'Must' & 'Have to'

Found this on a post in a forum.

"Have to" and "must" have the same meaning in the affirmative and interrogative forms when referring to obligation. Some grammarians think that "must" is slightly stronger, but for all practical purposes, they mean the same thing:
Doctors have to attend medical school for several years before they can practice medicine.
Doctors must attend medical school for several years before they can practice medicine.

While "have to" and "must" can be used interchangeably, there are differences in usage, as Michael Swan observes in Practical English Usage (Oxford University Press, 1995).

Both verbs can be used in British English to talk about obligation. (In American English, 'have to' is the normal form.)
British English often makes a distinction as follows:
'Must' is used mostly to talk about the feelings and wishes of the speaker and hearer — for example, to give or ask for orders.
'Have (got) to' is used mostly to talk about obligations that come from "outside" — for example from laws, regulations, agreements and other people's orders.

Compare: I must stop smoking. (I want to.)
I have to stop smoking. Doctor's orders.

This is a terrible party. We really must go home.
This is a lovely party, but we've got to go home because of the baby-sitter.

Must you wear dirty old jeans all the time? (Is it personally important for you?)
Do you have to wear a tie at work? (Is there a regulation?).

Hope these explanations will help you understand the two terms better.

Cheers,
Ms Yu

When to use what?!

Dear class,

We will soon embark on learning about how to use 'must', 'have to', 'ought to' etc.
These are called modal verbs, as they are placed before the verb in a sentence.

Perhaps you will like to read up about the different ways they are used.
Simply go to Eng Resource Folder and download the Modal Verb file.

Happy discovery!

Cheers,
Ms Yu

Battle of the Left & Right Brains!

Dear class,

Check this site out to see how you fare in the battle between your left and right brains!
I scored a dismal of 25% in my first test, and finally after 4 tries, a remarkable 88%!
Try to beat my score!

Cheers,
Ms Yu

True Friends?

Dear class,

I came across this article from a magazine and I thought it will be interesting to share with you people since friendship problems are usually a struggle for many of you at this age, especially the girls. I cannot safely say that the checklist will be totally accurate in assessing your friendship, but at least I feel the article brings about an important point - how to tell true friendship from relationships that make use of you.

Coinciding with the up-coming World Day, it will be beneficial as occupiers of this planet that we take the happenings and changes to our planet to heart.

Articles to Share

Enjoy the reads!

Cheers,
Miss Yu

Journal Topic for Week 5

Dear class,

For this week's journal entry, you are required to click on PCS E-learning on the right and access the English Forum.

The topic has already been posted with a short article for reading as well as 3 thinking questions.
You may take the whole week till next Friday (25th April) by 6pm to post up your reflection based on the given questions.

For those with no Internet access at home, you will be able to use computers along the canteen to post up your reflection.

You may find this link helpful in your reading. Alternatively, you may search more on the incident.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/Virginia_Tech_Shootings
- comprehensive news coverage on the killings

Unit 5 Conditional 'IF'

Click to read more about conditionals:

1) Zero Conditional
2) 1st Conditional
3) 2nd Conditional
4) 3rd Conditional

These should give you a clearer understanding of how to use 'if' and the conditions that follow.

Here's another site. You can try the online exercises.

Dear class,

I chanced upon this. Thought you may have fun trying this out.
Go check it!

VisualDNA

Love,
Miss Yu

New Link

Dear class,

You can now access the 4shared folder with all the English Resources using the link on the right.
Term 2 Week 3 & 4 Spelling list is uploaded.

Regards,
Miss Yu

Short Passage Writing (1)

Dear class,

Click here to download the 2 good short endings that Teng Fone and Jia Wei wrote.
It will be good to print and attach them in your books for reference.

Alternatively, you can read them below.

Ending (1)
I was not easily fooled. When he was not noticing, I opened the wallet and caught a glimpse of an identity card. To my horror, it was not the man’s face. It was my favourite singer, Taufik. I turned and ran as fast as I could. When the man saw me escaping, he began chasing after me. He was hot on my heels. I found a police car patrolling down the street and waved frantically at it. Soon, the man was caught and Taufik came to the police station to retrieve his wallet. As a form of appreciation, he gave me free tickets to his concert!

By: Teng Fone

Comments: Good twist! Refreshing!

Ending (2)
The man claimed that the wallet was his but the identity card’s picture in the wallet did not match his face. I refuse to hand over the wallet and started to walk away but he threatened me with his pen-knife. The owner of the wallet came back searching for it and saw our conflict. He came forward and tried to rescue me but was injured by the man’s pen-knife. In the end, the man was handed over to the police and the owner was glad that he was able to retrieve the money.

“Thank you very much! I would not know how to answer my friend if the money is gone!” the owner said and heaved a sigh of relief. He had been instructed by his friend to deposit the money into the ban but had carelessly dropped it while rushing there. As I was already late for school, I parted ways with him and headed to school. To my amazement, I saw a familiar face walking towards the classroom. My new Mathematics teacher was the owner of the wallet!

By: Jia Wei
Comments: Interesting twist! I did not expect that!

Great job to these 2 inspiring writers! Well done!

Love,
Miss Yu

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