Langue vivante étrangère (anglais)
The English paper assesses reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, translation, and guided writing. Answers must be in English except the translation into French.
Core grammar
- Tenses: present perfect for past actions with present relevance; past simple for finished past.
- Reported speech: backshift (present to past, will to would, can to could) and pronoun/time changes.
- Conditionals: type 1 (if + present, will), type 2 (if + past, would + infinitive), type 3 (if + past perfect, would have + past participle).
- Passive: be + past participle, keeping the tense.
- Linking words: however, therefore, although, whereas.
Worked example
Direct: She said, 'I have finished my work.' Reported: She said that she had finished her work. Reasoning: the present perfect becomes past perfect; the pronoun I becomes she; the time reference does not change if the statement was recent.
Guided essay
Use an introduction with a clear thesis, two body paragraphs with an argument and an example, and a conclusion. Prefer precise vocabulary to vague intensifiers.
Traps
- False friends: actually means en fait; eventually means finalement; attend means assister à.
- Literal translation: « Il fait froid » becomes It is cold, not It makes cold.
- Forgetting the third-person -s or irregular past forms.
- Copying full sentences in comprehension when a short answer is required.