IN LIFE...

EVERYTHING IS VALUABLE ONLY AT 2 TIMES:

1. Before getting it; and

2. After losing it !

FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW...

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years .

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent.

Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters. 

Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE CARNIVAL 2013

SMKPJ English Language Department organized an English Language Carnival on 10 April 2013. It was indeed a milestone as it was the first English Language Carnival ever held by the school’s English Language Department. The principal, Tuan Haji Idris bin Osman, gave a very meaningful and inspiring speech (100% in English) to commemorate the launching of the English Language Carnival 2013.
The carnival organized English fun activities such as role-play, making scrap books, treasure hunt, news reading, crossword puzzle, spell it right, quiz and exhibition. Besides, the school choral-speaking team put up a splendid and entertaining performance during the launching ceremony.
The English Language Panel offered its warmest heartfelt thanks to the principal, Tuan Haji Idris bin Osman, all English Language teachers and the students involved in the carnival. Their joint effort and commitment had helped to make this carnival a huge success. The Panel also expressed joy and satisfaction that the carnival had provide opportunities for the students to participate and use the language confidently through fun activities.

       

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH (PART 5)

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

-in collaboration with Pekula International Language-

          

LESSON 5: ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are words which tell you more about nouns or pronouns.
Examples:

A cold drink

A pretty girl

A happy boy

‘cold’ is an adjective. It describes the noun ‘drink’
‘pretty’ is an adjective. It describes the noun ‘girl’
‘happy’ is an adjective. It describes the noun ‘boy’

There are three main types of adjectives
1. Descriptive adjective
e.g. good, beautiful, young, blue, straight, deep, loud, pain

   The music is too loud.








2. Adjectives of quantity

e.g. a few, a hundred, both, second, all, many, some, much

A few apples are red.

3. Adjectives of distinction
e.g. this, that, those, which, what, whose, each, every, either

What colour do you like?

Comparison of Adjectives
Adjectives have three degrees of comparison
The Positive is used to describe an object or a person.
Aida's hair is long.
The Comparative is used to describe two objects/people
Arina's hair is longer.
The Superlative is used to describe more than two objects/people
Amira's hair is the longesr

Note: The comparative may be formed by adding “-er’ to the Positive and the Superlative may be formed by adding ‘-est’ to the Positive.

Note: Some adjectives are used with more and most.
Examples:
beautiful             more beautiful           most beautiful
comfortable        more comfortable      most comfortable

Irregular adjectives change in form
Examples:
good       better       best
bad        worse       worst
little        less          least

We can make our descriptions more interesting by using adjectives.
Compare the two descriptions:
1. We walked up the hill on the beach. We saw flowers. There were boys picking shells.

2. We walked up a steep hill on the white, sandy beach. We saw beautiful flowers. There were three boys picking green-coloured shells.

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH (PART 4)

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

-in collaboration with Pekula International Language-

LESSON 4: VERBS
Verbs are words that are used to explain actions, express actions or states of being.
EVERY SENTENCE MUST HAVE A VERB
Examples:
What is your name?
My name is Sobehah or I am Sobehah.
You do not say ‘My name Sobehah’.
How do you come to school?
I come to school by bus.
Can you say I to school by bus? No, because the verb “come” is not in the sentence.
What is your hobby?
Students tend to answer , ‘My hobby fishing’ which is wrong because omission of the verb “is”. You say, ‘My hobby is fishing’ or ‘I like fishing’.

Examples of action verbs:

sing

swim

cycle

climb

jump

knock

Examples of verbs which express actions or states of being:

The boy feels happy

The mango is sour

She looks pretty in blue

FORMS OF THE VERB 
Verbs are also present in several tense forms.
Examples:
Read the sentences below.
1. I do my homework every day.
2. I am doing my homework now.
3. I did my homework yesterday.
4. I have already done my homework.
In these sentences the four forms of the verb ‘do’ are used.
‘Do’ in the first sentence is in the Simple Present tense.
‘Doing’ in the second sentence ends in ‘ing’
It is the Present Participle of ‘do’
The Present Participle is always used with helping words such as ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘am’, ‘was’, ‘were’
‘Did’ is the Simple Past tense of ‘do’
‘Done’ in the fourth sentence is the Past Participle of ‘do’
The Past Participle is used with the word ‘has’, ‘have’, ‘had’
The PARTICIPLE OF A VERB needs a helping word such as ‘am’, ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘has’, ‘have’, ‘was’, ‘were’, ‘had’

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH (PART 3)

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

-in collaboration with Pekula International Language-

LESSON 3: PARTS OF SPEECH
The first step in grammar study is to learn and understand the parts of speech. Each part of the speech is different from each other. It is important to understand which part of the speech each word in a sentence is and knowing how to use it.
The 8 parts of speech are:

1. NOUNS

There are two main types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.
Common nouns are words for people, animals, places or things.
       
   park (place)                     teacher (people)                  tiger (animal)                    car (thing)

Proper nouns are names for particular people, places, animals or things.

They always begin with a capital letter.

Your own name, the names of your friends and teachers are proper nouns.

Siti Nurhaliza

Lee  Chong  Wei

The names of countries and their people are also proper nouns.

           Korean                                      Japanese                                             Malaysians

The names of cities, towns, buildings and landmarks are proper nouns. 

    
                           Putrajaya                                                                         Hong Kong                                      Eiffel Tower

The days of the week and months of the year are proper nouns.



