Essay awarded a full score in Taiwan's SAT
Miss Li, a participant in Taiwan’s scholastic aptitude exam, was awarded a full score (100%) in English writing. I compliment Miss Li on her achievements, but a quick look revealed several grammatical errors. Miss Li said that she was surprised. I am, indeed, surprised. In fact, the English teacher(s) who graded this paragraph and of course, Taiwan’s English education, really appalled me.她的英文作文如下 (with my comments-- only on the very obvious!):
Since I have the honor to hold our first class reunion, our team, including me and few other classmates,have finally decided how this party will go.Firstly[j1] ,considering that we girls are definitely going to get very wild and noisy, therefore[j2] we choose to hold the party at the Cashbox KTV, next to our school[j3] rather than in a high-class restaurant. As to how the party will go, we have decided several games, including [j4] singing, of course,gift-exchanging[j5] , and most importantly, the girl chat[j6] . Also the date[j7] will be on July 10th[j8] , from 1pm to 5pm. The reason why we chose this date is that we think you girls might want to have some personal time with your family and friends, therefore[j9] we set the date on[j10] mid-July. That's how our first reunion will go. Remember, it's on July 10th, start [j11] from 1pm, and don't be late. Also don't forget to bring your little present.
[j1]Use Firstly only when Secondly, Thirdly, etc., would follow.
[j2] You are not connecting two sentences; therefore, "therefore" is not necessary.
[j3]Only “next to our school” modifies the KTV. Use a comma before "rather than" to separate the phrase from the rest!
[j4]Do your GAMES include singing, gift-exchange, and girls’ chat?
[j5]gift-exchange (no ING)
[j6]girls’ chat
[j7]DATE should not include specific TIME
[j8]July 10 (or the 10th of July)
[j9]Connecting two complete sentences here! Use ; before therefore.
[j10]in (not ON)
[j11]Two verbs in one sentence! Use STARTING.
posted by Vigo Baby at
8:56 PM
4 Comments:
Wow! You noticed all the grammar errors!! (Hmm.... Maybe I shouldn't write English here... :p) Anyways, I guess after grading thousands of horrible essays from Taiwanese students, SAT teachers were probably exhausted and delusional, and had to give this essay, which was readable after all, full credit. ^^;
Sorry if my comments sound harsh and scary. That was not my intention. Frankly, I produce a lot of grammatical erros too, in either Chinese or English. I do compliment Ms. Li on her accomplishments (and her courage). What astonished me was that essays could be awarded either 0 or full credit. (I guess 羅家倫 was an exception. :-P and I believe Mr. Luo’s essay must have been really exceptional.)
Ms. Li’s paragraph is good, but if it was awarded full credit, there is something wrong with Taiwan’s English education.
I agree that a full score for an essay is meaningless. The exceptional cases are those that cannot even be scored. Consider, for example, Anton Bruckner’s examination in harmony. The examiners, after studying his exam, could only say, “It is he who should examine us.” That, I think, was analogous to the case of 羅家倫.
I didn't think your comments were harsh at all. Actually I think they are very cool!
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