PSLE English · Paper 2 · Booklet B
We went through the PSLE synthesis questions to see which patterns keep coming back, and which barely appear at all.
The short version. Synthesis & Transformation is 5 questions worth 2 marks each — 10 marks in Booklet B of Paper 2. There are no partial marks: the whole sentence has to be right.
One pattern dominates. Reported speech appears in roughly one in five questions — more than twice as often as anything else. If your child drills one thing, drill that.
Grouped by the structure each answer requires. The spread is consistent year after year.
| Pattern | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Reported speech | 18% | |
| Passive voice | 10% | |
| Noun phrase / possessive | 6% | |
| Reason — due to, owing to, because of | 5% | |
| Comparison — as…as, -er than | 4% | |
| Conditional — if, unless | 4% | |
| Neither / either / both | 4% | |
| Inversion — no sooner, hardly, not until | 3% | |
| Relative clause — who, which, whose | 3% | |
| Participle opening — Having, On, After | 3% | |
| Although / despite / in spite of | 1% | |
| so…that / such…that | 1% | |
| too…to / enough | 1% |
The remaining questions combine two patterns at once, or turn on a cue too specific to group — see the note on method at the foot of this page.
In each example the pupil is given the sentences and an opening cue; the underlined line is the answer.
Three things shift together: the tense moves back, the pronouns change person, and time and place words move. Miss one and the mark is gone.
Mrs Ng asked her husband, “Are you able to attend this party next week?”
Mrs Ng asked her husband __________
Mrs Ng asked her husband if he was able to attend that party the following week.
Note all four changes: are → was, you → he, this → that, next week → the following week. A question also needs if or whether, and the question mark disappears.
The object moves to the front, the verb becomes was or were plus a past participle, and the original subject follows by.
Mrs Tan scolded Tina for breaking the expensive vase.
Tina __________
Tina was scolded by Mrs Tan for breaking the expensive vase.
Unless already means if not, so the rest of the sentence must not be negative twice. This is where most marks go.
Only call the number if it is an emergency.
__________ unless
Do not call the number unless it is an emergency.
The verb agrees with whichever subject sits nearer to it — a rule pupils routinely lose the mark on.
Mary does not want to leave the park. Her brothers do not want to leave the park.
Neither __________
Neither Mary nor her brothers want to leave the park.
Starting with these forces the word order to flip, and an auxiliary such as did appears where there was none.
The twins loved to watch movies. The twins loved to read books.
Not only __________
Not only did the twins love to watch movies, but they also loved to read books.
Knowing the pattern is not the same as being able to do it under time pressure. The section rewards automaticity, and automaticity only comes from repetition.
Work one pattern at a time until it stops needing thought, then move to the next. Mixed practice tests what a child knows; single-pattern practice is what teaches it.
We hold the question banks for exactly this — pick a topic, print a worksheet, and check it against the answers straight away. Marking on the spot, while the question is still fresh, is where the learning happens.
Choose the topic, print the worksheet, and get the answer key as a separate printout.
Method. PSLE-style Synthesis & Transformation questions were grouped by the structure each model answer requires. Around a third combine two patterns at once, or turn on a cue too specific to group, and sit outside the table above. Percentages are a guide to where practice pays, not a prediction of any future paper.