Grammar is one of CELPIP's 4 writing scoring pillars. A single repeated mistake can drop you an entire CLB band. Here are the 7 most common patterns and how to fix them.
1. Missing or wrong articles (a / an / the)
'I saw doctor yesterday.' → 'I saw the doctor yesterday.' Articles are invisible to ESL speakers but loud to graders. Quick rule: if you can ask 'which one?' → use 'the'. First mention of something general → 'a/an'.
2. Subject–verb agreement
'Every student have to…' → 'Every student has to…'. Watch 'everyone', 'each', 'one of', 'neither' — all singular.
3. Tense shifting inside a paragraph
'I visited Vancouver last year. It is a beautiful city and I enjoy the weather.' → Pick a tense and stick with it for the whole description. 'It was a beautiful city and I enjoyed the weather.'
4. Countable vs uncountable nouns
'many informations' / 'many advices' are red flags. These are uncountable: information, advice, equipment, furniture, knowledge. Use 'much' or 'a piece of'.
5. Preposition misuse
- 'married with' → 'married to'
- 'discuss about' → 'discuss' (no preposition)
- 'depends of' → 'depends on'
- 'in the weekend' → 'on the weekend' (Canadian usage)
6. Pronoun ambiguity
'When Sarah talked to her sister, she was angry.' → who was angry? Clarify: 'Sarah was angry when she talked to her sister.'
7. Sentence fragments
'Because of the delay.' is a fragment. Attach it to a main clause: 'I missed the bus because of the delay.' Fragments are the #1 reason candidates drop from CLB 9 to 8.