Editing a Short Paragraph Under Time Pressure
In the grammar section, candidates must correct five errors in a 45-word paragraph. The paragraph reads: «من دیروز به مدرسه می‌روم. دوستم کتاب‌ها را آورد. ما در کلاس نشسته است. معلم ما را درس می‌دهد. آن‌ها دانش‌آموز خوب هستند. من فردا به خانه رفتم.» Each correction is worth one mark; no mark is given for rewriting the paragraph. The candidate has ten minutes. He spots the two tense errors immediately and corrects them to رفتم and خواهم رفت. He then stops, because the remaining sentences ‘sound fine’ to him. He is less confident about «ما را درس می‌دهد», which he has heard in speech, and about «دانش‌آموز خوب هستند», which he thinks is acceptable because ‘آن‌ها’ is plural. He has five minutes left and is considering copying the whole paragraph neatly with his two corrections.
1. Identify the three uncorrected errors and rank them by how seriously they affect meaning; explain why the ‘ما را’ error is still a grammar error even if understandable.
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The three uncorrected errors are: «ما در کلاس نشسته است» should be «ما در کلاس نشسته‌ایم», because the subject is first-person plural; «معلم ما را درس می‌دهد» should be «معلم به ما درس می‌دهد», because the verb «درس دادن» takes the preposition «به» for the person taught; and «آن‌ها دانش‌آموز خوب هستند» should be «آن‌ها دانش‌آموزان خوبی هستند», because a plural subject needs a plural predicate and the indefinite form is more natural. The subject–verb agreement error is the most serious because it makes the sentence internally contradictory. The predicate-number error is next because it sounds visibly nonstandard in written Persian. The preposition error is least likely to block understanding, since a listener can guess the meaning, but it is still a grammar error: the exam tests the correct construction of «درس دادن به کسی», not mere intelligibility. Spoken usage does not make a nonstandard preposition acceptable in a formal correction task.
2. Should he copy the paragraph neatly with only two corrections? Explain with reference to the instruction and mark allocation.
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No. The instruction says to correct the errors, not to rewrite the paragraph, and no mark is given for neat copying. Copying would consume most of his remaining five minutes and leave the three uncorrected errors untouched. It could also introduce new mistakes in spelling or spacing. The efficient method is to edit in place: cross out only the wrong word or ending and write the correction above it. That makes each correction visible to the examiner and preserves time for checking the remaining sentences. Since each correction is worth one mark, finding one more error is worth more than producing a clean copy. He should spend the five minutes scanning for subject–verb agreement, predicate number and verb prepositions, then stop.
3. For «من فردا به خانه رفتم», is «خواهم رفت» the only acceptable correction? Justify.
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No, it is not the only acceptable correction, but it is the safest. The error is the past tense «رفتم» with the future time marker «فردا». In modern formal Persian, the present tense can also express future time, so «من فردا به خانه می‌روم» is defensible. However, in a grammar exercise that asks for correction, «خواهم رفت» is unambiguous: it marks future time explicitly and removes any doubt about the tense. The candidate should therefore choose «خواهم رفت» if only one answer is expected, and can mention the present-tense alternative only if the paper invites explanation. «رفتم» cannot stand because it contradicts «فردا»; the correction must change the tense, not merely add a word.