PTE grammar: what actually costs you marks

Grammar is scored both as a writing trait and as an enabling skill, so errors count twice. The good news is that the mistakes costing most candidates marks are a short, predictable list — and a disciplined final proofread catches nearly all of them.

The four errors that appear most

Articles (a, an, the) are the single most common problem, particularly for speakers of languages without them. Then subject-verb agreement, then singular and plural nouns, then preposition choice.

None of these require advanced grammar to fix. They require a deliberate check, because they are almost invisible while you are writing.

Show range on purpose

Accuracy alone produces a middling grammar score. The engine also rewards variety — a mix of simple, compound and complex sentences.

Consciously include a few complex sentences with subordinate clauses ("Although X, Y") and vary your sentence lengths. Three or four in an essay is enough; do not force it.

Tense consistency

Drifting between tenses mid-paragraph is a common and easily avoided error, especially when giving examples.

Decide your default tense at the start of a paragraph and hold it unless the meaning genuinely requires a change.

A two-minute proofread that works

Do not reread for meaning — you will see what you intended to write. Read for one error type at a time.

Pass one: every article. Pass two: every verb, checking agreement and tense. Pass three: every noun, checking singular or plural. It is faster than it sounds and catches most of what costs marks.

Practise with feedback, not volume

Writing more essays without correction reinforces the same errors. What helps is seeing which specific words were wrong and rewriting that answer.

Keep a short list of the errors you personally repeat — most people have three or four — and check for those first.

PTE AI is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Pearson. PTE Academic is a trademark of Pearson. All practice material here is original and written for this site.