English - grammar, tenses and comprehension
The English paper checks grammar accuracy, tense choice, basic vocabulary and the ability to understand a short text and answer in English. Marks are lost less on difficult words than on small structural errors repeated in every sentence.
Core grammar
- Present simple: -s at the third person singular (she works). Use it for habits and facts.
- Present continuous: be + -ing, for actions happening now or temporary situations.
- Present perfect: have/has + past participle, for a past action with a link to the present; use since with a starting point, for with a duration.
- Past simple: finished actions with a stated or implied past time.
- Comparatives: short adjectives take -er, long adjectives take more; irregular forms: good → better → best, bad → worse → worst.
- Question tags and short answers follow the auxiliary: «She doesn't like tea, does she?»
Exemple rédigé
Choose the correct form: «She ___ (work) in Conakry ___ 2019.»
- Identify the time marker: 2019 is a starting point, so the action began in the past and continues now - the present perfect is required, not the past simple.
- The subject «she» takes «has», not «have».
- The past participle of «work» is «worked».
- A starting point takes «since»; a duration would take «for». Answer: «She has worked in Conakry since 2019.» Compare: «She has worked there for six years.»
Traps that cost marks
- Using the past simple with «since»: «She works there since 2019» is wrong.
- False friends: «actually» means «in fact», not «currently»; «library» is a bibliothèque, «librairie» is a bookshop; «to assist» means to help.
- Forgetting the -s: «he go» instead of «he goes».
- Answering a comprehension question in French or copying the whole paragraph instead of a short targeted answer.
- Irregular past forms: go → went, buy → bought, take → took, write → wrote.