The fastest way to lift your Grammatical Range & Accuracy band isn’t learning new structures — it’s eliminating the five errors examiners flag most often. Each one is small in isolation; together they signal Band 6 even when your ideas are Band 7+. Audit your last essay against this list.
Error 1 — Subject-verb agreement
The subject and verb must agree in number. Plural subject → plural verb. The trap: when the subject is far from the verb, students lose track.
Wrong
- The number of accidents have risen.
- One of the students are absent.
- Each of the children have a book.
Right
- The number of accidents has risen. (subject = number)
- One of the students is absent.
- Each of the children has a book.
Error 2 — Countable vs uncountable
Some nouns can’t be pluralised in English even when they look like they should be. Information, advice, research, news, equipment, furniture, knowledge — all uncountable. No informations, no advices, no researches.
- Use much/little for uncountable
- much information, little advice, much research.
- Use many/few for countable
- many studies, few examples, many countries.
- Use a piece of / an item of for countable bits of uncountable
- ‘A piece of advice’, ‘an item of furniture’, ‘a piece of research’.
Error 3 — Preposition mistakes
Wrong prepositions are the single most common Band 6 error. The ones examiners notice most:
- depend ON (not depend of/from)
- “The result depends on the weather.”
- discuss [something] (no ‘about’)
- “We discussed the issue.” not “We discussed about the issue.”
- good AT (not good in)
- “She’s good at maths.”
- interested IN (not interested on/about)
- “He’s interested in design.”
- different FROM (not different than/of)
- “The result was different from what we expected.”
- consist OF (not consist on)
- “The course consists of three modules.”
- in / on / at — the time hierarchy
- in 2024 (year), in March (month), on Monday (day), on 14 March (date), at 3pm (time).
Error 4 — Word-form confusion
Mixing noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms of the same root. Examiners flag this as a Lexical Resource error, not just a grammar one.
Wrong
- The economy growth is steady. (using noun as adjective)
- She is a success writer.
- This is the most easy question.
Right
- The economic growth is steady. (adjective)
- She is a successful writer.
- This is the easiest question. (one-syllable adjectives take -er/-est, not more/most)
Error 5 — Run-on sentences and comma splices
Joining two complete sentences with just a comma is grammatically wrong in English. Use a period, a semicolon, or a coordinating conjunction.
Wrong (comma splice)
Online learning is convenient, it allows students to study at their own pace.
Three correct fixes
- Online learning is convenient; it allows students to study at their own pace.
- Online learning is convenient. It allows students to study at their own pace.
- Online learning is convenient, and it allows students to study at their own pace.
Spot the error
- 1
Which sentence is grammatically correct?
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.
- 2
The number of homeless people _____ doubled over the past decade.
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.