SYMBOLS FOR ERRORS IN WRITING

Wrong

sentence structure Wrong word /vocabulary used - v

Wrong spelling - sp
Error in punctuation
Wrong grammar ~~~~~
Repetation Rp
Redundancy - Rd
Ommission of words /
Unclear meaning - ____?

SENTENCE
SUBJECT ( N Nouns )
WHO
The boy
A

VERBS ( V Verbs )
WHAT
walks

boy

A few

PARTS
OBJECTS ( N Nouns )
WHAT - WHERE
to school.
to the supermarket.

boys

to the field.

Some boys

at the park.

walk

Many boys

along the corridor.

A group of men
He
She

under the bridge.

is

walking slowly
was walking

to the office.
by the river.

Some naughty boys

are

in the room

The beautiful dolls

were

in the boxes

The boy

has

All the boys

have

The plant

is

The plants

are

Phrasal verb

some food.

had

Similes

a bag.
in
on

the pot.
the table.

Linkers and connectors

Proverbs
/idioms
Expressions

The doctor went up

to him slowly, took a
look
at his wound, and
found that there
was a big needle
stuck deep in the
flesh.

Read the sentence and learn about

grammar

Let's Practise
Family of nouns
Quantifier

Article
An article is used in front of
nouns :
1. Peter is eating an apple.
2. The big blue car belongs to my
father
3. Mrs Lim has a Persian cat. The
cat
is very beautiful.

Pronoun

onoun is to replace or take over the nouns in the sentences

singular male
g : Ali, En Chong, Mr Raju

e singular female
g. : Siti, Pn Chan, Ms Letchumi

ey plural noun
g. : Ali and En. Chong

e plural noun of people

g. : Ali, Raju and I

singular thing, animal, place or uncountable nouns

TYPE OF PRONOUNS
Personal
Pronoun

Possessive
Adjective

Possessive
Pronouns

I
We
You
He
She
They
It

my
our
your
his
her
their
its

mine
ours
yours
his
hers
theirs

Adjective
An adjective is a word which adds
to the meaning of a noun (tell us
more about a noun)
1. The tree is tall.
2. The big red bag belongs to
Rajesh.
3. Alya has a new digital camera.

Copyright 2005 2006 MES-English.com

Strong
Weak

Tall

Short

Slow

Fast

Heavy

Light

Ugly

Beautiful

Boring

Funny

Big

Small

Empty

Full

High
Low

Wet
Dry

Far

Close

Long

Short

Old

New

Easy

Hard

Dark

Light

Other adjectives:
To describe things
Cosy/cozy room
Small town
dough
Green mountains
water
Creepy house
drink
Large field
porcelain bowl
Peaceful village
tiles

thick wood
such games
good student
soft
huge building

warm

swampy area

sweet

flat surface
seventh floor

ceramic

ge green apples
rectangular alarm clock
utiful carved coffee table
round marble dinning tab
mutton curry
soft satin cloth
white shopping bag
long curly black hair
ting/interesting stories
enjoyable holidays
ely/street /night
careless boy
leasant smell
tiny holes
tyre
meaningful lesson
m blue sea
noisy market

o describe people

ar face
ong man
merican woman
l dark handsome guy
iet young boy
t tempered man
d boys
or old woman

limp old man

wicked old witch
large farm
playful children
wealthy man
kind and helpful family
nice boys
sad looking girl

QUANTIFIERS
Tell us about the quantity or amount of something.
We use some, many, lots of, plenty of and a few
with
countable nouns.
Examples :
Therere some dogs in front of the house.
I have many friends in school.
We use some, much, a lot of and a little with
uncountable nouns
Examples :
I want a little sugar in the coffee.
There is not much salt in the jar.

Collective no

COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Are used for a group or
collection of people, animals or
things.

1. The guests were entertained by a

band of musicians.
2. Indonesia is a made up of a
group of
islands.
3. A fleet of ships sailed
to the & Pl
Singular

SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS

Examples
S
:

I have a cat

P
Siti has five cats

S
P
The child is crying The children are crying
S
The lady often comes to my house crying
P
The ladies often come to my house

BASIC GRAMMAR
Family Of Nouns
1. Article

(penjodoh bilangan - a / an / the)

2. Singular / plural

(satu / lebih / dari satu)

3. Countable / Uncountable

(Benda yang boleh dikira /

tidak boleh dikira)

4. Quantifier / Phrasal Quantifier /

Collective Noun

(Penentu Jumlah)

5. Pronoun

(Kata ganti nama diri)

6. Adjective

(Sifat Nama)

ENGLISH BASIC RULES (EBR)

He

She

It

We You They

Present
Tense

is
does
has

am
do
have

are
do
have

Past
Tense

was
did
had

was
did
had

were
did
had

TENSES TABLE
(paper2)
Question 1

(paper2)
Question 1

(paper2)
Question 3

(paper2)
Question 2

Present

Present
Continuous

Simple Past

Future Tense

Everyday/ selalu

Now/sedang

Yesterday/lepas

Tomorrow/akan

I walk

I am walking

I walked

I shall walk

She walks

She is walking

She waited

She will wait

He buys

He is buying

He bought

He will buy

Siti cooks

Siti is cooking

Siti cooked

Siti will cook

The pupils go

The pupils are

going

The pupils
went

The pupils will

go

They draw

They are
drawing

We collect

They are
collecting

The ladies make

He does not go
He does not

He did not go
He did not help

ADVERBS

An adverb tell us
more about an
action.
1. They are walking
quickly.
2. The girl is singing

FAMILY OF VERBS
VERB-TO-BE

VERB-TO-DO

ACTION
VERBS

Present Tense

Past Tense

Singular

is

was

Plural

are

were

Singular

has

Plural

have

Singular

goes

Plural

go

had

went

PREPOSITIONS
Tells us where places,
things, people or animals
are.
Example :
The fruits are in the basket
The boys are sitting on the

