BGCSE English Language common mistakes
BGCSE English Language · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering comprehension questions by copying out an entire sentence or half a paragraph from the passage instead of selecting only the words that actually answer the question.
Candidates believe a long quotation guarantees credit and worry that putting the answer in their own words will lose accuracy; under time pressure, copying also feels faster than thinking.
What to do instead
Enforce a short-quote rule: state the point in your own words first, then add no more than six to ten quoted words as evidence. Practise trimming a lifted sentence down to the single clause that carries the answer, and check that the answer still makes sense if the quotation is removed.
Answering only part of a multi-part question, for example giving one reason when two are asked, or explaining 'how' something happens with only a statement of 'what' happens.
The question is read once quickly and writing starts after the first instruction; the second demand often sits after 'and' or on a second line, and the command word is skimmed rather than decoded.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the command word and number each required element in the margin (1, 2, 3). Write each required point on its own line and tick it off, so missing parts are visible before you move on.
Writing narrative compositions as a flat chronological list of events ('then... after that... in the end') with no turning point, no shaping of time, and an ending that simply stops.
Candidates transfer spoken storytelling habits straight onto the page and begin writing within seconds of reading the prompt, so the piece has no structure imposed on it before drafting starts.
What to do instead
Spend four to five minutes planning five boxes: hook, set-up, complication, turning point, final image. Draft only after the plan is fixed, and open in the middle of action or with a striking detail rather than with 'One day I woke up'.
Writing a discursive or persuasive essay that presents only one side of the issue, or that argues both sides but never states a clear overall position.
Candidates equate force and length with persuasiveness, and treat concession as weakness; they also confuse 'discuss' with 'argue strongly for one view'.
What to do instead
Assign each paragraph a job before writing: position, support, concession, rebuttal, conclusion. The concession paragraph must be answered in the next paragraph, and the introduction must state the position the essay will defend.
Producing comma splices and run-on sentences in own writing, joining two complete sentences with only a comma or with 'however' instead of a full stop, semicolon or conjunction.
Candidates punctuate by ear, placing a comma wherever they would pause for breath, and have not been trained to test whether each side of a comma could stand alone.
What to do instead
Apply a two-second boundary test to every comma in the draft: if both sides can stand alone as sentences, replace the comma with a full stop, a semicolon, or a conjunction such as 'because' or 'although'. Check 'however', 'therefore' and 'moreover' separately, since they need a full stop or semicolon before them and a comma after.
Reaching for long 'impressive' words and stock phrases used imprecisely ('utilise', 'very unique', 'at this moment in time', 'a lot of'), so meaning becomes vague, inflated or plainly wrong.
Candidates have been told that ambitious vocabulary earns marks and believe length signals sophistication, so they substitute longer words without checking that the meaning survives the substitution.
What to do instead
Apply a precision test: would a shorter everyday word say exactly what you mean? Prefer 'use' to 'utilise' and 'now' to 'at this moment in time'. Keep a list of five connectives and five precise evaluative adjectives you can use correctly, and cut any word you could not define aloud.
Summarising by copying sentences verbatim, including examples and quotations, and/or running well past the stated word limit.
Under time pressure, lifting feels safer than rewording, and candidates do not distinguish main points from supporting illustration or realise that examples are not summary points.
What to do instead
Read the passage twice, numbering the main points in the margin before writing anything. Write one sentence per point in your own words, using noun phrases rather than full copied clauses, then count words and cut examples and quotations first when trimming.
Ignoring the conventions of the required form in functional and media tasks, for example writing an article with no headline, a formal letter with no addresses or salutation, a report with no who/what/when/where, or a speech that never addresses the audience.
Candidates focus entirely on content and treat the form as decoration; many have never seen a model of the less familiar forms such as reports or press releases.
What to do instead
Build a one-line checklist per form (headline, byline and subheading for an article; addresses, date, salutation and sign-off for a formal letter; audience address and direct appeal for a speech) and tick it before starting to write. Two minutes of checking layout protects a whole band of marks.
Leaving homophone and apostrophe errors in own writing: their/there/they're, its/it's, quiet/quite, of/have, practice/practise, and plural possessives written as 'student's' when several students are meant.
The writer reads for meaning, not for surface, so the brain silently corrects the slip; there is no spellchecker in an examination and the errors were never on a personal watch-list.
What to do instead
Keep a personal hit-list of your own recurring slips and check only those five or six items in the final minutes. Test each apostrophe with the expansion rule: if 'it is' fits, use 'it's'; if not, use 'its'.
Finishing the paper at the bell with no proofreading time, or correcting errors with heavy scribbles and arrows that make the final text unreadable.
Candidates draft until the last second because they believe more words earn more marks, and they underestimate how many marks surface errors cost across all sections.
What to do instead
Budget the last five minutes as proofreading time and treat it as a fixed appointment, not a luxury. Proofread one sentence at a time aloud in your head, correct with a single clean line through the error and the revision written above, and never cross out so heavily that the marker cannot read the replacement.