Anglais - Bac TSE (Mali)
What the exam tests
The English paper of the Bac TSE usually combines a reading comprehension passage with grammar and vocabulary tasks, plus a short guided composition. It checks whether you can find information in a text, use tenses and structures correctly, and write a short, organised paragraph on a familiar topic.
Core rules
- Present perfect with since (a starting point) and for (a duration): since 2019, for three years.
- Past simple for a finished action at a known time; present perfect when the time is not specified or the effect is still present.
- Passive: be + past participle; with verbs taking two objects, either object can become the subject.
- Reported speech: backshift the tense (will → would, can → could) and shift time and place words (tomorrow → the next day, here → there).
- Third conditional for an unreal past: If + had + V-ed, would have + V-ed.
Worked example
Direct: The nurse gave the child an injection. Passive: The child was given an injection.
Reasoning: give takes two objects - the direct object (an injection) and the indirect object (the child). Either can become the subject. We keep the past simple (gave), so the passive uses was + past participle given. The agent (by the nurse) is optional and can be dropped when it is obvious or unimportant.
Reported speech example: « I will come tomorrow », she said becomes She said she would come the next day. Three changes: pronoun, tense backshift, time word.
Traps that cost marks
- False friends: actually means en fait, not actuellement; to assist means aider, not assister à (which is to attend).
- Forgetting the -s on third-person singular verbs in the simple present.
- Using informations, advices or furnitures: these nouns are uncountable.
- Mixing up for and since in present perfect sentences.
- Writing a composition of one long sentence without paragraphs.