United States
Hong KongWord choice, precision and misused phrases
The rule says "commonly confused words, misused words, and phrases". The phrases half is the part candidates skip. It covers wrong idioms, redundant expressions and wordy constructions, and the correct answer on those items is almost always the shortest option that keeps the meaning.
Most preparation for this skill stops at affect and effect. The rule does not stop there. It names misused words and misused phrases as well as confused ones, and those are three different problems.
Three failures of precision
| Failure | Example | Why it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong idiom | different than the original plan | The standard American form is different from |
| Redundancy | the end result was a final outcome | Result and outcome carry the same idea twice |
| Wordiness | due to the fact that enrollment fell | Four words doing the work of because |
The exam does not usually label these. It gives you a sentence and four rewrites, and the shortest rewrite that preserves every element of the meaning is the answer.
The idioms that get tested
Prepositions attached to particular verbs and adjectives are arbitrary. There is no rule, only usage, which is why they make usable test items.
- different from, not different than
- comply with, not comply to
- capable of, not capable to
- prefer to, not prefer than
- regardless, and never irregardless
- could have, not could of
That last pair is a spelling of a sound rather than a word. It is worth checking your own writing for, because if you type it you will not see it on a screen either.
Wordiness, and the shortest-answer heuristic
Standard written English prefers the direct construction. On a rewrite question, read the options from shortest to longest and take the first one that keeps everything the original said.
Careful with that heuristic though. Shortest is a tiebreak, not a rule. If the short option drops a qualifier that changed the claim, it is wrong however clean it reads. That is the exact distractor the test builds around it.
Which revision is best? Due to the fact that the district had already approved the budget, the committee, in the final analysis, decided to proceed with the plan that they had.
- Because the district had already approved the budget, the committee decided to proceed with its plan.
- The district approved the budget and the committee proceeded.
- Owing to the fact of prior district budget approval, the committee proceeded with the plan.
- Since the district had approved the budget already, in the final analysis the committee decided to proceed.
Redundancies worth knowing on sight
- past history, advance planning, future plans
- each and every, first and foremost
- close proximity, basic fundamentals
- completely eliminate, absolutely essential
These appear in test items because they sound normal. That is the point. A phrase you would say out loud without noticing is a better distractor than one that reads oddly.
How this connects to the essay
The essay competency asks for "proficient use of college-level, standard written English (e.g., varied word choice, syntax, language conventions, semantics)". Word choice is named in the rule for both subtests. Practicing precision here is one of the few things on this test that helps you on a paper you are not currently studying for.
We should say plainly that we do not mark essays. We teach the essay subtest in its own chapter and we offer no feedback on writing you produce, so the transfer works in one direction: this skill improves your essay, and nothing on our side will tell you whether it did.
Common questions
Does the FTCE test wordiness?
It sits inside skill 2 of Competency 2, which names misused words and phrases. Rewrite questions typically offer a wordy original and several revisions, and the shortest option that preserves the full meaning is usually correct.
Is different than acceptable on the FTCE?
Treat it as wrong. The standard American form tested here is different from. Idiom items rely on preposition pairings that have no underlying rule, which is exactly why they make reliable multiple-choice questions.
Is the shortest option always the right answer?
No, and the test builds a distractor on that assumption. Short is a tiebreak between options that say the same thing. An option that drops a qualifier, a cause or an actor has changed the meaning and is wrong however clean it looks.
What is the difference between a confused word and a misused word?
A confused word is one of a pair you can mix up, like principal and principle. A misused word is used in a sense it does not carry, and a misused phrase is an idiom or expression built wrongly, such as comply to instead of comply with.