ЦТ English Language common mistakes
ЦТ English Language · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Choosing an answer because a word in the option matches a word in the passage, without checking that the option actually restates the idea in the text.
Under time pressure candidates scan for lexical overlap and stop at the first familiar word, so distractors built by copying vocabulary from the passage feel 'safe' and are selected before the meaning is verified.
What to do instead
Before marking an option, cover the options and paraphrase the relevant sentence in your own words, then pick the option closest to your paraphrase; reject any option whose support you cannot point to in one specific sentence.
Answering global questions (main idea, best title, author's purpose) from the first paragraph alone or from a single striking detail.
Candidates read the opening, feel they understand the gist, and answer immediately; they never build a whole-text map, so a vivid example in paragraph one is mistaken for the thesis.
What to do instead
Read the whole passage once at moderate speed, write a three-to-five-word label for each paragraph, then answer global questions from the labels; the correct main-idea option must cover all paragraphs, not just one.
Treating 'True/False/Not given' or inference items as personal-knowledge questions, marking 'True' because the statement is factually plausible in the real world.
Candidates confuse truth in the world with truth in the text, and they also confuse 'not stated' with 'false' because both feel like the statement is unsupported.
What to do instead
For each statement, locate the exact line; if the text confirms it, mark True; if the text contradicts it, mark False; if no line confirms or contradicts it, mark Not given. Write the line number beside your answer before moving on.
Filling gaps by translating the whole sentence from the native language and choosing the option that 'sounds right' in translation, ignoring the grammatical frame of the English sentence.
Translation feels faster than analysis, and the candidate's first language often marks tense, aspect, or article differently, so a grammatically wrong option sounds natural.
What to do instead
Identify the grammatical slot first (what the gap needs: a finite verb, a participle, a noun, an article), list the two or three options that fit that slot, then use meaning and collocation to choose among them.
Ignoring the word after or before the gap when choosing between gerund and infinitive, or between present perfect and past simple.
Candidates memorise verb-pattern lists but do not check the sentence context, so they miss signals such as 'look forward to', 'used to', 'since 2019', or 'yesterday'.
What to do instead
Circle the time marker or the governing word before each gap and write the rule it triggers in the margin; practise by classifying twenty sentences by trigger word before answering any of them.
Choosing a synonym from a mental list without checking register, collocation, or the grammatical pattern the word requires.
Vocabulary is often learned as one-to-one translation pairs, so near-synonyms are treated as interchangeable; the candidate does not know that 'do a mistake' or 'make a research' are impossible.
What to do instead
Learn new words in a phrase, not alone: record the noun that collocates with the verb, the preposition that follows the adjective, and one formal and one informal example. When answering, test the whole phrase aloud.
Answering situational items with a grammatically correct but pragmatically wrong reply, for example responding to an offer with a bare 'Yes' or omitting the expected formula in a formal letter.
Candidates focus on grammar and ignore the function of the utterance (request, apology, invitation, complaint) and the relationship between speakers, which determines politeness and formulaic language.
What to do instead
Label each prompt by function and by register before looking at options, then eliminate any reply that does not perform that function or that mixes formal and informal markers.
Leaving punctuation to intuition in complex sentences, especially comma splices, missing commas after introductory clauses, and apostrophes in plurals.
Speech gives no punctuation cues, and candidates have never been taught to test whether each clause could stand alone, so two independent clauses are joined with a comma.
What to do instead
Run a two-question check on every sentence: can each side of the comma stand alone (if yes, use a full stop, semicolon, or conjunction), and is the apostrophe showing possession or a contraction rather than a plural?
Writing a paragraph or short text with no controlling idea and no linking devices, so each sentence introduces a new topic.
Candidates generate sentences one at a time under exam pressure and never plan, so cohesion is left to chance and the reader must infer the connections.
What to do instead
Spend two minutes on a three-line plan: topic sentence, two supporting points, conclusion. Then insert explicit linkers (however, therefore, in addition) and check that every sentence relates to the topic sentence.
Spending the same time on every item and running out of time on the final reading passage, leaving answers blank or guessing randomly.
Candidates treat the paper as a test of thoroughness rather than of scoring efficiency, so they linger on one difficult item instead of banking the easy marks first.
What to do instead
Do two passes: answer all items you can resolve in under a minute, mark the rest, then return with the remaining time. Never leave a blank, since an eliminated-option guess still has value.