Grammar and contextualise Headache

His mistakes were being recorded and photocopied as proof to check his performance and to be able to terminate him. All is because of 2 sentences:

1. 'My favourite food is hamburgers, hotdog, fried mee and western food.'

(Solutions: 'Foods' = different type of food / eg. Italian foods, Chinese foods;
'Food' can be singular and plural. So, 'my favourite food are hamburgers, hotdogs, noodles, fried mee... ' )

2. List down the animals you can find in the farm. (Based on the KBSR English Text book Primary 5, Pg. 4_)
Goats, cows, ducks,..., fish and prawns.

They argued about whether fish and prawns are considered farm animals and the pupils answered **based on the text** (Bare in mind, it is based on the text not a general questions)

Solution: From my point of view, fish and prawns are ANIMALS. If they are not, what are they supposed to be? Sea creatures? The question also never state that it should be animals on the land or MUST NOT count those that live in the ponds.

3. Name another 3 farm animals.
Some answered these: Dogs, sheep and rats.
Some argued that dog is not farm animal but we have shepherd dog that take cares of the farm. Yet, dog is not farm animal. Rat is not but we do know that farm has rats. Not to mention some farmers keep rats for some farming reasons.

=.=

I think that the key is not that they can't judge but it is just that they did not practise 'Etika Perguruan'.


'Fish' and 'Fishes', what is the difference? (Find from the Grammar book of Prof G)
Fishes = different type of fish and they are LIVE fish living in the sea or the pond.
Fish = Dead fish, the fish you cook and serve on the table and also the plural of fish.

It is entering the fourth week of serving. I find myself hardly have time to write. I sort of feeling bored about writing blog. Feeling that writing blog cannot share much with others. The time I sit long enough in front of the computer could have been used to go for voluntary work or at least mark a big bundle of books.

...........

Today, I got a gift. A pair of Jeans from my student's mother. She is a relative actually. Yesterday I bought 5 beautiful dresses with a very very reasonable price. I am very happy. Feeling grateful that I have been blessed so much.

The people I meet at work and at home are awesome. They are unique and it has been a blessing to know and love them.
......

Grammar headache: 'Group' It is 'A group of tourists was...' or 'A group of tourists were...' and 'A group of people is coming. ' or 'A group of people are coming.' ?

Solution: 'group' can be used as both plural and singular form. If it is used as singular form, it means the group as a whole or as one. If it is used as plural form, it means that group has many different kind of people.

'There is a lady and a child in the playground' or 'There are a lady and a child in the playground.' ?
My first glance told me that it is 'are' as we tend to count how many people and apply the plural verb in the sentence. However, the answer is 'There is' because 'there' is the pronoun and another important key word is 'and'. This sentence comes from 'There is a lady in the playground' ; ' There is a child in the playground'. So, There is a lady and a child in the playground.

But, 'There are three chairs and a table in the room' is correct. And, 'There is a table and three chairs in the room' is also correct.
......