Mid-Year Examination, Day 6

This was the day where our nightmare came true. Additional Mathematics paper 2 was the first paper for the day. Everybody was scared out of their wits, including me, of course, as the paper was infamous due to its difficulty. The paper, as expected, was awfully difficult. To tell the truth, the questions weren't jolly difficult, we just needed more time to solve them. Well, everybody did badly in the exam. Second paper for the day: Chemistry paper 2. The first three questions were exceedingly easy. You shouldn't have problem doing them. But every questions after that became harder. The essay was torturing us, and most of us had something in similar: we did not know what happened, but our eyes saw nothing that had relation to 'isomers'! So, many of us did not know the question existed, ergo, we did not draw any isomers for whatever chemical there is. In short, today's papers were torturing....

Mid-Year Examination, Day 5

It was thought to be a horrible day with unrelenting stress. Mathematics, though easy, is made difficult for us by our teachers who regard SPM standard as being substandard. But luckily the paper was fine, with every question labelled as 'intermediate' and the very last question as 'seemingly impossible to be done'. At least this paper is 100% easier than previous year's. Second paper of the day: Physics paper 2. Before the teacher distributed the papers, I took a peek - yeah, I know it's wrong, but can you blame me? It's right in front of me and nobody was guarding it! It's so tempting! Besides, the peeping was less than one second - and saw the first question was something pertaining to ticker timer or stroboscope. So what if I peeped? I still couldn't answer the paper. Others were classified as 'moderate', with the essay questions labelled as 'slightly above average standard'. Overall, today's papers were quite a cinch.

Gerund

It's very funny, I actually quarelled - well, not really quarrelled, sort of like arguing, or having a debate - with a British about Grammar.

It happened on a forum. Somebody asked a very simple question - Which one is correct: "I'm looking forward to your coming' or 'I'm looking forward to you coming'?

I said it was the former one, while she insisted it was the latter. She said the formal one didn't make any sense and said 'I'm looking forward to you coming' is the shorter version of 'I'm looking forward to you coming to my house'.

I was taken aback by her answer. Because she's a British, I considered that possibility for a moment.

But then I thought, no, it was wrong!

I asked my father, and he agreed with me. I've searched a few websites, and I even asked a native speaker.

The answer is : "I'm looking forward to your coming".

First of all, this sentence is not a shorter version of any sentence. It tells you everything it wants to tell you; it's a sentence on its own.

"Coming" in the sentence is a gerund, functioning as a noun. It needs to be followed by a possessive.

In "I'm looking forward to your coming', the word 'coming' is a gerund. You need a possessive to complete the sentence. In 'I'm looking forward to you coming to my house', the word 'coming' is actually a verb.

I never thought a British would get this wrong. The native speaker, whom I asked this question to, told me he was sure I would find more 'you coming' then 'your coming' because many people are not aware of this grammar rule, and he's 100% sure, positive, it's 'your coming'.

Apparently, native speakers have problems with this kind of grammar.

But I don't blame them. We are chinese, but how many people know the difference between 需要 and 须要? It's a very commonly used phrase and I highly doubt anyone in my class knows.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 4

As usual, my friends came to school with black eyes. Apparently they would rather punch themselves squarely in the eyes that drifting off while revising Biology. A bad choice my friends. Forcing yourself to stay awake to revise is never, never a good idea. Anyway, Biology paper, again, did not sit well with me. I paid attention to form 5 syllabus, and only two questions came out, with the remaining from form 4. The questions about microorganisms came out, and because CSB told us it's an unimportant topic, I never read anything about it. Goodbye to 10 marks. The others were moderate. Anyway, this is Paper 2. If we did badly, we must do well in Paper 1 and Paper 3.

Moral paper was fine. While 5S1 went overdrive because they had done the questions before, I remain unshaken by their ebullience as I believe doing exercises that were identical to the exam papers before the exam does not reflect your true ability in answering the paper. I don't care if I flunk my Moral, as least I answered the questions with my true ability. Likewise, I don't care if I flunk my Biology because I believe we need to know the concept with our hearts and not memorise them. Memorising Biology makes the subject so boring. I never memorise the facts deadly. I don't care if I fail, at least I learn Biology in an interesting way.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 3

While the two languages were shit, today's papers were the remains of the shit - much better, but still terrible. Paper 1 was okay, at least the questions weren't tough and we could write with our infinite imagination. Paper 2 was moderate. The jargons pertaining to industry flummox all of us. Luckily, the questions are on grammar, so we could answer them if we could block all the jargons out. Information Transfer - as the name suggested - is the part where we transfer the informations from the passage to the questions. There was one question that had me dumbfounded, but it only cost me 1 mark, so I'm fine about that. Comprehension was fine, with a few vocabulary I did not recognise, but the summary was weird. "The description of the event of the jump"?? What description? All there was was the writer's feeling about the jump. Anyway, the answers will be given after the exam, so we'll have to wait. Literature was fine. Overall, the paper did not sit well with me. And I swear to God if I fail my English, I'll lock myself in my room.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 2

If yesterday papers were death, then today papers were tickets that bring you straight to hell, bypassing any deaths or obstacles on the way. Paper 1 was considered moderate. At least the teacher showed some mercy by being a little benevolent - at least we could die with less pain. Paper 2 was analogous to hell. The comprehension itself is enough to bring you down to hell and suffer. The classical part was Tagalog to me - a different language altogether. The last part, or mingju, was the bus terminal, where you'll be sent straight to hell. Overall, the paper was shit and I did very badly.

Lady Gaga - Judas

Nice song! If you're under pressure, give yourself a break and listen to this song!