English Tuition Answer Key
English Tuition, Primary 3
Term 2, Week 2, Lesson 14
Teacher’s Guide and Answer Key
Theme: Famous People
Task
Lesson Objectives
Time
Functional
Writing
1. Learn to include relevant information in a
biography.
2. Complete a functional writing task on a biography
about a classmate.
50 minutes
Editing
3. Learn how to correct subject-verb agreement
errors in an editing task.
4. Apply the skills learnt to an editing practice.
20 minutes
Synthesis &
5. Learn how to synthesise sentences using ‘would
Transformation
rather…than’ and ‘prefer…to’.
6. Apply the rule to practice questions.
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40 minutes
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Part 1: Functional Writing
Writing a Biography: Including Relevant Information
For this week’s Functional Writing, you will learn how to write a biography.
Famous people often have biographies written about them so that others can
learn about their life stories.
If you write a biography about yourself, it is called an autobiography.
! Biography
A writer’s account of another person’s life
! Autobiography
An account of the writer’s own life
Over the past two weeks you have been reading mini-biographies about famous people,
such as the classical composer Mozart and Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator. You
learned interesting details about these people’s lives and their extraordinary feats.
What exactly are the types of details or information that can be found in these pieces of
writing? Write down as many as you can think of in the space below.
Date of birth
Note to GDs: answers not required
(possible answers)
Name, place of birth, early life, childhood, special qualities about the person,
family background, influences, source of inspiration, figures they look up to,
significant dates and events, different points in their lives, important people
in their lives, direct or indirect quotes, their achievements, failures or
successes, old age or death (for people who have passed on)
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Here is an example of a mini-biography of the YouTube celebrity, PewDiePie. Identify the
relevant information that you see, such as name or date of birth.
PewDiePie’s real name is Felix Kjellberg. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden on
24 October 1989. His parents were both successful chief executives. Since young,
Felix was interested in art and video games.
In 2010, he started uploading videos of himself playing video
games. His videos were entertaining and gained a lot of
attention. Even though Felix was in university then, he
eventually gave up his studies to pursue his budding
YouTube career. It was a huge risk for his future, but Felix
was determined to follow his passion and do the things he
enjoyed.
His YouTube channel became very popular and was the most subscribed channel
on YouTube in 2013. Felix currently lives in Brighton in the United Kingdom with
his wife, Marzia, who is also a YouTube celebrity herself.
What are the types of information included in the biography that helped you understand
who PewDiePie is? Put a tick (✓) beside them in the table below.
Name
✓
Quotes
Interests
✓
Childhood
✓
Place of birth
✓
Date of birth
✓
Old age and death
Achievements
✓
Sources of inspiration
Important events
✓
Family background
✓
Important people in his life
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✓
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Pre-Writing Activity
Before you begin the writing task, list down some relevant information about
your own life. Make sure to include engaging details so that readers feel your
life will be of interest to them.
Choose the information you would like to include in a biography about yourself. You do not
have to complete all the boxes, and you may include additional details as you wish.
n
rmatio
o
f
n
i
Basic
School
Family
Name:
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Childhood
Important events
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Influenc
es
Achievements
Interests
Words to describe me
4
Let’s Practise (15 marks)
In 200 words or fewer, write a biography about your classmate. Exchange your worksheet
with another classmate and refer to the information on their worksheet as you write. In
return, your classmate will be writing your biography.
Take note to write according to the following guidelines.
Be careful to…
v refer to your classmate using the third person
pronoun
v use tenses accurately for events happening in the
past, present or future
v write events in chronological order (in order of what
happened first)
Your Task
Based on the details your classmate has listed, write a short biography of 200 words or
fewer about your classmate, including the following details/key information:
•
•
•
•
•
your classmate’s name, date and place of birth
your classmate’s interests
your classmate’s school life
two important events in your classmate’s life
your classmate’s biggest achievement(s)
Note to teachers:
Students ideally exchange worksheets with a partner so that they can ask each other
more questions. However, if there’s an odd number of students, teachers may ask
students to pass their worksheet to the left/right as long as they get a different
worksheet.
Please provide students with writing paper for this task. Use the special rubrics
attached with this lesson for marking guidelines.
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Part 2: Editing
There are only two types of errors in the editing section – spelling errors and
grammatical errors. A commonly tested grammatical error is subject-verb
agreement.
