Language in use and accuracy - grammar, vocabulary range, register and text conventions
There is no separate grammar paper: accuracy and range are assessed inside Paper 1 and the individual oral, and they decide borderline grades. Examiners look for variety of structures, control of the tense system, lexical precision and consistent register.
High-yield grammar for HL
- Ser/estar: es aburrido (a bore) vs está aburrido (bored); es listo vs está listo.
- Por/para: cause, exchange, duration vs purpose, destination, deadline.
- Mood: subjunctive after querer que, es necesario que, no creo que; after para que, antes de que, a menos que, cuando referring to the future.
- Past tenses: indefinido for completed events, imperfecto for background and habit, pluscuamperfecto for the prior event.
- Impersonal and passive se: se observa, se han adoptado medidas.
- Perífrasis: volver a + inf, acabar de + inf, dejar de + inf, soler + inf.
- Agreement traps: el problema, el tema, el idioma (masculine despite -a); la mano.
Worked example
Error: «Es importante que los jóvenes participan en la vida del barrio.» Correction: participen. Reasoning: an impersonal expression of necessity + que introduces a subordinate clause with a different subject, which requires the subjunctive. If the subject were the same (Es importante participar), the infinitive would be correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Anglicisms: tomar una decisión (not realizar), solicitar un puesto (not aplicar para), actualmente = currently.
- One tense dominating the whole text; no conditional or subjunctive at all.
- Accent errors that change meaning: el/él, si/sí, mas/más, esta/está.
- Register drift between paragraphs, especially in letters and reports.
- Vocabulary that stays generic; theme-specific lexis (medio ambiente, identidad, tecnología) lifts the range mark.