Open your child's Chinese composition and look for sentences like these: 「我很生气。」「妈妈很关心我。」「公园很美。」 Nothing is wrong with them — no typo, no 病句. But they tell the reader a conclusion without showing the scene. Teachers often write 「内容不够具体」 beside them, and the child asks, quite fairly: "But what do I add?"
Most of us answer with "add more description" — which is exactly as unhelpful as "write better". What works is giving the child questions to ask the sentence. That is the method in this post. It costs nothing, needs no app, and you can practise it at the dinner table in five minutes.
Why thin sentences matter
PSLE composition is marked out of 40, split into content and language. A sentence that only names a feeling gives the marker very little to credit in either half: there is no specific detail for content, and no chance to show a well-chosen verb or measure word in language. The same event written as a small scene gives the marker something concrete to read. I cannot promise a mark for any single sentence — but a composition made of scenes reads very differently from one made of labels.
The 3-question method
Take one thin sentence. Ask it three questions, and answer each in a short clause:
- 动作 — What did the body do? (Not "he was angry" — what did his hands, feet or voice do?)
- 神态 — What did the face or voice look like? (Colour of the face, the eyes, the tone.)
- 心理 — What was going through the mind? (One short thought, often in quotation marks.)
Then join the three clauses into one flowing sentence. Do not use all three every time; two well-chosen ones usually read better than three crowded together.
Worked example 1 — a feeling
Thin: 我很生气。
- 动作: 我把书包重重地摔在地上。
- 神态: 我的脸涨得通红。
- 心理: 我心想：他怎么可以这样对我！
Joined: 「我把书包重重地摔在地上，脸涨得通红，心想：他怎么可以这样对我！」 The word 生气 does not even appear — and the reader still knows. This is the shift from telling to showing.
Worked example 2 — a person
Thin: 妈妈很关心我。
Ask 动作 and 神态 only: 「妈妈放下手中的碗筷，伸手摸了摸我的额头，轻声问：“还烫吗？快把药吃了。”」 The child has now shown care through what the mother does and says — which is also exactly how a good 写人 essay proves a character trait through an event.
Worked example 3 — a place
Thin: 公园很美。
For 写景 the three questions change into the senses. Ask: What did I see? What did I hear? What did I smell? 「清晨的公园里，草叶上挂着晶莹的露珠，远处传来鸟儿清脆的叫声，空气里飘着淡淡的花香。」 Three senses, one sentence, no "很美".
💡 Match the questions to the genre
记事 and 写人: 动作 · 神态 · 心理. 写景: sight · sound · smell (and touch if natural). 议论: an example · a reason · what happens if we do not. If you are unsure, ask the generic three: "Can I add a specific action? Can I show the face or the thought? Can I replace 很 / 非常 with something I can see?"
How to practise: the 10-minute routine
- Pick ONE thin sentence from last week's composition (the child chooses — ownership matters).
- The child writes their own expansion first, before anyone shows a model. This is the step that builds the skill; reading a good sentence does not.
- Compare with a model sentence (yours, the teacher's, or a book's). Ask: is mine more specific than the original? Does it have an action, a face or a thought? Does it read smoothly aloud?
- Keep the best one in a small notebook of "my sentences". Over a term, that notebook becomes the child's own bank — far more useful than a memorised list of someone else's.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Stacking idioms instead of detail. Replacing 「很生气」 with 「怒发冲冠」 is still a label. Detail first; an idiom only if it truly fits.
- Expanding every sentence. A whole essay of long sentences is tiring to read. Expand the two or three moments that matter most — the turning point and the emotional peak.
- Copying a model verbatim. If the child's version is simple but their own, it is a better starting point than a borrowed one.
- Correcting too fast. If you rewrite the sentence for the child, you have done the exercise for them.
On psle.me, the composition marker's 扩写 coach follows this same order: it shows the original sentence and genre-based questions first, and keeps the model sentence hidden until the child has tried their own (or chosen to skip). If you prefer pen and paper, the routine above does the same job.
Free: submit one composition and try the 扩写 coach on your own thin sentences — the model sentence stays hidden until you have had a go.
试试作文批改与扩写 — Try it free →Idioms work best once the detail is in place. Read next:
Why Children Lose Marks with 成语 →Sources
- Composition is marked out of 40, split into content and language: MOE/SEAB marking scheme for PSLE Chinese composition (check the current figures on seab.gov.sg).
- The 3-question method, the worked sentences and the 10-minute routine are the author's own tutoring practice and are offered as suggestions, not an MOE requirement and not a promise of any result.
- No exam-frequency, prediction or ranking claims are made in this post.