Language Facility
Precision first
Language Facility questions ask whether a sentence says exactly what it means, in the fewest words, at the right level of formality. Three tests cover most items: Is the word accurate? Is the phrasing concise? Does the tone fit the passage?
Accuracy includes connotation and idiom. 'Thrifty' and 'stingy' describe the same spending habit with opposite approval. Idiom covers fixed pairings such as 'different from,' 'capable of,' and 'comply with.' Word pairs that look interchangeable often are not: 'amount' versus 'number,' 'less' versus 'fewer,' 'imply' versus 'infer.'
Conciseness
Wordiness is the most heavily tested style flaw. 'Due to the fact that' becomes 'because'; 'in the event that' becomes 'if'; 'return back' becomes 'return'; 'each and every' becomes 'each.' Redundant phrases such as 'advance planning' or 'past history' say the same thing twice. When two choices are both grammatical, the shorter one that preserves the meaning is almost always correct, but do not cut so far that the sentence loses information the passage needs.
Tone and audience
Test passages are usually academic or workplace prose. Slang, contractions, and chatty asides are too casual, but inflated jargon is equally wrong. Match the register of the surrounding sentences.
Traps
Watch for choices that read more smoothly but slightly change the meaning, and remember that 'No change' is a real option; a plain, correct sentence may need no editing.
Rule of thumb
Substitute each choice and ask which version a careful editor would keep: specific, brief, and consistent in tone with the paragraph.