FY12CE English common mistakes
FY12CE English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing a full sentence with a capital letter at the start but no full stop, question mark or exclamation mark at the end, so a statement, question and command all look identical on the page.
At Entry Level 1 the candidate is still learning that punctuation carries meaning rather than decoration, and spoken intonation (which marks a question in speech) has no written equivalent, so the ending mark is simply forgotten.
What to do instead
Before handing in, read each sentence aloud and ask 'does my voice go up, stay flat, or give an order?' then write ? for the rise, . for flat, ! for an order. Practise by copying five short sentences and adding only the end mark, checking each one against that voice test.
Spelling common high-frequency words phonetically, for example 'wos' for 'was', 'sed' for 'said', 'becos' for 'because', and 'cum' for 'come'.
Entry Level 1 spelling is built on sound-to-letter mapping, and these words are irregular, so the phonics strategy that works for 'cat' and 'dog' produces a plausible but wrong spelling.
What to do instead
Keep a personal list of ten irregular high-frequency words and test them daily by writing the word from memory, then checking letter by letter and marking which letters were wrong. Re-test only the missed words the next day, so effort goes to the words that are actually failing.
Using capital letters in the middle of sentences for common nouns, days and months, or omitting them for 'I' and for proper nouns such as names of people, towns and countries.
Entry Level 2 candidates often apply a rule learned as 'important words get capitals' rather than the actual rule, and they have not yet sorted nouns into the proper/common split.
What to do instead
Build a two-column table headed 'always capital' (I, names of people, towns, countries, days, months) and 'never capital mid-sentence' (table, chair, monday written wrongly, shop). Sort twenty words from a page of text into the columns and check against the original.
Writing a paragraph as one long run-on sentence joined by 'and' or 'then' repeatedly, with no full stops, so several complete ideas are fused into one.
At Entry Level 2 the candidate is producing longer texts than at Entry Level 1 but has not yet learned that a sentence holds one main idea, so the connective becomes a substitute for the full stop.
What to do instead
Draft the paragraph, then underline every 'and', 'then', 'so' and 'but'. At each underlined word, decide whether the words on either side could each stand alone as a sentence; if yes, replace the connective with a full stop and a capital letter. Rewrite and count the sentences to confirm there is more than one.
Writing a formal letter or email to an unknown recipient with 'Hiya', slang, contractions such as 'I'm' and 'can't', and no sign-off, instead of 'Dear Sir or Madam', full forms and 'Yours faithfully'.
Entry Level 3 candidates can write fluently in an informal register and simply transfer their everyday texting and messaging habits into a formal task without recognising that the audience has changed.
What to do instead
Before writing, name the reader in one line ('someone I have never met, in an office') and list the register choices that follow: greeting, full forms instead of contractions, no slang, and a matching sign-off. Use 'Dear Sir or Madam' with 'Yours faithfully' when the name is unknown, and 'Dear Mr Smith' with 'Yours sincerely' when it is known.
Reading a comprehension question and lifting a whole sentence from the passage as the answer, including words that do not answer the question, rather than selecting or paraphrasing the relevant part.
Entry Level 3 questions often use different wording from the text, and copying feels safer than rewording, so the candidate reproduces a nearby sentence instead of locating the specific information requested.
What to do instead
Underline the key word in the question first (who, when, how many, why), then scan the text for that information only, mark it, and write the answer in the candidate's own words in no more than the number of words allowed. Check by asking whether the answer would still make sense if the passage were taken away.
In a Level 1 writing task, producing a text that is accurate in spelling and grammar but does not address the purpose or audience, for example a complaint that never states what the writer wants done, or an article with no structure beyond one block of text.
Candidates focus on sentence-level accuracy because that is what they have practised and been corrected on, and planning for purpose, audience and overall structure is a separate skill that is easy to skip under time pressure.
What to do instead
Spend two minutes before writing on a short plan: one line for purpose, one line for audience, and a bullet for each paragraph (opening, main points, what happens next or conclusion). After drafting, check the plan against the text and add the missing element, usually the requested action or the concluding sentence.
Reading a Level 1 text and answering questions from general knowledge or from the first line only, without locating the evidence in the passage, so inference questions are answered as if they were fact-recall questions.
Level 1 texts include implied meaning, and the candidate has not yet learned to distinguish 'the text says' from 'the text suggests', so guesses are offered without a supporting line.
What to do instead
For every answer, quote or note the line number that supports it, and label each question as 'stated' or 'implied' before answering. If implied, write one sentence beginning 'The text suggests this because...' and check that the reason comes from the passage, not from outside knowledge.
Writing a Level 2 text with accurate sentences but weak cohesion, so paragraphs do not link and the reader cannot follow the line of argument, and using the same connective ('also', 'however') at the start of every paragraph.
At Level 2 the assessment rewards structure and coherence across a whole text, but candidates revise sentence by sentence and never read the draft as a whole, so repeated connectives and missing links go unnoticed.
What to do instead
After drafting, read only the first sentence of each paragraph in sequence; they should make sense as a summary of the argument. Then vary connectives by choosing from a small bank (furthermore, in contrast, as a result, nevertheless) and check that each one states the actual relationship between the two ideas, not just a pause.
In Level 2 reading, confusing fact, opinion and bias, and treating a writer's emotive or one-sided language as neutral reporting, so the answer to an 'attitude' or 'purpose' question is wrong.
Level 2 texts carry tone and stance, and candidates read for content only, skimming past loaded adjectives and unattributed claims because they are focused on what the text is about rather than how it is written.
What to do instead
On a second read, highlight every evaluative or emotive word and every claim with no source. Ask of each paragraph: 'Who says this, and what does the writer want me to feel?' Then state the writer's attitude in one sentence and check it against the highlighted words before answering.