for the reader to absorb the information he or she reads. However, when used in other ways, the position of the comma is important in many cases. [Type text]

More details about a person or a thing

Two commas enclosing a piece of information placed after a thing may be used to tell us more information about that thing. As we can see in the example: Peter was fishing with John, the smartest boy in class, when a fish suddenly bit the bait. Analysis: the smartest boy in the class is located between two commas (a parenthesis) that follow John. This means that this piece of information relates to John, to let us know that John is the smartest boy in class, not Peter. Meaning of information in direct speech

In direct speech, the position of the comma can affect the meaning of what someone is saying. Let us compare position of the comma in each of these examples: Mr Lee told his wife: No, necklace (on display) is too expensive. Mr Lee told his wife:No necklace (on display), is too expensive. Analysis: In the first direct speech, Mr Lee meant that the necklace on display was too expensive. The No is used by Mr Lee to make his point, so the comma is placed after No. More information of No is the phrase necklace (on display) is too expensive, which is also the reason for Mr Lee saying No. So No in the first direct speech has the idea of disagreement, and the necklace refers to a specific necklace. In the second direct speech, Mr Lee meant that none of the necklaces on display was too expensive, or that every necklace on display was affordable (to paraphrase). (The meaning would still be about the same without the comma). The necklace in the second direct speech does not refer to any specific necklace on display, and No in this case is an adverb that gives an opposite idea to any necklace being too expensive. Meaning to list of several items

Another way that a comma is commonly used is to distinguish different items in a list down several items. Let us compare the meaning to the items listed in the following examples: The cart contained one of each of the following items: ball, bat, pen, knife and book.

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The cart contained one of each of the following items: ball bat, pen knife and book. Analysis: The first cart contains five items (ball, bat, pen, knife, book) as distinguished by the comma. The second cart contains only three items (ball bat, pen knife, book). In this cart, ball is used as an adjective to tell us the type of bat (a noun). pen is similarly used as an adjective to knife (also a noun). We may also see a list where the comma is used, if not the word and: The cart contained one of each of the following items: doll, cup and spoon and bottle. The cart contained one of each of the following items: doll, cup, spoon and bottle. Analysis: An and is used before the last item (bottle) for both lists. In the first list, and between cup and spoon shows that cup and spoon belong together and can be counted as one item. (It could be that there are different colours of packages having a cup and a spoon together.) In the second list, the cup and spoon are seen as separate items. Punctuations having a similar idea to comma

We may see the writer using punctuations like a semi-colon (;), brackets ( ) or a dash (-). Let us have a look at the following examples: Semicolons (;) A semicolon is often used to show a pause (for the reader) that is longer than a comma but shorter than a full stop. Let us look at some examples: He headed towards the field; he was told that trespasses would be prosecuted. Several countries were involved in the mission relief: Singapore; China; Indonesia; Taiwan; and India. Analysis:

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In the first case, the phrase after the semicolon gives more information about what happened after he headed towards the field. No significant difference to the meaning occurs even if the semi-colon is replaced with a comma. In the second case, the list of countries is given. Again, no significant difference to the meaning occurs even if the semi-colon is replaced with a comma. Brackets ( ) Brackets are used to enclose information relating to a thing. This is also known as a parenthesis, which means extra information, or information that is less important than words outside the brackets. We can therefore skip reading the information in the brackets and still get the main point of the sentence. The extra information would only serve to give us a clearer understanding. The words and phrases in a bracket commonly either refer to more information given about the thing before the bracket, or the meaning of the thing, as seen in the following examples: The rabbit hopped towards the carrot (not too far away) in an excited manner. The act which he did was verboten (forbidden by law). Analysis: In the first case, we are told that the carrot is not too far away. We would not see a significant difference to the meaning of the sentence if we replace the brackets with two commas as follows: The rabbit hopped towards the carrot, not too far away, in an excited manner. In the second case, verboten has the meaning of being forbidden by law. No significant difference occurs if we replace the brackets with one comma: The act which he did was verboten, forbidden by law. Only one comma is used in the second case because a full-stop at the end helps to enclose the phrase forbidden by law. Dashes (-) Dashes are commonly used separate two closely related pieces of information in a sentence. Let us see an example: [Type text]

