JUJ SPM PAHANG 2010

Useful for those who need to see some sample essays both on Section A and Section B

JUJ ENGLISH SPM 2010

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VOCABULARY

House party

Wordwise by S.H.LOKE

HOUSEHOLD words seem so insignificant. Yet they can enrich our language if we can use them aptly to describe everyday situations and experiences which are part of life. They can add some lustre to your language. Do you know how to use these common “household” expressions? Go through this test and see how you fare. Fill in the blanks with the right word.

1. The government will put a ______on the price of beef during the coming festive season.

A wall B ceiling C door D fan

2. His fiery speech will______the people’s hatred for the ruling party.

A fan B light C dish D mat

3. She is a _______because she always tries to please everybody.

A rug B blanket C doormat D curtain

4. The ______of mystery hindered the police in their investigations.

A fence B wall C hedge D curtain

5. Everyone thought he is doing well. His problem of substance abuse has been swept under the ______.

A. doormat B mat C rug D carpet

6. Our Chief Minister has brought down the_______on corruption and Penang is even recognised by Transparency International for its anti-corruption measures.

A fence B ceiling C curtain D carpet

7. There is now a_______ban on designer drugs.

A blanket B curtain C carpet D ceiling

8. RM500mil is needed to ______ the effects of the economic downturn in this state.

A mattress B cushion C pillow D sponge

9. Patrick’s mother likes to ______him in order to provoke him to find a job.

A needle B knife C axe D pin

10. Knitting is not my ______of tea.

A mug B cup C glass D pot

11. She has to ______ all her frustration in front of her customers.

A pot B kettle C canister D bottle

12. The technicians have to sit down and ______ out their problems.

A iron B axe C brush D mat

13. The post of manager was handed to him on a ___________.

A dish B plate C tray D saucer

14. Teaching kindergarten children is a different _______ of fish.

A pot B plate C kettle D pan

15. Discipline and hard work are the ________ to success.

A locks B bolts C nuts D keys

16. Mr Tan’s painting will go under the _______ next week in Penang.

A chisel B hammer C plane D screwdriver

17. The Perak team turned the _______ on their opponents and won the match.

A tables B chairs C benches D stools

Answers

1.B ceiling 2.A Fan 3.C doormat 4.B wall 5.D carpet 6.C curtain 7.A blanket 8.B cushion 9.A needle 10.B cup 11.D bottle 12.A iron 13.B plate 14.C kettle 15.D keys 16.B hammer 17.A tables

CONNECTIVES

Connecting with connectives

Ramblings
By DR LIM CHIN LAM

A look at the ways in which words, phrases, clauses and sentences are connected.

WORDS per se do not a language make. What does is the way they are strung together. In this connection, connectives, inter alia, play an important role.

A connective has been variously defined as follows: (1) a word used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, as a conjunction – The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1973; (2) a word or phrase that links and relates words, phrases, clauses, or sentences (and, although, otherwise, finally, on the contrary, which, not only ... but also (my underline) – Harbrace College Handbook, 13th edition, 1998; and (3) a word or phrase linking other linguistic units – Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 2004.

Conjunctions and/or conjuncts are particularly classed as connectives, which also sometimes include copular and linking verbs (Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 1998).

It will have been seen that connective is a generic term – arguably, best defined as in the Harbrace College Handbook above. It includes conjunction, conjunct, and copula, which three are discussed below.

Conjunction

A conjunction is one of a class of words that connect words (sand and surf; do or die; poor but contented), phrases (out of jail and deeply in debt), and clauses (she studied hard yet she failed the examination).

Conjunctions are of two types – coordinating conjunctions, which unite two (or more) words, phrases or clauses of equal rank (dogs and cats; sheep or goats; he dined and went home); and subordinating conjunctions, which unite a subordinate (of inferior rank) clause to the main clause (he went home after he had dined).

Coordinating conjunctions. These are used in several ways, including the following: (1) copulative, e.g. and – as in joining words (short and fat), phrases (slim of build and fleet of foot), and sentences (he arrived home at midnight and immediately went to bed); (2) disjunctive, e.g. either, neither, nor, or used singly (behave yourself or go home); (3) adversative, e.g. but (she was poor but kind); (4) correlative, in connecting equal parts of a sentence, e.g. either ... or, neither ... nor, or ... both, whether ... or used in pairs (neither dead nor alive; either behave yourself or go home; she had not decided whether to go to town or to stay at home).

Subordinating conjunctions. Likewise, subordinating conjunctions are used in various ways, including the following: (1) conditional (“if I should die, think only this of me”; go away unless you wish to help me weed the garden); (2) temporal (when the cat is away, the mice will play; do not stop until you reach the village); (3) concessive (she braved a smile although she felt hurt); (4) causal (because, since), as in Chong Seng did not go to university since the family could not afford it; and (5) consecutive (he was tired so he stopped running).

Unusual use of conjunctions. In the parsing of words, I have for a long time been uneasy about the use of the coordinating conjunctions and, or, and but in an unusual construction – to begin a sentence. Example: “And most of the time, Malaysian players find it hard to handle the pressure that comes with the heavy expectations of winning.” In fact, such construction can be found in earlier writings – in, say, Walter Scott’s novel, Ivanhoe. I have tried to rationalise such usage, and, resignedly, come to deem such “and” not as a conjunction but as an adverb meaning “additionally” or “furthermore” or “moreover”. Yet no dictionary has classified “and” as an adverb. What do readers think?

