Thank You!

Hi Ms Khoo

Thank You for your hard work and dedication in helping us to improve our language. Despite all the late nights and blood vomiting we caused you with our essays, you still taught us with patience. And no this is NOT an "I-want-to-get-more-marks" post but an appreciation for one of the most dedicated educator I've met. Thank you once again. =)

jieyong

Portfolio 7

In my university classes, I have experienced several difficulties in writing, be it report or assignment writing. One of major problems I faced is lack of vocabulary. It is often difficult to express an idea with a limited vocabulary. Often we find ourselves trying to find substitutes for the word we cannot think of. However, it is one of the most difficult portion of the language to improve on.

In this module, I believe I have improved my command of the language. In the past, I used to write without consideration for the sentence structure. However, in this module, I was taught the different rules regarding the use of tenses and punctuation and so on. I also learned that essay writing, structure is an important aspect of the passage. The structure will often determine the fluency of your writing and in turn makes or breaks the whole article. Readers will be able to understand and with a well structured writing. In this module, I have learned how to write an argumentative essay in terms of strong rebuttals and how to show that your own points are valid and true.

Language is a life long learning skill. I believe it is something we will continue learning as well grew. I can improve by reading newspaper or news magazines or even novels to understand the different style of writing. Listening to radio broadcast is another way which I have taken to improve my language. This is especially true when listening to British news channels.

In conclusion, language is a life long skill, it can only be mastered with lots of practice and experience.

Portfolio 6

In writing, mistakes are often made without being noticed. However, it is the lesson learnt that is important. In my writing assignments, I have made several mistakes in areas of tenses, prepositions and modals.

Firstly, tense is one of the more difficult portion of the language. The tense of a particular word depends on many factors, including time given, two separate events and more. For example, for past progressive, it is to show that an activity was in progress when another happened at a specific time. A wrong use would be, "The workers moved the crates when the bridge collapse". In such a case, the event of the workers moving crates was ongoing while the bridge collapse. The correct use should be "The workers were moving the crates when the bridge collapse".

Another common mistake is the use of prepositions. They are often misused as there are often too many and different ways of using prepositions. For example, a wrong use of preposition would be, "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice to the world's poor?" The correct way should be "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice on the world's poor?". The word "on" is to show the action which affects other people.

Moreover, the use of modals is another difficult hurdle for many people. As most of the use of modal depend on the context of the passage, a good understanding of the passage will be required. A wrong example would be, "He can have finished his work by now." The correct sentence should be, "He should have finished his work by now."

In conclusion, many of the mistakes without notice during writing, it is therefore important to read through the passage to spot the mistakes.

For many centuries, humans have been trying to play God, from digging deep into the earth for resources to defying gravity by building skyscrapers. In 1996, Dolly, the sheep, was cloned from an adult somatic cell using therapeutic cloning which involves the process of nuclear transfer. This process can also be made used to reproduce identical cells to replace damaged organs or tissues in human. With sufficient funding and research, therapeutic cloning should be adopted to help save lives.

While it is indeed true that such a process is costly, it is still relatively cheaper when compared to a heart transplant. Egg donors are usually paid $3,000 to $5,000 each plus the process of reproducing the cells would cost at least $100,000. However, this is relatively cheaper when compared to a heart transplant which would normally cost between $110,000 and $287,000. Furthermore, with government funding and research, the technology can be improved to provide better productivity and lower cost. Moreover, the government can also provide subsidy.

Opponents of the technology also claimed that this technology may one day lead to human cloning and misuse of it. While it may be true that there are risks and danger involved, there are no medicine or cures around the world that are actually perfectly safe. Furthermore, the government can implement strict laws and regulation to prevent the misuse of the technology. Moreover, the prospect of saving countless of lives is far too valuable to be ignored.

In conclusion, even though there may be dangers involved with the advanced technology of therapeutic cloning, with government funding and research, therapeutic cloning will be able to save millions of lives around the world.