She went over to that town her lover lived there. The house was owned by an old lady a lady having lived a full life she had no children. Analysis: In the two sentences above, no significant difference in meaning occurs if each of the dashes is replaced by a comma. The phrase a lady having lived a full life in second sentence is also an example of a parenthesis. There is definitely a reason why an author may use semi-colons, brackets and dashes over commas in some parts of a passage. However, for a start, assume that the use of semicolons, brackets and dashes give the same idea to a sentence just like if a comma is used instead. Full stop (.) A full stop ends a sentence, which itself may contain more than one piece of information. As mentioned previously in the section on PARAGRAPHING, the next sentence would usually provide more information about the previous sentence. Take the following example: He was unable to lift the table. The table weighed a ton almost a ton for his small frame. Colon (:) A colon is generally used to introduce a list of things or an explanation, as in the following sentences: Her stomach was bloated, and there was only one conclusion: she was pregnant. Analysis: she was pregnant explains the conclusion That important meeting was attended by the following: Henry, John, Mike and Sally. Inverted commas ( or ) Inverted commas serve two functions. The most common usage seen is the quotation of someone speaking something, as in direct speech, as in the example: He told her, Youre not going to beat me. Youre simply too weak in Math! Analysis: [Type text]

The words in the inverted commas are what he said. Another way that inverted commas are used is to show what something appears to be, but is actually not in reality. For example: He had many friends, who disappeared when the police apprehended him. Analysis: The friends look like friends, which has the meaning of people who provide help to someone they know and who is in trouble. In this case, friends are actual fact not the friends of he! They only appear that they were! It will be an advantage to know how various punctuation marks are used, however, it is more important to understand the CONTEXT and the content (words used) in order to interpret the passage. h) Words that are unfamiliar The main difficulty that weak students face in understanding the passage is due to them being unfamiliar with many words. In other words, they do not understand the meaning of a number of words used by the author. There is a difference between words that are so called technical terms and words that the student should be familiar with (at the level of the examination). i) Technical terms It is an advantage in understanding the passage if students are familiar with the meaning of each technical term used, though it is not required. The meaning of each technical term will usually be explained, and that will require you to apply the skills of looking BEFORE and AFTER to find its meaning. If not, that means that it is not necessary to know the meaning of that technical term in order to answer the questions. An example where the meaning of a technical term is explained is shown in the following: Benson had everything he had wished a wife, a good job and two lovely children. However, things took a change for the worse when he began behaving strangely. During depressive episodes, he would lose his appetite even when he was given his favourite dish and would find it difficult to sleep for no apparent reason. At other times, he would be unable to concentrate on the projects he worked on, and take his anger and frustration out on his children by caning them until they had cane marks all over their bodies. Bensons wife could take it no longer, and was very worried what had happened to her husband. She took him to see a psychiatrist, who diagnosed Benson to be suffering from a bipolar disorder. Analysis: [Type text]

bipolar disorder is a term used by psychiatrist for someone with a type of mental illness. A person not trained in healthcare would not understand this term well. However, in this case, the reader will understand Bensons bipolar disorder by linking the information linked to it lose his appetite, difficult to sleep, unable to concentrate, take his anger and frustration< caning them. The meaning of bipolar disorder (a mood disorder with periods of depression and mania) in this case is not given, but we have some idea how a sufferer like Benson would behave. In another example, the meaning of the technical term is given: The genus Panthera consists of a family of four big cats. Among its species includes the Panthera Leo, which is commonly known as the lion. Analysis: The words known as the lion indicate that Panthera Leo means lion. The meaning of Panthera Leo is given clearly in this case. ii) Challenging Vocabulary Students taking PSLE need to know the meanings of a certain number of words. There are many websites to test the number of words we know. Usually these tests divide students into different grade levels (e.g. Grade 1, 2, 3 and so on) or match the difficulty of words with different levels. For example, at the website www.freerice.com, the words become more difficulty the higher the level (refer to Freerice 2.0). In order to overcome this problem, here are some ways to help us: Using a dictionary

We should look up the meaning of a word unfamiliar to us in a dictionary that has that word and the meaning that fits the context of the passage. It is a very good habit to cultivate. Not too long ago, students had to carry around a hardcover dictionary that would become worn out after using a long time. Besides, a dictionary carried around by a student was usually a mini-dictionary (so that it would not be so bulky and heavy) that sometimes did not contain the word the student was looking for. Nowadays, the electronic version of big dictionaries can be downloaded and stored in mobile phones, making it very convenient to look up an unfamiliar word at any time and place. More about dictionaries is discussed in the chapters VOCABULARY and VOCABULARY CLOZE. Guessing the meaning

