Portuguese Language and Written Expression
What the exam tests
Portuguese questions at this level usually combine grammar, orthography and reading comprehension. Know the difference between classe de palavras (substantivo, adjetivo, verbo, advérbio, pronome, preposição, conjunção, interjeição) and função sintática (sujeito, predicado, objeto direto, objeto indireto, complemento nominal, adjunto adverbial). Learn the rules of accentuation (oxítonas, paroxítonas, proparoxítonas), hyphen usage after the Acordo Ortográfico, and agreement (concordância nominal e verbal). For comprehension, practise identifying the tema central and distinguishing fact from opinion.
Traps to expect
Questions often test the difference between mas (but) and mais (more), há (there is / ago) and a (article/preposition), porque / por que / porquê / por quê. Another classic trap is a sentence where the verb looks plural but the subject is a collective noun ("A maioria dos alunos foi/foram"). Also watch for crase (à) before feminine nouns and in time expressions.
Rule of thumb
To find the subject, ask quem? or o quê? before the verb. To test crase, replace the feminine noun with a masculine one: if "ao" appears, use "à".
Worked example
"Os candidatos que estudaram com disciplina obteve/obtiveram aprovação." The subject is Os candidatos (plural), so the verb is obtiveram, even though que estudaram sits between subject and verb.