Berlin Abitur English (3rd subject / GK): Language, Grammar and Vocabulary in Context (Sprachliche Mittel)

How language is tested here

The Berlin written Abitur has no isolated grammar section. Grammar, vocabulary and register are assessed where they are used - in the analysis essay, the writing task and the mediation task - as part of the sprachliche Leistung (Ausdrucksvermögen and Sprachrichtigkeit). An error that obscures meaning costs more than a spelling slip, and a recurring error type signals a systematic gap and depresses the language mark far more than one isolated mistake.

Structures that decide marks

Tense and aspect: present perfect for present relevance vs. past simple for finished time; past perfect for anteriority (Before the law was passed, critics had warned ...).
Conditionals: types 1–3 plus mixed; If she had known, she would have acted; inversion Had she known, ...; would never appears in the if-clause.
Passive and impersonal constructions: It is widely assumed that ..., The policy is said to have failed.
Modality: must vs. have to; mustn't (prohibition) vs. needn't (no necessity); needn't have done (did it unnecessarily) vs. didn't need to do (it was not necessary).
Reported speech with backshift: He said (that) he had ....
Gerund and infinitive: look forward to hearing, be used to doing vs. used to do.
Relative clauses: defining vs. non-defining; which referring to a whole clause.
Cohesion: however, nevertheless, whereas, thus, thereby, admittedly, consequently. German also at the start of a sentence usually means therefore/so, not also.
Word formation: un-, in-, dis-, mis-; -ness, -ity, -ment, -ise.

Register and false friends

Formal writing: no contractions, no things, a lot of becomes considerable, get becomes obtain or become. False friends: actual = tatsächlich (not aktuell), eventually = schließlich (not eventuell), sensible = vernünftig (not sensibel), become = werden (not bekommen), chef = Koch, handy = praktisch (not Handy), gym = Fitnessstudio (not Gymnasium).

Worked example

Incorrect: If I would have known about the deadline, I would have sent the draft earlier. Correct: If I had known about the deadline, I would have sent the draft earlier. Reasoning: the if-clause carries the unreal condition, so it takes the past perfect; would belongs to the main clause. The inversion test confirms it: Had I known ... is possible, Would I have known ... is not.

Traps that cost marks

Double conjunction: Although ... but.
Despite of, since used with a point in time.
Uncountables given plurals: informations, advices, researches, evidences.
The most of the people, comma splices, German word order after an introductory adverb (In 2020 the government introduced ...).
Using the same linker in every paragraph instead of varying and ranking ideas.