For instance, the verb should always agree with the subject, whether it is singular or plural,
or in the present or past tense. Let’s look at the basic rules of subject-verb agreement.
1. The subject and verb must agree in number.
A singular subject takes a singular verb, whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb.
! My mother goes to work by train. (singular)
! My friends are playing a game. (plural)
! My aunt and uncle live in Canada. (plural)
2. Ignore subjects which are separated by expressions like ʻbesidesʼ,
ʻtogether withʼ, ʻalong withʼ and ʻas well asʼ.
Subjects that come after such expressions are additional. They are not part of the main
subject.
! The boy, along with his friends, was caught stealing. (singular)
! The students, as well as their teacher, have left the classroom. (plural)
3. Collective and uncountable nouns are usually singular.
Collective nouns (such as ‘family’, ‘team’, ‘class’) are used to describe a group of
people or things. They can also appear in the form ‘______ of ______’.
! The family has gone on a holiday. (singular)
! The bouquet of flowers was sold at twenty dollars. (singular)
Uncountable nouns (such as ‘salt’, ‘hair’, ‘happiness’) are used to describe things that
are difficult or impossible to count.
! Honesty is the best policy. (singular)
! Mathematics is my favourite subject. (singular)
! Water is dripping from the ceiling because of a leaking pipe. (singular)
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Get it right!
Let’s try out this strategy using the sample editing passage below.
Note to teachers:
Nouns are highlighted so that it is easier to refer to the subject for the verbs.
In the medical profession, nurses have an extremely important role to play to ensure
are
a patient’s full recovery. They (1) is sometimes called ‘angels in white’. One of the most
was
famous nurses was Florence Nightingale. She (2) were born in 1820 and lived in Victorian
Britain. Florence always wanted to become a nurse and help others.
During the Crimean War in 1854, she led a mission to care for wounded British
was
soldiers in the Crimea. The army hospital (3) were in a terrible state. As a result, many
were
soldiers (4) was dying from infections. Florence quickly cleaned the wards, bought better
medical equipment and gave the soldiers proper care. Conditions improved greatly, saving
many soldiers’ lives.
were
was
The soldiers (5) was moved by her compassion. Florence (6) were called ‘the Lady
with the Lamp’ because she used to carry a lamp on her night visits, going from patient to
were
patient to make sure that they (7) was comfortable. Word spread of her amazing work, and
is
Florence Nightingale (8) are now regarded as the founder of modern nursing.
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Let’s Practise (8 marks)
Each of the underlined words contains either a grammatical or spelling
error. Write the correct word in each of the boxes.
Note to teachers:
Besides SVA, we are also revising spelling, prepositional and word class errors covered
in earlier cycles.
Note to GDs: cover answers in the boxes only
spelling
inspired
Martha has always wanted to be a nurse. She is (1) inspaierd by how Florence
Nightingale, a nurse in the 19th century, cared for soldiers during the Crimean War by
preposition
in
improving their conditions (2) on the hospital. Since then, Martha has enrolled in a nursing
is
causes
school. However, she (3) are afraid of blood. Blood (4) cause her to feel queasy and
uncomfortable.
Determined
word class
(5) Determination to realise her dream, Martha begins to overcome her fear of blood.
tries
She (6) try her best to remain calm whenever she sees bleeding wounds. Then, she braces
has
herself to get used to treating them. At last, Martha (7) have overcome her fear of blood.
feels
Martha (8) feel proud of herself. She can finally take her examinations and become a
qualified nurse.
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Part 3: Synthesis and Transformation
Today’s Focus: Choice (Would Rather/Prefer)
Words such as ‘would rather’ and ‘prefer’ are used to show a choice or a preference for
one object or activity over another. The preferred object/activity is placed right after ‘would
rather’ or ‘prefer’.
I would rather
have
_____________
than
_____________.
Would you rather
have X-ray vision or
the power to become
invisible?
First, let us look at how ‘would rather’ is used.
‘Would rather’ is always accompanied by
choices that involve verbs.
than . It is used to compare
E.g. I like to order fast food. I like eating at home more.
verbs
Make sure that verbs are always in the infinitive form.
❌
I would rather eating at home than order fast food.
I would rather eat at home than order fast food.
E.g. I like to play basketball. I like to play soccer more.
If the verb is the same in both choices, the second one can be omitted.
