Day Before 1119 2017

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Allergy or Allergic? Choosing Suitable Word Type

My students often choose wrong words when writing their essay. They use adjectives when they should be using nouns, or vice versa. Health vs healthy; important vs importance; the list goes on and on. 

Consider these examples (taken from their essays):

1. Justin Bieber's successful has shown that with hobby, he became famous. 

2. They just think about the comfortable of their children and forget the most important thing which is love between parents and children.

In the first example, the student use successful (berjaya) instead of success (kejayaan) while in the second example (taken from another student), the student choose the word comfortable (selesa) in the place of comfort (keselesaan). In both cases, they do not know they should be using a NOUN instead of an ADJECTIVE. 

Now, before I go further, let's watch a clip from the movie Big Hero 6. 

The words I want to focus on are ALLERGIC and ALLERGY. Let us see where Baymax uses these words:

Here Baymax says: You ARE not allergic to Bacitracin. The verb ARE is used here to show Hiro's attribute, which is NOT ALLERGIC (an adjective) to Bacitracin. We use ADJECTIVES to describe people's attributes, therefore we put an adjective here instead of a noun. In Bahasa, it roughly means: 'alah kepada'.

Here, however, Baymax says: You do HAVE a mild allergy to peanuts. The verb HAVE is used here to show that Hiro has something (a noun). That THING must be a noun, whether it is a concrete noun or an abstract noun. Allergy is an abstract noun showing condition where a person is allergic to something. In Bahasa, it means 'alahan'. 

Well, students. Please choose carefully. Do you really mean 'alah kepada' or 'alahan'? That is the million-dollar question.

Drafting for Narrative Essay - Don't Neglect It!

I always tell my students to draft their essay before writing it up. They just have to use up to 5 minutes only before writing the essay for around 50 minutes. Use the final 5 minutes to check for mistakes. 

The drafting for a narrative essay is quite simple. Here is an example on how to do it. The essay is quite short because it is used for weak classes.

Write about a boy who succeeded after hardship. End your story with “… he thanked God for his success.”

Draft:

Poor boy – naughty – failed exam – father sick – regretted – studied hard – passed exam

The Essay:

           

Amran bin Kasimin was a poor boy. He lived in Kampung Jejulok. His father only worked as a farmer. He worked at Pak Kassim’s orchard. (21 words)

However, Amran was a very naughty boy. He always bullied his friends at school. He was also lazy. He was always sleeping inside the classroom, especially when Mr. Haris was teaching History. (31 words)

In August, Amran failed his trial examination. He did not score in all his subjects. He even got 25 marks for his Bahasa Melayu paper. Puan Radhiah was angry at him. He never failed his Bahasa Melayu paper before. (36 words)

One month before the SPM, his father was sick. He could not work at Pak Kassim’s orchard anymore. Therefore, they could not get money for their living. Amran could only eat rice with egg everyday. Sometimes, they did not have any food. (41 words)         

Amran regretted his attitude. He did not become naughty anymore. He also hated being lazy. He listened carefully to Mr. Haris when he was teaching. He studied hard in every subject. He studied Bahasa Melayu again. Puan Radhiah was not angry at him anymore. She liked Amran very much now. He was his best student. (52 words)

Amran’s father got better and better everyday. He was happy with Amran’s attitude. He sometimes helped his father at Pak Kassim’s orchard. At night, he studied before he slept. At school, Amran studied with his friends. He always studied with Azrul, Hafiz and Faizal in the evening. They were very happy together. (51 words)

In November, Amran and his friends sat for the SPM examination. It was a very important examination for everybody. “If you pass SPM, you will get good job,” the principal said in the assembly. Amran remembered the speech very much. (40 words)

In March the next year, the SPM results were announced. Amran went to school with Azrul, Hafiz and Faizal to see the results. He passed the examination with good grades. His friends passed the examination too. Amran and his friends were excited. He thanked God for his success. (48 words)

(300 words)