Language accuracy, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary
Language accuracy is marked across the paper. The examiner looks for control: sentence boundaries, agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, punctuation, spelling and precise vocabulary.
Core rules
- Every sentence needs a main clause; join clauses with a conjunction, semicolon or full stop, not a comma.
- Make subjects and verbs agree; with 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Keep tense consistent unless time shifts are signalled.
- Use apostrophes for possession and contraction; 'its' is possessive, 'it's' means it is.
- Prefer concrete verbs: 'strode' not 'walked quickly'.
- Check commas around non-defining relative clauses.
Worked example
Incorrect: 'Neither the teachers nor the head girl were happy with the timetable, it was changed too late.' Correction: 'Neither the teachers nor the head girl was happy with the timetable; it was changed only a week before term.' Reasoning: the verb agrees with the nearer singular subject 'head girl'; the comma splice becomes a semicolon because both parts are independent clauses. 'Too late' is replaced by a precise time phrase.
Traps
- Comma splices and run-ons.
- Shifting from past to present mid-narrative.
- 'Could of' for 'could have'.
- Missing apostrophes in possessives.
- Using a thesaurus word whose connotation you do not know.
Proofread for one error type at a time.