❌
I would rather play soccer than play basketball.
I would rather play soccer than basketball.
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Next, let us look at how ‘prefer’ is used.
‘Prefer’ is always accompanied by
to . It is used to compare choices that
involve nouns or gerunds. Gerunds are verbs which are changed into the
noun form by adding ‘-ing’ to the root verb.
(I like to) jog.
+
-ing
(I like) jogging.
verb
noun
E.g. I love dogs. I do not love cats as much.
‘Prefer…to’ is used for nouns.
❌
I prefer love dogs to love cats.
I prefer dogs to cats.
E.g. I like to play the piano. I enjoy singing more.
Make sure that verbs are always in the noun form.
❌
I prefer sing to play the piano.
I prefer singing to playing the piano.
Quick Tip!
Verbs that follow ‘would rather’ are in the infinitive form (swim, go, walk) while
verbs that follow ‘prefer’ are in the gerund form (swimming, going, walking).
Be careful to write the order of the choices correctly.
Example: Sam likes going outside. He does not like staying at home.
What is wrong with the answer below?
Sam prefers going outside to staying at home
Answer: Sam prefers staying at home to go outside.
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❌
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Get it Right!
Let’s try out this strategy using the sample question below.
Note to GDs: answers not required.
① Read the given sentence(s) and highlight the preferred object/activity.
E.g. Joe loves going to school. He does not enjoy attending piano lessons as much.
_______________________ would rather ______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
② Underline the verbs in the sentences that should be changed.
Joe loves going to school. He does not enjoy attending piano lessons as much.
③ Rewrite the two sentences into one using ‘would rather…than’.
Identify what is wrong with the answer below.
Ans: Joe would rather attend piano lessons than go to school.
❌
the preferred activity should come after ‘rather’
How about this one?
Ans: Joe would rather go to school than attending piano lessons.
❌
For ‘would rather…than’, verbs should be in infinitive form
What is the correct answer?
Qn.
Joe loves going to school. He does not enjoy attending piano lessons as much.
Joe would rather go to school than attend piano lessons.
Teacher’s note: Remind students to add ‘than’
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Let’s Practise (5 marks)
For each question, rewrite the given sentence(s) using the word(s)
provided. Your answer must be in one sentence. The meaning of your
sentence must be the same as the meaning of the given sentence(s).
Note to teachers:
Demonstrate to students how to identify the preferred choice (highlighted below) and
change the verb form (underlined verbs below).
Note to GDs: please include answers here
1.
Daniel likes skating. He likes swimming more.
Daniel would rather swim than skate.
Teacher’s note:
- Remind students to add ‘than’ after the preferred choice.
- The words ‘skating’ and ‘swimming’ need to be changed from the gerund
form (verb with ‘-ing’) into the infinitive verb form, ‘skate’ and ‘swim’.
2.
Kayla wants to bring a friend along to the party. It is better than going alone.
Kayla would rather bring a friend along to the party than go alone.
Teacher’s note:
- Remind students to add ‘than’ after the preferred choice.
- The word ‘going’ needs to be changed from the gerund form (verb with ‘ing’) into the infinitive verb form, ‘go’.
3.
I enjoy dancing. I do not enjoy other kinds of exercise.
I prefer dancing to other kinds of exercise.
Teacher’s note:
- Remind students to add ‘to’ after the preferred choice.
- ‘Prefer’ requires the choices to be nouns or gerunds, so there is no change
of noun form here.
4.
The students like the beach outing. They do not like the museum tour as much.
The students prefer the beach outing to the museum tour.
Teacher’s note:
- Remind students to add ‘to’ after the preferred choice.
5.
Harry would like to save his money. He does not want to splurge it on toys.
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Harry would rather save his money than splurge it on toys.
Teacher’s note:
- Remind students to add ‘than’ after the preferred choice.
- ‘Would rather’ requires the choices to be infinitives, so there is no change of
verb form here.
Let’s consolidate what we have learnt today!
Note to teachers:
Use the last 5-10 minutes to recap all the strategies taught in the lesson and get students
to tick them off on the list below.
Today I have learnt how to …
❒ identify features of a biography.
❒ include relevant information in a biography about a classmate.
❒ identify subject-verb agreement errors in an editing task.
❒ synthesise sentences using ‘would rather’ and ‘prefer’.
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