Anglais
L'épreuve d'anglais du DEF teste la compréhension d'un texte court, la connaissance des structures de base et la capacité à produire quelques phrases correctes (message, lettre brève, description). L'essentiel porte sur les temps, les auxiliaires et le vocabulaire usuel de la vie quotidienne.
Tenses that earn marks
- Present simple for habits and facts: « She works in Bamako. »
- Present continuous for actions now: « She is writing a letter. »
- Past simple for finished actions with a date: « They arrived in 2019. »
- Present perfect for a link with the present: « I have lived here since 2015. »
- Future with will or be going to: « It will rain. » / « We are going to travel. »
Structures to control
- Third person singular: add -s in the present simple (he goes, she watches).
- Questions and negatives need do/does/did: « Does he play? » « They did not come. »
- Comparatives: taller, more interesting ; superlatives: the tallest, the most interesting.
- Modals: can (ability), must (obligation), should (advice), followed by the infinitive without to.
- since + a point in time, for + a duration.
Worked example
Choose the correct form: « She ___ (live) in Ségou ___ 2010. »
- The action started in 2010 and continues: present perfect.
- 2010 is a point in time, so we use since, not for.
- Answer: « She has lived in Ségou since 2010. » If the sentence read « She lived in Ségou in 2010 », the past simple would mark a finished period.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing « he don't » or « Did you went? ».
- Using for with a date and since with a duration.
- Forgetting the -s at the third person in the present simple.
- Translating French false friends: actually means in fact, not actuellement.
- Writing a paragraph without capital letters or full stops.