Primary 5 English Semestral Assessment 2 (End of Year) Paper 1

TuitionGoWhere Practice Paper — English Language Primary 5

Answer Key — SA2 Practice, Version 1 of 5

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Section A: Grammar MCQ (10 marks)

1. (C) were playing

• Reasoning: Past continuous is used for an action in progress (playing) interrupted by another past action (started to rain). "Were playing" matches the plural subject "children."
• Common mistake: Students may choose (B) "played" — this would mean the playing was completed before the rain, which does not fit the context of "when it started to rain."

2. (B) are

• Reasoning: With "neither…nor," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. "Students" is plural, so "are" is correct. The sentence is in the present tense.
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "is" by incorrectly matching "neither" (singular) instead of the nearest subject.

3. (B) had

• Reasoning: This is a second conditional sentence (unreal/hypothetical present/future). The structure is: If + past simple, would + base verb. "Had" is the past simple of "have."
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "have" — this would make it a first conditional (real possibility), but "would buy" signals a second conditional.

4. (B) was submitted

• Reasoning: The sentence requires passive voice (the report was submitted by the committee) and past tense (last Friday). "Was submitted" is the correct past simple passive form.
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "is submitted" — this is present tense, which does not match "last Friday."

5. (B) has

• Reasoning: "Everyone" is an indefinite pronoun treated as singular. The present perfect "has completed" is correct here.
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "have" because they associate "everyone" with a group of people, but grammatically it is singular.

6. (B) who

• Reasoning: "Who" is the relative pronoun used for people as the subject of the relative clause ("who won the competition").
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "which" — "which" is used for things/animals, not people.

7. (B) carefully

• Reasoning: An adverb is needed to modify the verb "conducted." "Carefully" is the adverb form of "careful."
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "careful" — this is an adjective and cannot modify a verb.

8. (B) since

• Reasoning: "Since" is used with a specific point in time (2015) with the present perfect continuous tense. "For" is used with a duration (e.g., "for ten years").
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "for" — "for" requires a period of time, not a specific year.

9. (A) is

• Reasoning: "News" is an uncountable noun and takes a singular verb. The sentence is in the present tense.
• Common mistake: Students may choose (B) "are" because "news" ends in -s and appears plural, but it is grammatically singular.

10. (B) had

• Reasoning: The past perfect ("had started") is used for an action completed before another past action ("arrived"). This shows the sequence: the movie started first, then we arrived.
• Common mistake: Students may choose (A) "has" — present perfect does not fit because the sentence is set entirely in the past.

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Section B: Grammar Cloze Passage (10 marks)

11. (B) went

• Reasoning: "Last Saturday" indicates past simple tense. "Went" is the past tense of "go."

12. (B) arrived

• Reasoning: Past simple tense is needed to match the narrative. "Arrived" is the past tense of "arrive."

13. (B) loves

• Reasoning: The relative clause describes a general fact about the brother (he loves animals), so present simple is used. "Who" refers to "my younger brother" (third person singular), so "loves" is correct.

14. (C) gave

• Reasoning: Past simple tense is needed. The sentence describes a completed past action (the zookeeper gave the elephants their meal).

15. (C) weighed

• Reasoning: Past simple is used because the passage is narrating a past event. "Weighed" is the past tense of "weigh."

16. (C) did

• Reasoning: Past simple negative is needed. "Did not like" is the correct past simple negative form. The subject "my sister" requires "did" (not "does" or "do").

17. (A) when

• Reasoning: "When" is the correct conjunction to show the timing — she screamed at the moment she saw the king cobra.

18. (C) whose

• Reasoning: "Whose" is the possessive relative pronoun. It shows that the birthday belongs to the grandmother ("whose birthday was the following day").

19. (C) had

• Reasoning: Past simple is needed. "Had" is the past tense of "have." "We had a wonderful time" is the correct expression.

20. (B) decided

• Reasoning: Past simple is needed to match the narrative. "Decided" is the past tense of "decide."

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Section C: Editing (10 marks)

21.

• Error: has
• Correction: have
• Reasoning: The subject "they" is plural, so the verb must be "have" (not "has"). [2 marks: 1 for identifying the error, 1 for the correct answer]

22.

• Error: since
• Correction: for
• Reasoning: "Since" is used with a specific point in time (e.g., "since 2019"). "For" is used with a duration of time (e.g., "for five years"). [2 marks: 1 for identifying the error, 1 for the correct answer]

23.

