Language knowledge and accuracy in use (grammar, vocabulary, register)
Accuracy is scored inside your oral and written productions, and some exams also include discrete items. The enriched level expects control of complex tenses, varied sentence structure, precise vocabulary, and a register that matches the task.
High-yield grammar
- Simple past vs present perfect: I lived there for five years (finished) vs I have lived there for five years (still true).
- Past perfect for the earlier of two past events: The bus had left before I arrived.
- Conditionals: If it rains, we cancel (first); If I had more time, I would read more (second); If I had known, I would have called (third).
- Articles: a/an for one of many, the for known or unique, zero article for general plurals and abstract nouns.
- Relative clauses: commas for non-defining (My brother, who lives in Laval, …), no commas for defining.
- Modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have + past participle.
Vocabulary and false friends
Build word families (decide / decision / decisive) and collocations (make a decision, take a risk, heavy rain). French interference is the main source of vocabulary error: actually means in fact, not currently; eventually means in the end, not possibly; library is a bibliothèque, not a librairie; to assist is not assister à (= to attend); to pass an exam in Quebec usage means to succeed, so use take an exam. Uncountable nouns: information, advice, news, furniture, research - no plural, no an.
Register
Formal writing avoids contractions, slang, and vague intensifiers. Choose precise verbs over get and do.
Worked example
Original: Since three years, I am living in Montreal and I assist to a French school. Corrected: For three years, I have been living in Montreal and I attend a French-language school. Reasoning: since takes a point in time (since 2021), for takes a duration; ongoing duration needs the present perfect continuous; assist to is a false friend; a French school suggests a school located in France, so French-language is precise. Four error types in one sentence - tense, preposition, false friend, and meaning - which is typical of interference errors.
Traps
- Literal translation of idioms (I have 17 years).
- Comma splices and run-ons.
- its / it's, their / there / they're, student's / students'.
- Overusing very and a lot of.
- Mixing formal and informal register within one text.
- Pluralizing uncountable nouns (informations, advices, furnitures).