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We should only do this when we are in an exam, where we have no access to a dictionary. The rule to know the meaning of a word or phrase is to look BEFORE and AFTER. However, we must be aware that this very seldom works! (We should not try to test Lady Luck, but work hard!) Anyway, no marks are given for knowing the meaning of all words; marks are only given if we answer the questions correctly! No choice, but we try our best by looking at the content of the passage, pick out the key things in the paragraph the word is found to guess the idea of that word. Take for example below: We were greeted with a splendid, verdant view. The grass was fresh and full of dew in the morning, just as the first rays of the morning greeted us. The smell of the pasture not only attracted us who are used to city life, but the animals which would come to graze the delicious pasture daily. Such was country life, so serene and pastoral in contrast to what we had always felt what life was composed of. What does the author mean by a verdant view? Analysis: As stated before, we find ourselves in the situation of an exam, and we do not know the meaning of the word verdant. We can hope for the best in such a bad situation by looking for the TOPIC SENTENCE and SUPPORTING WORDS and PHRASES to find all the information relevant to the word verdant. In this paragraph, the SUPPORTING WORDS and PHRASES include grass was fresh and full of dew, smell of the pasture< graze the delicious pasture, country life, serene (calm) and pastoral (peaceful). The TOPIC SENTENCE is We were greeted with a splendid, verdant view. the grass was fresh and pasture give us the picture of the place being green. Therefore, if we answer: The place was full of greenery / The place looked very green we will answer the question correctly! 3) Answer the questions We might be able to understand the passage well, but no marks will be awarded unless we can provide the correct answers to the questions! Looking at things positively though, even if we are not be able to understand every part of the passage, we will still be able to pick up marks for questions testing our understanding on parts of the passage we understand. In all, there would be 10 questions to answer, which will consist of different types of questions, each worth 2 marks. a) Finding the answer [Type text]

For each question, we will apply the same steps to find the answer. i) Identify relevant information from passage Let us recall that one paragraph focuses on one main thing, so we should be able to easily find the part of the passage that contains the information related to help us find the answer to the question. We must also note that since only a portion of the passage would give us the relevant information we need, we must be able to know which information is not relevant to the question. It will be a waste of time and we will only confuse ourselves if we look at the wrong portion of the passage. We are now like a detective looking for clues in the passage that would help us, and ignoring irrelevant information! ii) Highlight/Underline key words and phrases of the question in the passage This step involves matching the key words and phrases we highlighted/underlined in the question with the same words and phrases in the portion of the passage we identified in the previous step. If a key word or phrase we highlighted/underlined in the question is not found in the passage, then we must match that word or phrase to the closest word or phrase in the passage. iii) Look before and after the key words and phrases highlighted/underlined Recalling our discussion about understanding the CONTEXT of something, we look for information before and after a word or phrase in order to understand what that word or phrase means or refers to. Often, it would be useful to draw arrows to link pronouns like it, her, which, this etc. to the noun a pronoun represents. Adverbs like however, nevertheless, but, in addition, furthermore, moreover etc. should be paid attention to. iv) Answer the question by making changes to word forms (where needed) After we have found the information we need, we would answer the question with all the relevant information. Often, we cannot copy totally whole sentences and phrases, so we must make changes to some word forms to make sure our answer is grammatically sound. Marks will be deducted for mistakes in grammar (e.g. present tense not changed to past tense to answer the question). v) Check our answers This step can be done after we have finished answering all the questions, or after we have answered each question. It is often necessary for us to look at the portion of the passage we got our answer from several times. [Type text] Missing information

For each question, we must ask ourselves, is our answer sufficient? Does it contain all the information required by the question? We must be thorough in our checking by looking back at the portion of the passage we got our answer from and see if there are any important words or phrases we left out. For example, we know that there is a difference between hand and hands; not guilty and guilty; conscious and unconscious etc. And if the author mentions more than one point, we must make sure that we do not just give one point. For example, if the portion of the passage we look at states: Pauline was very sad and was full of bitterness, and the question is: How did Pauline feel?, we should answer: She felt very sad and bitter., and not She felt sad. (Notice that the word very beside sad should not be left out, as well as the feeling of being bitter.) Extra information

Have we overanswered the question? Generally speaking, if our answer exceeds three lines, this would mean that there has been information we gave that is not needed. A simple example would be a student knowing that the answer is found in a particular paragraph, and copies the whole paragraph (perhaps trying to play safe)! We should try to be as precise as possible in the amount of information we provide for each question. As in another example, the portion of the passage states: Fabian had just gobbled down a bowl of noodles for lunch, like a wild beast devouring a prey. Some of his classmates were amazed at the speed he ate, when even a fever could not prevent him from chomping up four hamburgers at once! And if the question asks What did Fabian eat during lunch?, we should answer something like He ate a bowl of noodles for lunch. Giving an answer like He gobbled down a bowl of noodles for lunch like a wild beast devouring a prey, making some of his classmates amazed at the speed he ate when even a fever could not prevent him< would clearly be a case of overanswering. If a student overanswers, it is clear that he or she does not understand the question and/or does not know which piece(s) of information fit the question. (Usually a student who overanswers as in this case would not be one who has the habit of highlighting/underlining the relevant key words and phrases that would be gobbled and lunch.) So if you have the habit of copying chunks of information hoping that this would guarantee you full marks for each question, stop doing that, and start highlighting/underlining! Spelling mistakes

