1972 English Papers (2 Viewers)

[heidi_kak]

I wish I could somehow take an extension english subect that helps deal with people like me who don't know what a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, proverb etc.. is (what is that shit?!)

im thinking of buying a year 5 english book and doing that

a good way to learn english grammar is to learn a foreign language, that way you have something to compare it with.

as for the old paper:
sure it may 'test your intelligence' but would you people really prefer to actually have to think during the exam than just to ramble off some pre-prepared bs about journeys? why would you want the hsc to be harder?

if you're that interested in english, study it at uni.

 

[ElGronko]

It wouldn't be harder, it would simply reward intelligence as opposed to memorisation skills.

 

[bassqueen16]

i agree with egronk, although im very sick of my parents always saying "You do nothing at school the HSC is nothing, it was harder when we were at school" that just kills me :|

 

[Trebla]

The Stage 4-6 syllabus does not have grammar and punctuation because we were expected to have known and perfected it at the end of primary school - Big Mistake! There are shitloads of people who lack basic grammatical elements in their writing, mainly thanks to computers which automatically correct their mistakes before they even notice them, when they type.
According to my teacher in old literacy and english, they analysed and interpreted texts in the perspective that the composer wanted his or her audience to see it. Nowadays, any made up interpretation of a text is plausible as long as there is sufficient evidence. It doesn't matter whether the composer wants us to intrepret it in the way that he or she wanted. That's because different audiences react to the same text differently.
One case I would like to mention is the stimulus booklet text 2, the Ivory Trail book cover. In some analysis I read before, there was a detailed description of how the large pixels on the cover were related to journeys!!!wtf!!! I'm pretty sure that the noticeable pixels were the result of the BOS enlarging the cover just to fill the page on the computer. I'm pretty sure the real cover of the book wouldn't have those visible pixels (correct me if I'm wrong) and it was not the illustrator's intention. Even though it may seem ridiculous, it's still a correct analysis because it's an interpretation which had evidence to back it up.
Anyway these days, English, especially senior English, is f'ed up. Learning how to communicate goes out the window and in comes the literature flying inside.

 

[wheredanton]

I wish I could somehow take an extension english subect that helps deal with people like me who don't know what a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, proverb etc.. is (what is that shit?!)

im thinking of buying a year 5 english book and doing that

That was meant to be taught in primary school. The teaching of grammar and where to put commas is for primary school, not for examination at the yr 12 stage.

 

[Casmira]

And I probably knew it then as well, but I forgot

 

[P_Dilemma]

There's a differenve between knowing what something is and how to use it.

Example 1:

*I show someone a sword*
someone: It is a Japanese longsword, traditionally known as a katana, approximately 90cm (3ft) long. By the curvature of the blade i can deduce that this is a Muramasa blade, the lesser known blade by the name of akakage, or "Red Shadow"...
me: show me how to use it.
someone: chops of his own head

Example 2:

someone: A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, animal or quality. In sentences, it is usually accompanies by a verb, a "doing" word. Nouns in sentences can be classified as either a "subject" or an "object"

me: use a noun in a written sentence.

someone:...

(in real life, is someone could talk like that, i doubt they would have any problems with grammar... spelling maybe )

Well, that's what the HSC syllabus is doing to us, i reckon. We're taught to analyse texts for techniques and not being taught to use them at all. All we're ever writing are essays, speeches (which no-one will ever present), feature articles (which no real journalist will ever write about) and others.