• Error: has
• Correction: had
• Reasoning: With "neither…nor," the verb agrees with the nearest subject. "Girl" is singular, but the past tense is required (the sentence is about a past event). "Were" is correct for the first verb, and "had" is the correct past tense for the second verb. Alternatively, "were" could be the error if the focus is on the nearest subject being singular — but "were" can agree with "they" in the that-clause. The clearest error is "has" → "had" (past tense required). [2 marks: 1 for identifying the error, 1 for the correct answer]

24.

• Error: a
• Correction: an
• Reasoning: "An" is used before words beginning with a vowel sound. "Essay" starts with the vowel sound /e/, so "an essay" is correct. [2 marks: 1 for identifying the error, 1 for the correct answer]

25.

• Error: would have studied
• Correction: had studied
• Reasoning: This is a third conditional sentence (unreal past). The correct structure is: If + past perfect (had studied), would have + past participle (might have passed). "Would have studied" is incorrect in the if-clause. [2 marks: 1 for identifying the error, 1 for the correct answer]

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Section D: Sentence Transformation (10 marks)

26. Tom said that he would finish the project by Friday.

• Marking: [2 marks] — 1 mark for correct pronoun change ("I" → "he"), 1 mark for correct tense shift ("will" → "would"). "By Friday" may remain unchanged as the reporting is assumed to be before Friday.
• Common mistake: Students may write "I will" instead of shifting to "he would."

27. Several houses in the village were destroyed by the storm.

• Marking: [2 marks] — 1 mark for correct passive construction ("were destroyed"), 1 mark for correct agent ("by the storm") and overall accuracy.
• Common mistake: Students may forget to change the verb to past participle or may omit "by the storm."

28. She is so tired that she cannot concentrate on her work.

• Marking: [2 marks] — 1 mark for correct use of "so…that" structure, 1 mark for maintaining the original meaning and grammatical accuracy.
• Common mistake: Students may write "so tired so she cannot" or omit "that."

29. Never before had they seen such a beautiful sunset.

• Marking: [2 marks] — 1 mark for correct inversion ("had they seen"), 1 mark for maintaining the original meaning and correct tense (past perfect).
• Common mistake: Students may forget to invert the subject and auxiliary verb ("Never before they had seen").

30. The nurse advised the patient to see a doctor immediately.

• Marking: [2 marks] — 1 mark for correct use of "advised + object + to-infinitive," 1 mark for maintaining the meaning (including "immediately").
• Common mistake: Students may write "advised the patient that he should see" — while not entirely wrong, the expected transformation uses the infinitive structure. Also, students may omit "immediately."

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Section E: Vocabulary (10 marks)

31. (B) thorough

• Reasoning: A "thorough" investigation means a careful and complete one, which would logically lead to the arrest of the thief. "Careless" and "random" would not lead to a successful outcome, and "partial" suggests incompleteness.

32. (B) thunderous

• Reasoning: "Thunderous applause" is a common collocation meaning very loud and enthusiastic applause, which fits the context of an "outstanding performance."

33. (C) ambiguous

• Reasoning: "Ambiguous" means unclear or open to more than one interpretation. If the instructions were ambiguous, it makes sense that students could not understand them. "Clear," "obvious," and "specific" would mean the opposite.

34. (B) exhausted

• Reasoning: After hiking for six hours, the climbers would be extremely tired. "Exhausted" means very tired. "Energetic," "enthusiastic," and "refreshed" do not fit the context.

35. (C) groundbreaking

• Reasoning: A "groundbreaking" discovery is one that is new, important, and revolutionary — it would logically change how doctors treat a disease. "Minor," "trivial," and "ordinary" suggest the discovery was not significant.

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Marking Summary

Section	Topic	Marks
A	Grammar MCQ	10
B	Grammar Cloze Passage	10
C	Editing	10
D	Sentence Transformation	10
E	Vocabulary	10
Total		50

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Common Mistakes to Note

1. Subject-verb agreement with collective nouns and indefinite pronouns: "Everyone," "news," and "neither…nor" constructions are frequent error points. Remind students to identify the true subject.

2. Tense consistency in narrative passages: In cloze passages, students should look for time markers (e.g., "last Saturday," "already") to determine the correct tense.

3. Conditional sentences: Students often confuse the three types of conditionals. Emphasise the structure: Type 1 (If + present, will), Type 2 (If + past, would), Type 3 (If + past perfect, would have).

4. Reported speech: Pronoun changes, tense shifts, and changes in time/place references must all be addressed.

5. Articles (a/an): Remind students that the choice depends on the sound (not the letter) that follows. For example, "an hour" (silent h) but "a university" (starts with /j/ sound).

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End of Answer Key