The conjunction but is likewise used to begin a sentence, as in the following example: “Conjunctions and/or conjuncts are particularly classed as connectives. But copular and linking verbs are sometimes also included”. The use of but here to begin a new sentence, rather than to join up to the preceding sentence, is rather odd unless one treats the word not as a conjunction but as an adverb meaning “however”. Even then, dictionaries still classify the word “but” NOT as an adverb but as a conjunction, and join it to a preceding sentence.

Conjunct

Whether in speech or in writing, linking signals help in conveying a message by signalling how one idea leads on from another. A Communicative Grammar of English refers to such type of links as sentence adverbial, while Practical English Usage uses the term discourse marker. Other similar terms include transitional marker, cohesive divider, linker, and connector. For the purpose of this article, I prefer the term conjunct which corresponds in full or in part to the meanings encompassed by one or other of the other terms above. In other words, a conjunct is a word or phrase that connects discrete sentences – to link or relate the idea expressed in one sentence to that in an earlier sentence. Examples: (1) Kong Seng was outside washing his car. In the mean­while, his wife was in the kitchen preparing dinner; (2) Pupils may attend the concert. They must, however, first obtain their parents’ consent.

Conjuncts usually begin a sentence. The following are examples of conjuncts and of their usage in several situations: (1) to indicate a temporal or spatial relationship (at the same time, first, later, meanwhile, then); e.g. The gardener methodically planted a guava seedling. First he dug a hole. Then he put the seedling into the hole. Finally he filled up the hole with a specially prepared soil mix; (2) to introduce or add to a list (additionally, again, and, at first, firstly, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, on top of all that); e.g. First of all, I’d like to thank my parents ...; He earned a salary of RM2,200 a month. On top of that, he had a rental income of RM1,200.; (3) to indicate similarity (likewise, similarly, on the same basis); e.g. She was delayed because of the flood. I was similarly late.; (4) to indicate dissimilarity (all the same, by comparison, however, in contrast, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstand­ing, on the other hand, still, whereas); e.g. He was said to be miserly. Nevertheless, he has been known to give alms to beggars.; (5) to indicate a result or follow-up (accordingly, as a result, as such, consequently, therefore); e.g. He was a gambler. As such he was often short of money.; (6) to explain or reinforce, as with examples (for example, for instance, in fact, in other words); e.g. He was said to be visually impaired. In fact, he was blind.; and (7) to conclude or sum up (after all, finally, to sum up, ultimately); e.g. He tripped and fell. To make matters worse, he broke his leg.

Copula

A copula goes by other names, such as copular verb, copulative verb, and linking verb. A copula does not govern an object. It is to be set apart from a conjunction (which connects words into phrases, words and phrases into clauses, and clauses into compound or complex sentences) or a conjunct (which links and relates discrete sentences). A copula couples the subject and the complement or predicate within a sentence. Copular verbs include:

(1) the verb “to be”, which in the appropriate context is an equational verb – it links a noun (or substantive) which is the subject with a noun which is the complement. Example: (a) Anne is a seamstress – Anne and seamstress are one and the same; (b) To err is human, to forgive divine; (c) Walking is a good exercise.

(2) verbs “to appear”, “to feel”, “to look”, “to prove”, “to remain”, “to seem”, “to smell”, “to sound”, “to stay”, and “to taste”, which link a subject to a predicate indicating a state or place. Examples: (a) This food tastes bad; (b) The village looks the same.

(3) verbs “to become”, “to get”, “to grow”, “to turn”, which link the subject to a predicate noun or adjective indicating a change of state. Examples: (a) He became a hero; (b) this food has turned bad.

(4) verbs “to call”, “to consider”, “to create”, “to make”, “to think”, used in the passive voice. Examples: (a) Mr Liew was made a Datuk; (b) One should not shun greatness. Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

When the verb “to be” or “to seem” links subject and complement in a sentence, the sentence is reversible. Example: Her face is her fortune can be recast as Her fortune is her face. However, when subject and complement are not of the same number (one is singu­lar, the other plural), the word-order determines the form of the copula to be used – the verb agrees with the subject and not with the complement. Example: One aspect that needs urgent attention is the parking facilities, when reversed, becomes Parking facilities are one aspect that needs urgent attention.

Additionally, the subject and the complement linked by a copula are both in the same grammatical case. For example, in the sentence Shirley is her mother’s favourite daughter, both subject (Shirley) and complement (daughter) are in the nominative case. A noun does not change form with case whether it is positioned on one or other side of the copula, as in the following: this man is their leader = their leader is this man. However, it is important when a pronoun, (which changes form with case) is involved. Example: He is the leader, when reversed, becomes The leader is he (NOT him). Another example: It was I (NOT me) who opened the door.

Furthermore, both subject noun/pronoun and complement noun/pronoun linked by the copula “to be” could be in the accusative case. Example: The people consider him to be a genius – the copular verb is in the infinitive, “to be”, which links him and genius, both of which are in the accusative. For nouns, the matching of case-forms (nominative with nominative, accusative with accusative), as exemplified in the previous paragraph, is of no consequence in English because there is no device (e.g. declension like in Latin) to differentiate between the nominative and the accusative. A differentiation is, however, necessary when a pronoun is involved. For example: The villagers suspect the culprit to be him – him, accusative case, NOT he, nominative case, to accord with culprit, accusative case, being the object of the verb suspect.

Closing remarks

The above outlines some features of three important types of connective, the three Cs – viz. conjunction, conjunct, and copula.

It is of interest to note that the word connective is used in still another way, in the etymology of the noun/adjective Balinese – Bali, an island in Indonesia + -n- connective + -ese suffix (The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1973). By the same token, Congolese could have been derived from Congo with the use of the -l- connective.

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION

I hereby regret to inform that this blog will not be updated in the near future due to several unforeseen circumstances