3.3 Error-Identification Strategies

3.3 Error-Identification Strategies

Quick Answer: iTEP Grammar Part 2 gives you 12 sentences. Each has four underlined segments; you choose the segment that is grammatically wrong. You are not asked to fix it—only to locate the error. Work left to right, run a short error checklist, and finish every item before the 10-minute section ends.

How Part 2 differs from Part 1

In completion items, three options are wrong and one builds a correct sentence. In error identification, three underlined spans are fine and one is broken. That flips your mindset:

On-screen examples precede Part 2 as well. Confirm that clicking an option means “this underline is the error,” not “this is the best rewrite.”

The left-to-right scan (core method)

Step 1 — Read the whole sentence for meaning once. Understand who did what, and when. Meaning often reveals tense or connector problems before you stare at underlines.

Step 2 — Inspect each underlined span in order. For every span, ask: If this piece stood alone in a correct sentence of this type, would it still be legal?

Step 3 — Apply a six-point error checklist (memorize it):

1. Subject–verb agreement (true subject vs nearest noun; there is/are; quantifiers)
2. Tense and aspect (time markers; sequence; unnecessary shifts)
3. Pronoun reference and case (who/whom, its/it’s type faults in written form, unclear antecedents)
4. Word form (adjective/adverb; noun/verb; comparative/superlative degree)
5. Nonfinite form and voice (gerund vs infinitive; active vs passive mismatch)
6. Parallelism and connectors (lists; not only…but also; either…or; despite vs although)

Step 4 — Confirm the other three spans are clean. Strong test takers often feel “something is wrong” early; still verify you did not invent an error in a correct academic phrase.

Step 5 — Select the bad span and move on. If two spans still look suspicious after ~30 seconds, prefer the one that violates a hard rule (agreement, form) over a span that is merely awkward style. Guess if needed—no penalty.

Common error homes on structure tests

Agreement

Errors often sit on the verb while a long prepositional phrase separates subject and verb:

Teaching stem (original): The quality of the transcribed interviews were lower than expected, which surprised the supervisor.

The bad span is were (should be was to agree with quality). Than, surprised, and the noun quality can all be fine.

Tense / aspect

Look for impossible combinations: present perfect with finished past time (yesterday), or missing past perfect when one past action clearly precedes another.

By the time the dean arrived, the students already leave the auditorium and the lights were off.

Here already leave is the clear break (need had already left).

Parallel structure

Lists and correlative pairs must share form:

The program helps students to plan research, collecting data carefully, and present findings clearly.

If three underlines mark to plan, collecting, and present, the non-parallel collecting (or whichever breaks the series) is the error—depending on how the stem standardizes the pattern. Train to force all three legs into the same shape.

Comparatives

Watch double marking (more easier), incomplete comparisons (larger than any city when any other city is required), and illogical comparees (The salary of a nurse is higher than a teacher → compare salary to salary).

Conditionals and subjunctive

After if clauses and after verbs like recommend that, form is tightly constrained. A present indicative may be wrong where a past or subjunctive form is required.

Connectors and clause structure

Despite she was late is wrong (despite + NP or despite the fact that + clause; or use although + clause). Underlines often isolate the connector or the clause marker that creates the fracture.

Worked error-identification examples (original)

Example 1 — agreement + distractors

Neither the lab assistants nor the principal investigator have submitted the protocol on time.

Focus: with neither…nor, the verb agrees with the closer subject (principal investigator → singular). The error is have (should be has). The noun phrases and on time can be correct.

Example 2 — infinitive/gerund after controlling verb

Most participants avoided to discuss personal finances during the interview and preferred written answers.

Avoid takes a gerund. The error is to discuss (should be discussing). Avoided, during, and preferred can be fine.

Example 3 — connector

Although the high cost, the department purchased the spectrometer last spring.

Although must introduce a clause with a verb, not a bare noun phrase the high cost. The error is the Although frame (or the NP segment, depending on underlining)—in a typical four-span layout, the connector or the incomplete clause is marked. Teaching point: match connector type to structure (although + clause; despite + NP).

Example 4 — parallel comparison

Online modules are more flexible, cheaper, and they offer greater accessibility than evening lectures.

The series should stay in comparable adjective/phrase form; they offer breaks parallelism (better: more accessible or more convenient). Spot the leg that switches to a full clause mid-list.

Traps designed to waste your 24 seconds

• Underlining a difficult but correct academic phrase (e.g., a reduced relative clause that is grammatical) while the real error is a simple agreement fault elsewhere.
• Two “almost wrong” spans: one is stylistic preference; one is a true rule break. Choose the rule break.
• Error spanning meaning, not grammar is rare on pure structure sections—do not overthink content truth; focus on form.
• Changing a correct answer after spotting a hard vocabulary word. Difficulty of a word ≠ grammatical error.

Timing inside the shared 10 minutes

You ideally enter Part 2 with about five minutes left for 12 items (~25 seconds each). Practical rules:

• Easy early Part 2 items: decide in 15–20 seconds when the fault is obvious.
• Hard advanced items: hard cap at 30–35 seconds, then eliminate and guess.
• Final 45–60 seconds of the section: jump to any unanswered Grammar items (Part 1 or 2) and click best guesses. An empty bubble is always worse than a random choice.

If Part 1 ran long, do not panic. Speed-scan Part 2 for the highest-confidence errors first if the interface lets you navigate freely; if items are strictly sequential, keep the checklist tight and guess faster rather than freeze.

Transfer skills from completion drills

Every structure you study for blanks—tenses, agreement, conditionals, relatives, comparatives, subjunctive, connectors, parallelism—reappears as an error to find. When you miss a completion item in practice, rewrite it as an error-identification item: place four underlines and force yourself to click the bad one. That dual encoding builds the exact skill Part 2 rewards.

Section wrap for Chapter 3

You now own the Grammar section’s format (10 minutes, 25 items, two parts, equal weight, auto-score, no guessing penalty) and the two response strategies (predict-and-fill vs scan-and-spot). Later chapters fill the structure inventory; this chapter’s job is to make sure no item is lost to format confusion or time mismanagement. On test day: respect the examples, run your processes, finish every question, and carry a clean mind into Listening.