Synthesis and Transformation – PSLE 2020

The Chinese New Year break is over and the P6 students are revising for their upcoming WA or CA. Many schools are focusing on testing Paper 2 components only.

In today’s post, we will take a look at the Synthesis and Transformation component. With so many rules to learn, this component can be confusing for many students.

So, let’s break down some of those rules using the PSLE 2020 paper!

1) Mi Yao broke the expensive vase. He admitted it.
Min Yao admitted to ________________________________________

A verb in the infinitive form usually follows ‘to’.

Here, the verb is changed to a noun (gerund).

broke – breaking

Answer:
Min Yao admitted to breaking the expensive vase.

2) He can say anything. I will not go.
No matter ________________________________________

No matter is used to show emphasis in a sentence.

No matter is followed by a pronoun.

No matter + how / where / when / what

Answer
No matter what he says, I will not go.

By adding the pronoun ‘what’ after ‘no matter’, we will need to omit the words ‘can’ & ‘anything’.

Tip – Remember that ‘he’ is singular. Thus, the verb ‘say’ must be changed to ‘says’ in the transformed sentence.

3) “I went to the supermarket to look for you,” Uncle John said to Aunt Mary.
Uncle John told Aunt Mary that ____________________________

Change the tense in Reported Speech.

Past – Past Perfect Tense

went – had gone

Change the Personal Pronouns & Possessives

I – he

you – her

Answer
Uncle John told Aunt Mary that he had gone to the supermarket to look for her.

4) The bird was unable to fly. It was easily caught.
____________________________________ due to its________________

‘Due to’ is used to show reason.

The adjective in the sentence must be changed to a noun.

unable – inability

Answer
The bird was easily caught due to its inability to fly.

Tip – the noun of ‘unable’ is ‘in-ability’ and not ‘dis-ability’.

5) Fadri was relieved to find out that his wallet was not missing.
Much to ____________________________________________________

‘Much to’ is used to show a reaction to something

It is also used to add emphasis.

When using ‘much to’, we need to change the adjective to a noun.

relieved – relief

When using ‘much to’ we need to change the noun to a possessive pronoun

Fadri – Fadri’s

Answer
Much to Fadri’s relief, his