Perfection is our target~

Hye there. In this post, I will be discussing about a grammatical property of verb. Verbs are words that use to describe an action. Depending on whether the action was done in past, present or future, the form of the verbs will also change.

Example; I do feel hungry right now. (present tense)

I did feel hungry, but then just went to a restaurant. (past tense)

There is another form for verbs; the perfect tense. A perfect participle, can be used in past and future tense in order to describe an action that is completed when we describe it. 

Example; When I arrived there, he had already done his homeworks.

DO -> DID -> DONE

Most of the time, the perfect particle for a verb is the same as its' past form. However, there are also a lot of verbs that are irregular. For the list of irregular verbs, you can always refer to this wonderful site.

It is the same?

One the confusing aspects in English language is the homonyms and homophones. Homonym refers to words that have same spelling but have different meaning and most of the time different pronunciation. Homophone on the other hand refers to different words that have different meaning but the same pronunciation. An example of homonym is "BARK". The first meaning is the sound made by dogs and the second meaning is the hard skin of a tree. As for homophones, a great example would "YOUR/YOU'RE". "YOUR" is a possesive pronoun that shows a belonging. Example; This is your cat. "YOU'RE" on the other hand is an abbreviation of two words, "you" and "are". Example of usage; You're now a cat.

Of course, there are a lot more homophones and homonyms exist in English language. Some people intentionally use this element for making jokes. Jokes that rely on word play such as homonym and homophone are called "pun".

Two fishes are in a tank. One of it said to the other;
"Do you know how to drive this?"

 

Make it short

During my practicum days, one of the most prevailing problems among my students is summary writing. Most of them have difficulties in choosing and constructing words in summarizing an article. Therefore, in post, I will teach my fellow students simple methods that can be applied in summarizing an article. Shall we begin?

The first part is always the hardest, but do not be discourage by it. Your first step is to read the whole article once and understand what the article is all about. While you are reading the article, try to ask these questions;

1. Is there an easier way to say this?

2. Is this part important to the whole article?

3. Can the details in this part be shorten or cut out?

Are you done with the first part? Good. Now, for the second part, you need to divide the article into several sections. Four or five sections should be enough. The first section should be the opening paragraph and the last one the ending paragraph. Read the provided 10 words in the question. Try to locate them in the paragraph. When you begin to write your summary, always remember to write back the provided words. Let's begin the writing. After you have written the first ten words, locate the exact words in the paragraph and shorten the text that follow the words (I will give examples later). To be better, add another ten words from the opening paragraph that describe the general idea of the article.

Example;
There are three conditions that need to be present in order for a wildfire to burn, which firefighters refer to as the fire triangle: fuel, oxygen, and a heat source. Fuel is any flammable material surrounding a fire, including trees, grasses, brush, even homes. The greater an area's fuel load, the more intense the fire. Air supplies the oxygen a fire needs to burn. Heat sources help spark the wildfire and bring fuel to temperatures hot enough to ignite. Lightning, burning campfires or cigarettes, hot winds, and even the sun can all provide sufficient heat to spark a wildfire.

Write the intro summary as follow;

Fire can only happen when fuel, oxygen, and a heat source is present.

Notice that the whole paragraph has been summarized with only 13 words. Always try your best to use your own word. Paraphrase the sentences. If I am not mistaken, there are extra marks for using your own words.

Now that you know the basic of it, try to do the rest of the article. View the article here. Always keep in mind that in examination, a summary must not be over 120 words INCLUDING the provided 10 words. If you have any question, feel free to ask in the comment box.

Killing two birds with one stone

In this post, I am going to let you explore another wonderful and fun part of english language. This will be done through self-learning and application. We are going to learn about animal idioms. So, are you ready to be as busy as bee?

Now that you have a basic understanding, try to list out other animal idioms that you know.

The world around us

The new cycle of literature for secondary school students have been introduced in 2010. In this new cycle, there have been a lot of changes especially the items. One of the more prominent one is that there are a lot more Asian writers included in this cycle. My topic today is for form four students with a poem taken from the syllabus; He has such quite eyes.