This should not happen if you bother to check again. And again! [Type text] Grammatical mistakes

Little errors in grammar that may arise from using shall instead of should, or will instead of would, or It was the cat that ate the food. instead of It was the cat which ate the food., are usually overlooked and not penalized. Other mistakes that are obvious as in the example: Why did the old lady suddenly faint?, and the answer should follow The old lady fainted < and not The old lady faints (which is in the present tense). If your answer is long and you want to reduce the risk of committing grammatical errors, you may choose to answer a question requiring two points (for example two reasons) in two sentences. This is also makes your answer clearer, to show that one sentence represents one reason. Use commas when you feel the need to pause after many words. Answer in complete sentences. For example, in the case where a question asks: How did Sammy get to Frankfurt?, we should answer He got to Frankfurt by train and bus., instead of By train and bus. Be careful when you use pronouns like he, she, boy, girl etc. For example, in an answer like Jonny and Peter witnessed the incident and he called the police., who does he refer to? Jonny and Peter are both boys, the answer is not clear! Rather, if it was Peter who called the police, it would make sense to answer Jonny and Peter witnessed the incident and Peter called the police. We must also ensure that the sentence we give for our answer actually means what we have in mind according to our understanding. Lastly, remember to put a full-stop at the back of the sentence if a full-stop is not provided, and begin a sentence with a capital letter of the first word!

b) Pay attention to the 5Ws and 1H In the section in highlighting/underlining the key words, we have identified the 5Ws and 1H most questions ask for. Why do they begin most questions with the 5Ws and 1H? When we write our compositions, we often use the 5Ws and 1H as a guide to help us in writing. Therefore, when the author wrote the passage, he or she also used the 5Ws and 1H to help him or her.

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As mentioned before, each paragraph may contain either 2Ws, or 1W and 1H etc. When the examiner sets the questions, a question asking for a particular W or H can only be asked if the answer is found in the passage. For example, in the following paragraph: Looking back, I would never have put so much trust in a stranger again. I ought to have been more obedient in following my mothers advice never to talk to strangers; if not, remember to have a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. The consequence of getting robbed of my wallet was an expensive price to pay, and a traumatizing one too. I vowed from then that I would never follow a stranger to a secluded area again, no matter how innocuous he looked. What are some questions that can be asked? The following are some possibilities: 1) What was the consequence the author suffered? 2) What did the author regret not doing? 3) How did the stranger look like to the author? 4) Why was the author robbed? 5) Where was the author robbed? The examiner cannot set questions where relevant information is not provided in the passage. For example, the following are questions which cannot and will not be asked: 1) At what time of the day was the author robbed? 2) How much money did the author lose? 3) How many years had passed since the author was robbed? 4) What did the author do after he was robbed? The purpose of the examiner setting questions in the comprehension open-ended section is not to ask us to for our opinion or to guess an answer. Rather, the questions are to test how well we understand what the author of the passage has written for us (the readers). From the above questions that the examiner can ask, we realize that the questions asked are quite direct, and the answer to each question can be found quite easily. Answering this type of questions will be discussed in the section DIRECT QUESTIONS that would follow. We have to note, however, that the examiner can ask questions where the information given in the passage is indirectly related. One such type of question is an inferential question, which will be discussed in the section INFERENTIAL QUESTIONS.

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c) Types of questions Different types of questions set test different skills of comprehension. Different types of questions are also asked to identify students who are very competent, average and poor. The types of questions asked can be divided into five broad categories as we will see. i) Direct question Direct questions are the easiest of the five types of questions to answer. This category of questions tests the most basic level of understanding. The answers are easily found from the passage. Students who are weak in the comprehension open-ended section should aim to pick up marks for this type of questions. Let us go back to an example we saw previously: Looking back, I would never have put so much trust in a stranger again. I ought to have been more obedient in following my mothers advice never to talk to strangers; if not, remember to have a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. The consequence of getting robbed of my wallet was an expensive price to pay, and a traumatizing one too. I vowed from then that I would never follow a stranger to a secluded area again, no matter how innocuous he looked. 1) What was the consequence the author suffered? We assume that this is the paragraph where the information relevant to this question is found. Applying the steps we discussed previously, we go about highlighting/underlining the key words and phrases in the passage that we have highlighted/underlined in the question (which has been done in this case): Looking back, I would never have put so much trust in a stranger again. I ought to have been more obedient in following my mothers advice never to talk to strangers; if not, remember to have a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. The consequence of getting robbed of my wallet was an expensive price to pay, and a traumatizing one too. I vowed from then that I would never follow a stranger to a secluded area again, no matter how innocuous he looked. To find out more information about the consequence, we look before and after the word consequence and the consequence refers to getting robbed of my wallet. Next, we would write down the answer, making changes to the grammatical word forms. An answer like this might follow: The consequence suffered was getting robbed of his wallet. (Assuming the author is male. my in the passage <which is written in direct speech> is changed to his in our answer <which should be written in indirect speech>). 2) What did the author regret not doing? [Type text]

