Yishun English Tuition Centre (Secondary 2) should help a student understand what a question is asking before trying to answer it. Families searching for Secondary 2 English tuition in Yishun, Sec 2 English tutor, comprehension, summary, vocabulary, editing, situational writing, continuous writing, oral communication or small-group English tuition often see students who know the passage but lose marks because they answer the wrong job: they give evidence when explanation was required, paraphrase when identification was enough, or compare without stating the basis of comparison.
Secondary 2 is therefore a useful year to build a question-command decoder. Students should learn that command words such as identify, explain, infer, compare, support, describe, suggest are instructions about the operation the answer must perform. Recognising the command narrows the method and reduces irrelevant writing.
This page owns one learning job: read command → define answer job → choose evidence → construct response → check scope. It complements other Secondary 2 pages on text architecture, reading speed, lexical precision and information compression. Here, the focus begins with the question itself.
Questions Contain Instructions
Before reading for evidence, ask:
What operation is this question asking me to perform?
Identify
Identify usually asks the student to name or locate something.
Do not automatically over-explain.
State
State usually asks for a concise expression of the required idea.
Completeness matters; extra discussion may not.
Describe
Describe asks what something is like or what happens.
Depending on context, details may be needed.
Explain
Explain asks for a relationship, reason or mechanism.
Useful frame:
point → because/how → explanation.
Infer
Infer asks the student to move beyond literal wording using evidence.
clue → interpretation.
Suggest
Suggest often requires a reasonable interpretation supported by context.
Do not write an unsupported guess.
Support
Support usually requires evidence.
Ask:
- What claim am I supporting?
- What exact detail is strongest?
Compare
Compare requires relationship.
Do not write two separate descriptions without linking them.
Use:
A is… whereas B is…
Contrast
Contrast focuses on difference.
Name the basis of difference.
How
How is ambiguous until context is read carefully.
It can ask:
- method;
- manner;
- effect;
- evidence;
- process.
Why
Why usually asks for cause, motive or reason.
Do not simply repeat what happened.
What Does This Show?
This asks for interpretation.
The answer should move from the detail to what the detail reveals.
What Does This Suggest?
This usually requires inference with cautious wording.
Use evidence and avoid certainty beyond the text.
What Is the Effect?
For language questions:
exact wording → reader effect → context.
The Command Table
| Command | Main job | Common error |
|---|---|---|
| identify | name/locate | over-explains |
| explain | show why/how | restates point |
| infer | interpret evidence | guesses |
| support | give evidence | gives opinion |
| compare | show relationship | two summaries |
| describe | state characteristics/events | gives causes instead |
Command Words Work With Scope Words
A question may say:
Explain two reasons why…
The answer job includes both explanation and quantity.
Count Requirements
Mark:
- one reason;
- two ways;
- one phrase;
- from paragraph 3;
- in your own words.
These are part of the instruction.
Boundary Words
Pay attention to:
- according to paragraph…;
- in lines…;
- at the end of…;
- in your own words;
- using evidence from the passage.
Do Not Answer the Question You Expected
Students sometimes see a familiar topic and use a memorised method before reading the exact wording.
Slow down at the command.
The Command Paraphrase
Before answering, rewrite the question mentally:
I need to…
Example:
I need to give two pieces of evidence showing that the character was worried.
Command → Method Mapping
Build personal routines:
- infer → clue first;
- compare → paired sentence;
- support → evidence boundary;
- explain → mechanism sentence;
- identify → concise target.
Mixed Command Practice
Do not practise one command for an entire worksheet indefinitely.
Mix question jobs so the student must recognise them.
Command Recognition Under Time
Give ten short questions and ask students to label the job before answering.
Speed should increase only after accuracy.
Comprehension Answer Length
Different commands imply different likely answer lengths.
But there is no universal word count.
Use the smallest complete answer.
Summary Commands
Summary questions also contain scope instructions.
Students should extract:
- topic;
- required angle;
- relevant section;
- output constraints.
Situational Writing Commands
Task sheets contain command jobs too:
- inform;
- persuade;
- request;
- recommend;
- explain.
These shape tone and content.
Oral Follow-Up Commands
Questions such as:
- Why do you think…?
- What would you do…?
- How might this affect…?
also require different reasoning jobs.
The Command Error Ledger
| Command | Error pattern | Repair |
|---|---|---|
| explain | repeats evidence | add why/how |
| infer | guess without clue | point to evidence first |
| compare | separate answers | paired relationship sentence |
| support | too much quotation | smallest evidence boundary |
Small-Group Command Decoder
Three students label the same set of questions independently.
Compare disagreements before answering.
This makes task interpretation visible.
Question Rewriting
Ask students to create their own question for a passage using a command word.
Then classmates identify the required answer job.
A 90-Minute Sec 2 Command Lesson
- 10 min: command retrieval.
- 15 min: label mixed questions.
- 20 min: answer literal/explain/infer cluster.
- 15 min: compare/support cluster.
- 15 min: task-scope editing.
- 10 min: timed mixed commands.
- 5 min: update command ledger.
Worked Case: Student Gives Evidence When Asked to Explain
The answer contains the right quotation but no mechanism.
The student adds a “why this matters” sentence.
Worked Case: Student Writes Two Separate Compare Answers
The tutor requires one paired sentence naming the relationship directly.
Worked Case: Inference Is a Guess
The student must point to the clue before writing the interpretation.
Worked Case: Correct Idea, Wrong Number of Points
The student misses “two reasons”.
Quantity words are now marked before evidence search.
What Parents Can Watch For
- The student can name the question job.
- Answers become more relevant.
- Over-answering decreases.
- Compare questions contain actual comparison.
- Inference becomes evidence-based.
What Not to Do
- Do not answer before decoding the command.
- Do not assume “how” always means the same thing.
- Do not ignore quantity and boundary words.
- Do not practise only one command type at a time forever.
A Twelve-Week Command-Decoder Build
Weeks 1–2: identify/state/describe.
Weeks 3–4: explain/why/how.
Weeks 5–6: infer/suggest.
Weeks 7–8: compare/contrast/support.
Weeks 9–10: mixed scope and quantity.
Weeks 11–12: timed independent decoding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do students lose marks even when they know the passage?
They may be answering the wrong job because the command or scope was misread.
What should students do first?
Name what the question is asking them to do before searching for evidence.
Why mix question types?
Because examination papers require students to recognise the method independently.
What is the independence goal?
A student who can read an unfamiliar question, decode the command and select the correct response method without tutor prompts.
The Secondary 2 Command Rule
Before you answer the passage, answer the question about the question: what exactly am I being asked to do?
Historical Image Archive
The original image archive remains below as part of this page’s history.
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