PREPOSITIONS
PLACE
at
in
on
to
by

TIME
over
behind
in front of
above
through

at
by
in

Behind

In Front

In

By

Over

Between

Under

On

RASAL VERBS

d in - include
k for request
ck out withdraw
ge in interrupt
ng in introduce
sh off reject
l upon invite
ry on continue
down decrease
d up finish
d out discover
at reach
over overcome
through reach ,pass
d up delay

lay out - prepare

point out - show
own up - admit
look at inspect, study
look around - tour
look up to - respect
meet with - encounter
put up - accommodate
run into - encounter
spring up - began
search for - seek
spread out extend, stretch
start off - begin
take aback - surprise
talk over - discuss

SIMILE
S

as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as
as

beautiful as the rainbow

proud as a peacock
big as an elephant
busy as a bee/ an ant
clear as crystal
cold as ice
deep as a well
fast as lightning
green as grass
happy as a child
hungry as a wolf
loud as thunder
white as snow
slow as a tortoise/ a snail
silent as the grave
stupid as a donkey
sweet as honey/ sugar

SENTENCES WITH SIMILIES

She

came from a rich family and is as

proud as a peacock, so nobody likes her,
The children came home as hungry as a
wolf.
Father shouted as loud as thunder when
he saw the scratch marks on his new car.

SIMILIES
Exercises - Use the correct similies in these sentences.
e.g. Kamalam was as proud as a peacock when she was praised by the
police for saving the girl` s life. She went home happily and told her
parents about it.
Practice 1
Sue walked into the classroom wondering why it wasn`t like it used to be.
The usual noisy class was as silent as the grave so, she went to Hakim,
sat down near him and whispered a few questions into his ear.
Practice 2
Rahimah and her little brother were left on their own that night.
Their parents went outstation so she had to baby sit him. The two siblings sat on the sofa
close to each other watching their favorite movie. Suddenly, the lights went out.
It was a blackout. The two children screamed as loud as thunder and hugged each other
tightly.
Practice 3
The pupils of 6 Wawasan were listening attentively to their English teacher, Puan Adibah. She
was standing in front of the classroom, explaining to them how to construct sentences. The
children understood her lesson as her explanation was as clear as a crystal
.

SOME SUGGESTED EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED

BEFORE STARTING A NEW SENTENCE.
1. Quickly .
2. Suddenly ..
3. Immediately ..
4. After that
5. A few minutes later .
6. Later on .
7. The next day
8. After some time ..
9. While
10. As soon as
11. upon arrival..

LINKERS, CONNECTORS AND EXPRESSION WORDS

Exercises - Use the suitable linkers, connectors or expression words
to join the sentences.
Practice 1
suddenly, slowly, as fast as lightning, to his surprise, so
Zainal was walking home from school one day. He walked slowly down the
lane suddenly he heard a loud noise coming from the bushes, so he rushed
to see what the noise was. He peeped into the bushes and to his surprise he
saw a big python swallowing a goat. The goat was struggling hard to free
itself. He ran as fast as lightning home to break the news to the villagers.
Practice 2
Then, after that, first , finally, next
Sarimah was busy doing the housework. First, she dusted
the cupboard and cabinets. Next she vacuumed the living
room and mopped the floor. After that she went into the kitchen
and prepared the meal for the family. Then she served the delicious and
scrumptious food on the table . Finally at 1.00p.m.,she had lunch with her
family.

DIOMS AND FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS

To show one `s expression about something.

Sample :
. a wet blanket a very discouraging person
It is difficult for Husna to succeed because she is a wet blanke

. Blow one`s trumpet boast

Nobody likes a person who blow one`s trumpet.

. build castles in the air - day dream

The twins were reminded to work harder , not just building
castles in the air.

. carried away - very excited

The children got carried away with their English project and
they forgot about food.

5. dirt cheap - extremely cheap

The goods at the flea market are dirt cheap.

6. live from hand to mouth live in a hardship

The family live from hand to mouth all this while.
7. put an end to stop something
We have to put an end to that rumours
8. rains cats and dogs rain heavily
The boys cannot go out and play football as it rains cats
and dogs
9. turn over a new leaf conduct oneself better
Salim promised to turn over a new leaf and not to steal anymore.
10.

Throw cold water on - discourage

Although he did not do well in his exam he did not
throw the water on.

MORE EXAMPLES FOR

IDIOMATIC
oEXPRESSIONS/etc
A stones throw
o
o
o
o

Finger licking good

Left for home
Eye catching scenery
The food is delicious and
scrumptious .

Like dog with two tails.

Practice makes perfect.
When theres a will theres a
way.
A red letter day.
Searching high and low.
Live from hand to mouth.
Sprang to mind.

PROVERBS & IDIOMS

Sample 1
Anita dislikes going to the hospital. She hates the smell of medicine ,
the sight of the medical staffs wearing white uniforms and
nurses with the syringe for injections. The doctor spoke
to her softly Young Lady, if you do not want to visit me often,
you have to take care of your health. Eat well, lots of water,
fruits and vitamins. As the saying goes an apple a day keeps the doctor away
he added.
Sample 2
She walked with a heavy steps out the door. With sad eyes she
turned back and looked again at her friend. She hated to say
good bye to her but she had to leave to further her studies oversea.
Deep in her heart she knew that Rosie was a true friend that
she will never forget, as a saying goes a friend in need is a friend indeed
Sample 3
Salman jumped down from the bus and ran as fast as lightning
to his class. He was 15 minutes late. As he stepped
into the class, he saw his teacher staring at him.
He told himself is better late than never and walked straight up to her and
faced the music