Vocabulary marking: when to accept a synonym the key does not list
Forty students answered a 5-item vocabulary section based on a 180-word unseen passage about a weekly village market. Each item is worth 1 mark and asks for a word or phrase from the passage that means the same as the given word. Item 3 asks for a word meaning "meagre"; the key is "small in quantity". Nine students wrote "not enough". Item 5 asks for the meaning of the underlined expression "he lives from hand to mouth"; the key is "he has just enough money for his daily needs". Fourteen students wrote "he eats with his hands" and two wrote "he works with his hands". The rest are correct. The head examiner's note says markers may accept any answer that carries the same meaning in context. You have one period before the paper is returned.
1. Rule on the nine "not enough" answers, giving the criteria you applied.
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Accept all nine: 1 mark each.
Criteria for accepting an unlisted answer:
- Same sense in this sentence. "Meagre" describes a small, insufficient amount; "not enough" carries both the smallness and the insufficiency, so it fits the passage's point about a thin market day.
- Fits the grammar of the item. The item asks for a word or phrase, so a phrase is admissible. If it had said "a single word", the answer would not qualify.
- No added or lost meaning. "Not enough" adds nothing the context contradicts. A word like "poor" would have needed a second look, because it can describe quality as well as quantity.
Why this is the right call: the question tests comprehension, not whether the student can reproduce the key. A marker who rejects "not enough" is marking memory of the answer sheet, not reading. Note the decision on the script so a moderation sample can see the reasoning.
2. Rule on the "hand to mouth" answers and say what you will do in the next lesson.
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Award 0 for all sixteen, but do not write "careless".
"He eats with his hands" and "he works with his hands" treat the idiom as a set of separate words. An idiom's meaning is not built from its parts, so a literal reading is not a near-miss - it is a different meaning. The marking is defensible; the teaching is not yet done.
Next lesson, 15 minutes:
- Put the sentence back on the board and ask: "If he has just enough money for each day, what does that tell us about his savings?" Build the meaning from the context before revealing the phrase.
- Give three short context sentences with the same idiom and ask students to choose the correct paraphrase - this trains the strategy of reading round the expression.
- Name the trap: "If the phrase sounds like a picture of hands, stop; ask what the whole sentence is saying about money."
Also check whether the idiom was ever taught in class. If it was not, count the item as a bonus in this test and teach it properly rather than leaving sixteen students with a zero they cannot explain.
3. Write one inference item from the passage that cannot be answered by copying, with its model answer.
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Item (1 mark): "The writer says the market is 'over by noon'. What does this suggest about how far the villagers have travelled? Use one detail from the passage."
Model answer: "It suggests most of them have come from nearby villages: if they had travelled a long way, they would have needed the whole day to make the journey worth the trip. The passage says the stalls are packed up and the road is empty by early afternoon."
Why this is inference rather than copying: the words "nearby" and "long way" appear nowhere in the passage. The student must combine the closing time with the effort of travel and reach a conclusion. The requirement to use a detail keeps the answer anchored, and the phrasing "what does this suggest" signals that a supported guess is what is wanted. Mark 1 for a conclusion plus a relevant detail, 0.5 for a conclusion with no support.