Langue anglaise : reading comprehension, language tasks and short writing
The English test in the Lettres and Philosophy stream consists of three parts: a reading passage followed by comprehension questions, language tasks (grammar, vocabulary, sometimes pronunciation), and a short written production of roughly eight to twelve lines. The exam checks whether you can find information, explain it in your own words, and use basic structures accurately.
Reading comprehension
- Scan the passage for the main idea, usually in the title or the first and last sentences of each paragraph.
- Answer the exact question word: how, why, who, where, when. A why question needs a because-clause or a consequence, not a repetition.
- Reference questions (what does it refer to) require the noun phrase, not the pronoun.
- Find synonyms in context: the answer must fit the sentence, not the dictionary list.
- Inference questions ask what is implied, so the answer is not written word for word in the text.
Language tasks to master
- Tenses: present simple versus present continuous, past simple versus present perfect, future forms.
- Passive voice: the object of the active sentence becomes the subject.
- Conditionals: if + present, will; if + past, would; if + had done, would have done.
- Reported speech: back-shift of tenses, changes in time markers and pronouns.
- Comparatives and superlatives, and modals of obligation and advice.
Worked example: passive transformation
Active sentence: The teacher explained the lesson to the pupils.
Reasoning: identify the object of the verb, the lesson, and make it the subject. The verb explained is in the past simple, so the passive needs was plus the past participle explained. The indirect object to the pupils can remain. Result: The lesson was explained to the pupils by the teacher. The agent is kept only when it adds information; here it can be dropped.
Worked example: third conditional
Prompt: he did not revise, so he failed. Rewrite with if.
Reasoning: the situation is in the past and cannot change, so the past perfect goes in the if-clause and would have plus past participle in the main clause: If he had revised, he would have passed. Keep the negative and positive logic consistent.
Traps that cost marks
- Copying whole sentences from the text as answers.
- Translating word for word from French or Arabic, producing structures that do not exist in English.
- Forgetting the tense change after a past reporting verb.
- Writing fewer than the required number of lines in the writing task, or omitting the given notes.