Informal Recommendation Proposal

Lexile URL

http:// sam.scholastic.asia/index.php/sgs 

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

So this is the anime that the composition took inspiration from.

The trailer for this anime (turn on captions for eng subs) 

Link for episode 1: http://www.chia-anime.com/anohana/watch-anohana-episode-1.html

This anime is a real tear jerker....please go watch it...

Grammar Matters: More, Much, Fewer, Less

Have you seen the sign below?

It should be "fewer than 6 items only".

Less vs. fewer and much vs. many seem interchangeable, but they're not. Yes, they explain the same concept, but they're used in different ways.

"Fewer" and "many" are used for things that you can count. "Less" and "much" are used for things that you can't count.

Consider these examples:

Example 1: Fewer & Many

Correct:

There aren't many apples left. How many apples did you eat?
I ate fewer apples than you ate.

Incorrect: 

There isn't much apples left. How much apples did you eat?
I ate less apples than you ate.

Apples are countable. You can tell me that you ate 5 apples. You should use many / fewer here.

Example 2: Less & Much

Correct:

There isn't much coffee left. How much coffee did you drink?
I drank less coffee than you drank.

Incorrect: 

There isn't many coffee left. How many coffee did you drink?
I drank fewer coffee than you drank.

Coffee isn't countable. In response to, "how much coffee did you drink?" You wouldn't respond with "five." That wouldn't make sense.

(Unless you're talking about cups of coffee. That's countable, and you would use many / fewer there.)

Test Yourself
Consider these two questions:

1. How many pies did you order this year? I ordered fewer than I did last year.
2. How much pie did you order this year? I ordered less than I did last year.

Which one is correct? 

Trick question. They both are!

The first one can be responded to with a number and that's it. You could just say "three" and that would make perfect sense. You would be saying, "I ordered three pies." So, you should use many / fewer here.

The second one cannot. If you said just, "three," it'd be unclear what you mean. Three pies? Three slices? Three pounds? Three crates? Who knows?!? So, you should use much / less here. 

Of course, you could respond to either question with just "three pies" and that would be correct too.

Exceptions:
The countable = fewer / many is basically true. But there are some exceptions with time, money, and distance. Here, we use "less" and "much" even when it is countable.

• I paid less than 100 dollars for my new shoes.
• I ran less than five miles today.
• My test took less than two hours.

I suppose the reason that there is an exception for money, time, and distance is that people are thinking of these as uncountable quantities, sort of like "coffee" is not countable (unless it's "cups of coffee"). 

You could technically say "I paid fewer than $100 dollars," but then that conjures up images of physically handing over a stack of 100 dollar bills. When we say "100 dollars," we aren't literally saying "100 dollar bills." We're referring to $100 in the amorphous, vague, uncountable sense. (If that explanation as to why there's an exception doesn't make sense, then don't worry about it. Just remember that time, money, and distance is an exception.)

Rule of Thumb: 

• "Fewer" goes with "many" and "less" goes with "much." Fewer / many are used for specific, countable items with specific, countable quantities. Less / much are used for vague, amorphous quantities.
• Time, money, and distance

Having trouble remembering? Think of it this way: you would never say, "I was fewer mad than you." No, you would say "I was less mad than you."

What about "more"?
 "More" can used for countable or uncountable things. It's the converse of both "less" and "fewer." 

• How many pies did you order? Did you order fewer pies than you did last year? 
  No, I ordered more than I did last year.
• How much pie did you order? Did you order less pie than you did last year? 
  No, I ordered more than I did last year.

At least that one's easy!

So the next time you see in that "10 items or less" in a grocery store, remember that it's wrong. Whole Foods at least gets it right:

Editing of Level Test (27m)

Hi Dearies

For those who have scored 27m for your level test (CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, once again!), please edit your scripts and submit a soft copy to me via email (Word Document), and share with me in drive.

Please label your file using the following convention:

FirstName_LastName_Class_Type

e.g. Tony_Ang_206_Narrative

I am collating these for the annual e-book publication and for your class' study reference.

Thanks.

Enjoy your March holidays!

Best regards
Ms Lam

Clarification of the Oral Presentation for Literary Brochure

Just to remind you that for this PT (Literary Brochure), the oral presentation and the individual podcast are not graded. These are formative practices for the eventual graded individual oral presentation in the next podcast in Term 3. It will be a different PT then, but you are tested on the same skills.

For this time, only your Literary Brochure (PT) will be graded.

Hope this is clear.

Ms Lam

Submission of EL PT next Monday

Hi Dearies

Please remember to submit your completed PT with the uploaded Individual Podcast on the simple booklet by next Monday. Please also prepare your Gp Presenter so that he or she can share by consolidating the Gp's learning points in doing this PT..

Ms Lam

Expository Intro (Sean + Kenric + Hong Yi + Qayyum)

Before: 
We agree that animal abuse is rampant in Singapore. In today’s society, pets seem to be taken for granted like water and are bought on impulse just because they have floppy ears or appeal to kids because they’re adorable. However, they know nothing about how hard it is to maintain them. Some pet owners do not take care of their pets properly as they think of pets like as if they are dolls for display . However, these pets are no different from living even if they are unable to communicate, they like humans that have emotions and can feel pain. Would you like it if you too were treated like a ragdoll, treated unjustly? Hence, this essay hopes to elucidate why animal abuse is rampant in Singapore.

After:
Treat others the way you want to be treated. That was what we were told ever since we were little kids, but how does this become relevant when we’re older? In today’s society, pets seem to be taken for granted like water and are bought on impulse just because they have floppy ears or appeal to kids because they’re adorable. However, they know nothing about how hard it is to maintain them. Some pet owners do not take care of their pets properly as they think of pets like as if they are dolls for display . However, these pets are no different from living human beings even if they are unable to communicate, they like humans have emotions and can feel pain. Would you like it if you too were treated like a ragdoll, treated unjustly? Thus, we strongly feel that animal abuse is rampant in singapore and hence, this essay hopes to elucidate why animal abuse is ever present in Singapore.



Comments:
Ms Lam: This is a clearly structured and organised Introductory paragraph to exposition writing. You have clearly and effectively used the hooks, mainly question, anecdotes, etc in crafting this itrocution. Good. Pls share with the class. Well written.!

Intro: Expositon Writing by Group 2 (Timothy, Wynn, Ryan, and Darryl)

First draft:

More than 100 million animals every year suffer and die from cruel chemical, drug, food, cosmetic tests, and biology lessons.

Last draft:

More than 100 million animals every year suffer and die from cruel chemical, drug, food, cosmetic tests, and biology lessons. Then there are the people who buy animals as pets because they find them cute, but they cannot take care of them or lose interest in taking care of them, resulting in the mistreating of the animals and causing them to suffer, or the owner will leave them in the streets, resulting in strays. In Singapore, animal abuse had become more and more frequent, as shown in a report that says that from the year 2010, to the year 2011, there was a 15% increase in the number of cases of animal abuse and neglect. Now, what is neglect? Neglect is a form of passive animal abuse, such as inadequate living environment caused by the owners, neglecting of attention from the owners, refusing to bring the pet to the vet when its ill, leaving your pet in the car, are just some examples of neglect.