Three Days to the Exam: Choosing Which Grammar Errors to Reteach
Ravi, a Grade 10 student in a class of 35, submits a diary entry three days before the summative exam. The entry reads: 'Yesterday my friend was gave a prize by the principal. He said that he will work hard. Each of the students were happy. I have seen him in the morning before he had left.' The teacher has one 20-minute revision slot and cannot reteach the whole grammar syllabus. The exam blueprint gives 8 marks to grammar: voice, reported speech, concord, tenses, articles and prepositions. Ravi's other errors include missing articles in two places. The teacher wants to choose two error types that will help the largest number of students and that are most likely to appear in the transformation tasks. Several students in the class make the same concord error with 'each', and the reported speech error appears in 14 of 35 notebooks.
1. Identify the four errors and rank the two you would reteach first for this class. Justify using frequency and exam weight.
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Errors:
- 'was gave' → 'was given' (passive voice; the prize is received, not giving).
- 'He said that he will work hard' → 'he would work hard' (reported speech backshift).
- 'Each of the students were happy' → 'was happy' (concord: each is singular).
- 'I have seen him in the morning before he had left' → 'I saw him in the morning before he left' or 'I had seen him ... before he left' (tense sequence).
Rank first: reported speech, then concord. Reason: the reported-speech error appears in 14 of 35 notebooks, so it is the most frequent and will affect the transformation question directly. Concord is systematic and quick to reteach with a minimal pair; it also improves writing. The passive error 'was gave' is serious but appears as a single item in this sample, so it can be handled in individual feedback. With 20 minutes, two rule-focused fixes are more useful than four scattered corrections.
2. Rewrite Ravi's entry correctly and explain the minimal pair for 'each' concord.
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Corrected entry: 'Yesterday my friend was given a prize by the principal. He said that he would work hard. Each of the students was happy. I saw him in the morning before he had left.'
Minimal pair for concord: 'Each of the students was happy' vs 'All of the students were happy.' 'Each' focuses on individuals one by one and takes a singular verb. 'All' focuses on the group and takes a plural verb. Do not let the plural noun 'students' pull the verb into the plural; the subject head is 'each.'
3. A student claims 'He said that he will work hard' is correct because the work is still future. How do you respond without confusing the class?
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Say: 'You are right that the work may still be in the future. In real conversation, many speakers keep 'will' when the promise is still open. But this exam tests the reported-speech rule: after a past reporting verb like 'said,' the future 'will' normally backshifts to 'would.' So for this transformation, write 'He said that he would work hard.' If the reporting verb were present-'He says that he will work hard'-'will' would be correct.' This avoids telling the student that 'will' is always wrong and gives a clear exam rule.