Moderating a Writing Script: Case, Ambiguity and Mark
You are moderating the writing component of a mock IM Arabic paper. A candidate's 120-word essay on 'My town' contains four sentences you must judge: (1) إنّ المدينة جميلةً جدًا. (2) قابلت مدير الشركة الجديد في المطار. (3) كان الطلاب يلعبون في الساحة عندما بدأت تمطر. (4) ذهبت أنا وأخي إلى السوق. The mark scheme gives 4 marks for grammatical accuracy and 2 for range. The first marker awarded 5/6, arguing that everything is understandable and that sentence 4 is a nice touch. You notice that sentence 1 carries a case ending that may be wrong, sentence 2 is ambiguous in a way the essay does not resolve, and the candidate crossed out 'مش' in the margin. The candidate is aiming for a grade 4. You must finalise the mark and write one comment that the candidate can act on.
1. Explain the grammatical status of sentence 1 and decide whether it is an error.
Read the worked answer
After إنّ, the subject is accusative and the predicate is nominative: 'إنّ المدينةَ جميلةٌ'. The candidate has 'جميلةً', which is accusative, so the case ending is wrong. This is not a dialect feature or a stylistic variant; it is a high-frequency structure that IM candidates are expected to control. It is one clear error, not a catastrophic one. In a 4-mark accuracy scale, I would deduct 1 and record it as a case error, because the sentence is still understandable. The candidate should be told to check the predicate after إنّ and its sisters.
2. Analyse the ambiguity in sentence 2 and show how the candidate could disambiguate it.
Read the worked answer
'قابلت مدير الشركة الجديد في المطار' has two attachment ambiguities. First, 'الجديد' can modify 'مدير' ('the new director of the company') or 'الشركة' ('the director of the new company'). Second, 'في المطار' can attach to 'قابلت' ('I met ... at the airport') or to the noun phrase ('the new director at the airport'). The essay does not resolve either. To disambiguate the first, use 'المدير الجديد للشركة' or 'مدير الشركة التي تأسست حديثًا'. To disambiguate the second, move the phrase: 'في المطار قابلت المدير الجديد للشركة'. At IM, this is a clarity issue; it shows the candidate attempted a complex structure but did not control it.
3. Finalise the mark and write one comment for the candidate. Address the crossed-out 'مش'.
Read the worked answer
I would finalise 4/6: accuracy 3/4 (one clear case error; sentence 2 is not a grammar error but is unclear), range 1/2 (the essay is understandable but the one complex structure is uncontrolled). The first marker's 5/6 is defensible if range is read generously, so record the moderation reason rather than simply overriding. Comment: 'Check the predicate after إنّ; make the modifier in sentence 2 attach to one noun only; keep the emphatic pronoun in sentence 4 if you want, but be consistent. The crossed-out مش is not penalised because it is not part of the final text, but do not use it in formal writing.'