amounts of verbose text and neglect the actual quality of the contents. <ref>The Cantonese slang is presumably derived from the word "吹水" (Jyutping: Ceoi1 Seoi2, lit. blowing saliva), as defined in Comparative Database of Modern Chinese and Cantonese Vocabulary, developed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which is equivalent to "吹牛" (Pinyin:Chūi Niu) in Modern Chinese. The latter is defined in Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage as "bragging".</ref> In 2005, the format of the Reading Comprehension paper was changed from speed reading of various articles to fine reading of only three articles, without prior notice. The move stirred up much controversy from some candidates, some of whom teased the words in one of the comprehension texts. The HKEAA reiterated its stance that there has not ever been a "specific" format for the exam and insisted that there was nothing wrong with the paper. In the Listening exam of 2007, there was a part asking students to determine whether marked sentences were correct or not, based on the whole recording. There were 10 questions, carrying 2 marks each. In that part, if a candidate answered a question correctly, 2 marks were awarded but if the question was answered, 2 marks were deducted. No marks were given or deducted for blank answers. A candidate who answered all the questions, with no more than 5 being correct, would end up having no marks for that section, but if 5 were correct, 10 marks were given. That stirred up controversy among candidates, who claimed that the marking scheme was not fair. They said that all questions were compulsory so there should not be any advantage to those who left some of the blanks empty by deducting marks for wrong answers. The HKEAA said that it had been in practice for years to prevent students guessing answers, but in fact, this type of marking had appeared only in table-type questions in which candidates were required to tick some of the boxes in the table but not in questions in which all blanks were to be filled. List of subjects Although the number of subjects offered was large, choices were limited as each school could offer only a few subjects on the list for budget constraints, restrictions on combinations of subjects and the actual time allowed to cover the large syllabus of different subjects. In addition, some of the subjects were unpopular. One