This is a more difficult example of a direct question, because regret is not a word found in the passage. The closest match to regret is ought to and remember to have (both phrases have the idea that the author should have done something). One more clue that shows that there is a second point (referring to the phrase remember to have) is the adverb if not. Therefore, we highlight/underline the phrase ought to accordingly: Looking back, I would never have put so much trust in a stranger again. I ought to have been more obedient in following my mothers advice never to talk to strangers; if not, remember to have a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. The consequence of getting robbed of my wallet was an expensive price to pay, and a traumatizing one too. I vowed from then that I would never follow a stranger to a secluded area again, no matter how innocuous he looked. Now getting the answer is easy, since information that ought to refers to is more obedient< to strangers. An answer could be: He regretted not obeying his mothers advice never to talk to strangers and not having a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. (Realise that the word some words like more obedient has been changed to obeying and in following is not included because there is no need to. have has been changed to having. We have ensured that the meaning of our answer and the meaning of the author is the same.) We can learn from such an example that two points are stated, and the two points must be included to score the full 2 marks. ii) Reference question Reference questions are also easy to answer. Students who are weak in comprehension should seek to pick up marks from this type of questions. They simply ask us what a pronoun refers to. We have to specify the noun or the thing the pronoun refers to. Using the example again, Looking back, I would never have put so much trust in a stranger again. I ought to have been more obedient in following my mothers advice never to talk to strangers; if not, remember to have a healthy amount of wariness to strangers. The consequence of getting robbed of my wallet was an expensive price to pay, and a traumatizing one too. I vowed from then that I would never follow a stranger to a secluded area again, no matter how innocuous he looked. [Type text]

1) Who does he (in line 6) refer to? Once again, we follow the prescribed steps, and highlight he which has been done in the passage, and look at information before and after he. In this case, the noun which the pronoun he refers to is found before he. Our answer would be: he refers to the stranger who robbed the authors wallet. (We do not write robbed the author of his wallet because from the passage given, we do not know the authors gender, male or female. We have once again answered in indirect speech, not he was the stranger who robbed me.) Another common pronoun that we are asked what something refers to is the pronoun it. Let us look at a given case: The monsoon season had arrived. It was at this time of the year that torrential rainfall was to be expected for a whole month, and roaming the streets without an umbrella was not an option, for even most who used an umbrella in a downpour would find some parts of themselves bathed by the rain. Afraid that I might catch a cold if I walked about dripping from head to toe, she made it a non-negotiable duty for me to carry an umbrella in my schoolbag each day during that month. 2 i) What does it (in line 1) refer to? Looking before and after it (in line 1), we must find what is the word or phrase that it can be replaced with and the meaning of the sentence is still unchanged. The key information includes monsoon season and this time of the year. (One way to go about the difficulty of determining the meaning of it in this case would be to consider a similar scenario in your mind. Let us consider the situation: I was looking for my pencil case that went missing. It was at a deserted corner of my home that I found my pencil case. It definitely refers to the deserted corner, since was functions like something equals to.) So it (in line 1) refers to that time of the year. ii) iii) Vocabulary question

iv) Inferential question v) Language Appreciation question

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Instructions on using FreeRice 2.0: 1. You may want to select sign up and link your account to your Facebook account, to monitor your overall statistics. 2. Click on the synonym, among the 4 options, to the word in bold select the closest word. 3. Answering 3 questions correct consecutively takes you to the next level. The higher the level, the greater the difficulty experienced (this means that progressively fewer persons would know the meaning of that word). In all, there are 60 levels. After testing yourself, take note of your best level.

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4. Answering a question wrongly causes you to regress to a lower level. The correct answer would appear above.

Annex B [Type text]

Comprehension Passage Interpretation Framework Title: ______________________________________________________ Paragraph Title Key words and phrases

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