He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo
He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise
If only she’d been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’
Now here’s a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really nice
Then you’ll never be losing at dice
Though you lose your heart once or twice

In this poem, the poet tells a story of how she was deceived by a man. The poet realizes at some point that the man was just only playing with her feeling but it was already too late because she did not listen to others' advice to never compromise with pleasure-seeking guys. Her advice in the final stanza is that you must be sure that nice really mean that the guy is a morally good person and if you do, you will not lose anything valuable although you may have to face dissapointment once or twice.

This poem is a very good reminder for all of us, especially to those who are still studying. Always know what is more important in your life right now. Know that it is not worth it to sacrifice all of your valuable assets for the sake of uncertain love.

Focusing on the literary side, the themes for this poem is as follow;

1. Strong Moral Values and Self-Respect 
2. Deception in Appearances 
3. Consequences 
4. Listen to Advice

 That is all for now. Have a great day.

Jumping Jack

Hello there! I hope you are fine and well. Now, in this latest post, I will introduce to you a fun way to learn preposition. To those who are already familiar with this item, you can still enjoy the practice that I will suggest later. When we are talking about preposition,we are talking about an object's location and movement. For example, the pet shop is located across the Kemajuan street.

Alright, now for the fun part. In order to fully understand the usage and function of any preposition, the best way is to literally do what the preposition means. This activity can be done in any place; in your own home or even in the classroom. To begin the activity, first of all, download the list of preposition. Then, using the song below, try to understand the usage of preposition.

After you have finally understand the usage of preposition, your next task is to act out the preposition in your comfort. For example, if you are in your room, you can begin with;
1. Get off the chair.
2. Walk across the room.
3. Take the thing that is on your table.

The list is endless and it is a fun thing to do while learning something practically. Have fun and enjoy your exercise.

What a wonderful world

In his famous song, Louis Armstrong describes a peaceful and loving world that he had once witness and hope to preserve. The song can be heard or downloaded from here. It is a simple and straight forward song that can be enjoyed by people from all walk of life. Taking a closer look on the lyric, we can clearly see some adjectives used by the singer in describing that wonderful world. Adjectives are words that being used to describe a noun. For an example, What a wonderful world. The adjective "wonderful" is used in this sentence to describe that the world is pleasant and full of happiness. Now, try to find other adjectives in this lyric while listening to the song here.

IN THE GHETTO

By Elvis Presley

THE FULL LYRICS

As the snow flies on a cold and grey Chicago morning

A poor little baby child is born

In the ghetto.  

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And his mama cries ‘cause if there’s one thing she doesn’t need

Is another hungry mouth to feed

In the ghetto.

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Ah, people don’t you understand

A child needs your helping hand;

He’s going to be an angry young man some day

Oh, take a look at you and me,

Are we too blind to see?

Do we simply turn our heads

And look the other way?

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Well the world turns and a hungry little boy with a runny nose

Plays in the street and the cold wind blows,

In the ghetto

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And his hunger burns, so he starts to roam the streets at night

And he learns how to steal and he learns how to fight

In the ghetto.

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Then one night in desperation,

The young man breaks away.

He buys a gun and steals a car;

He tries to run but he doesn’t get far,

And his mama cries  

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As the crowd gathers round an angry young man,

Face down in the street with a gun in his hand

In the ghetto.

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And as a young man dies on a cold and grey chicago morning,

Another little baby child is born

In the ghetto.

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And his mama cries.....

_________________________________________________

So, how many did you manage to find? There are a lot of adjectives in this touching song that describes the life and death of a man in a ghetto. There are also a lot of moral values and life lesson that could be learnt from this song. If anyone wants the answer for this exercise, please tell me in the comment section.

Learning from the past...

Have you ever wondered about how different your life could be if you had done some things differently? I do.

For today's lesson, we are going to discuss about 'MODAL VERB'

What is a MODAL VERB? There are several modal verbs that are usually used in English language;

• Could - This is the past form of the word 'can' (Describing ability to do something)
• Would - This is the past form of the word 'will' (Describing politeness and time of action)
• Should - This is the past form of the word 'shall' (Describing responsibility)

These three modals are the most common ones that we use in our daily conversation. However, there are several other modals that can be used. Download the document here to learn more modals and their functions.

Here is a song compilation showing how to use some of the modal verbs

Now that you have the basic of it, let's try your understanding if this topic. Download and answer the exercise here.

p/s: If you further questions, please contact me through the comment feeds. Peace.