The names of mountains,seas, rivers and lakes are proper nouns.
                        Mount Kinabalu                                                                              Lake Toba

The names of festivals, some special events and holidays are proper nouns, too.

In conclusion, I hope that this lesson will help you to understand and recognize the types of nouns.

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH (PART 2)

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

-in collaboration with Pekula International Language-

LESSON 2: ENGLISH LANGUAGE BLOOPERS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE BLOOPERS are mistakes we make while speaking English Language. At some point in time, we all have been guilty of this English blooper.

“Open the television”, “open the light”’, or “open the fan” – are all examples of inaccurate usage. The dictionary meaning for the word “open” means uncovered or laid out (the parts of something).

"Switch on" is the correct way of saying 

We often heard people asking for a "chop" when they actually mean a stamp. The word "chop" is derived from the Malay language meaning 'to stamp' (for approval)

The next time you need to ask someone to stamp something, do not ask them for a “chop” as that would mean asking for a blow with an axe or a portion of meat! Use “stamp” instead.

“Repeat Again” is another inaccurate usage. “Repeat” is: to say or utter again.
When you put these words together and said “Repeat Again”, you are in effect saying, Say again something you have already said, one more time”.
So you should just say “Repeat”. 

e.g. Could you repeat that? or Could you say that again? 

I want two xeroxes of this article.
The term Xerox is actually the name of a company that supplies photocopiers! The correct thing to say, therefore, would be:
I want two photocopies of this article.

Now look at these sentences:
Please return my book back.
Here, the final word ‘back’ is redundant.
When you return a book, you give it back to the owner by simply saying, Please return my book. 

I, my sister and Alia went to the mall
'I' and 'me' are always placed at the end of a list of names/ pronouns. The correct usage is: 

My sister, Alia and I went to the mall.

The fish aquarium is very large.
The dance ballet was lovely.
In both cases, the descriptive word is unnecessary. An aquarium houses fish and a ballet is always a dance! The correct usage is simply:
The aquarium is very large.
The ballet was lovely.

Other examples:
1. pair of  twins

Marissa gave birth to twins at Metro Hospital late last night. (omit "pair of")

2. "Raise up" or "Lower down". Raise can only go in one direction,"Up" as lower can go in only one direction, "down"
e.g. He raised his hand to wave. (omit “up”)
      The teacher asked the pupils to lower their voice. (omit “down”)

3. expensive price:

The food sold at the canteen is rather expensive. (omit "price")

4. at 12 midnight 

e.g He always sleeps at midnight.(omit “12”) 

5. Final outcome:
e.g The coach said he was pleased with the outcome of the match that ends in a 2-2 draw. (omit "final)

6. “ATM machine” where ATM stands for Automatic Teller Machine, the phrase “ATM machine,” if said aloud would translate to “Automatic Teller Machine machine.” The same applies to HIV virus and RAM memory.

7. "Tuna Fish" is redundant because "Tuna" can only be a fish therefore, "fish" is not necessary to mention. 

8. "Big Giant" The word "Giant" signifies something huge, big or large; therefore the word "Big" is not necessary to mention. 

9. Free gift: A gift is by definition free , so “free” is extraneous. 

10. Invited guests: Guests are intrinsically those who have an invitation, so “invited” is redundant. 

11. Protest against: To protest is to communicate opposition. “Against” is redundant. 

12. Revert back: Something that reverts returns to an earlier state. “Back” is unnecessary.

Other redundant phrases: (the words highlighted in red are not necessary)
blue in colour                     poisonous venom

join together                      unintended mistake

each and every                 absolutely certain

written down                      past experience

reason is because           advanced planning                                 

LET'S LEARN ENGLISH

LET’S LEARN ENGLISH

-in collaboration with Pekula International Language-

The importance of English cannot be denied and ignored. English is important because it is an international language. However, language cannot be learn quickly. You need lots of practice and strong will power to master the language.

LESSON 1: PUNCTUATION
Using the correct punctuation is very important. An error in punctuation can convey a completely different meaning to the one that is intended.

For example:

A comma can change the meaning of a sentence.

     Let's eat Grandpa.

     Let's eat, Grandpa.

Punctuation is important for meaning...

'Woman, without her man, is nothing.'
This has the meaning that if a woman does not have her man, then she is nothing. But now let's add some punctuation.
'Woman! Without her, man is nothing.'
The meaning is now the opposite. The sentence says that men are nothing without women. Punctuation is important for meaning.

Punctuation changes the meaning of a sentence...

May Ling said, "Yusoff is getting married."

May Ling, said Yusoff, is getting married.

More examples:

Your book, Marlissa. 

Your book, Marlissa?
Although the words are same here, the two sentences mean completely different things because of the period (or full stop) and the question mark.
The same goes here:
Don’t stop.
Don’t, stop.
The comma after the don’t has made all the difference in the meaning of the words.
Other examples of how punctuation can change the meaning of a sentence:
He was bitten by a dog which hurt him.
He was bitten by a dog, which hurt him.
The first sentence means the dog hurt him. The second sentence means the bite hurts him. It’s the comma after the dog that has completely changed the meaning of the sentence.

Therefore, we can conclude  that Punctuation is one of the most important aspects of written English and to convey the correct message.
Click here   www.learnenglish.de/grammar/punctuationtext.htm to learn more about the usage of punctuations.