Technical Accuracy Bootcamp

Technical Accuracy Bootcamp

There are **16 marks (AO6)** on the writing task for **technical accuracy** alone: a whole grade's worth, and the easiest to train. Ambitious ideas only land if the punctuation and spelling are right. Three things earn the marks, and you need **range as well as accuracy**:

Apostrophes

Apostrophes do two jobs: • **Possession**: "the **dog's** lead" (one dog), "the **dogs'** leads" (more than one). • **Contraction**: a missing letter: "do **not** → don't". The classic trap: **its** (belonging to it) vs **it's** (it is). If you can't swap in "it is", use **its** with no apostrophe.

Its or it's?

The dog wagged _____ tail; _____ clear that _____ owners had finally come home.

Find the apostrophe error

Tap the phrase where the apostrophe is used INCORRECTLY.

• She tidied
• the dog's lead
• , checked
• its collar
• , and picked up
• the childrens toys
• .

Joining two clauses

The most common accuracy error in the whole paper is the **comma splice**: joining **two complete sentences with only a comma**. ✗ "It was late, I went home." Here is what goes wrong, and what to reach for instead.

Find the comma splice

Tap the sentence that is a **comma splice**: two complete sentences wrongly joined by only a comma.

• The rain hammered the windows.
• Sana pulled her coat tighter, she was still cold.
• A bus finally appeared.

Correctly punctuated?

Pick the TWO sentences that are punctuated correctly.

• I packed three things: a map, a torch and some food.
• The night was cold; the stars were bright.
• It was getting late, I decided to go home.
• We ate lunch, however we were still hungry.

Homophones & tricky spellings

Sound-alikes cost easy marks. Keep these straight: • **their** (belonging) / **there** (place) / **they're** (they are) • **affect** (usually a verb) / **effect** (usually a noun) • and learn the ambitious ones you'll actually use: **definitely**, **separate**, **necessary**, **beautiful**.

Choose the right word

The storm had a huge _____ on the match, so _____ going to play it over _____ next week instead.

Vary your sentence forms

AO6 wants a **variety** of sentence types, used correctly: • **Simple**: one clause: "The door opened." • **Compound**: two clauses joined by and/but/so: "The door opened and the wind rushed in." • **Complex**: a main clause plus a subordinate one: "**As the door opened**, the wind rushed in."\n\nMixing them shows control, and creates effect.

Which is complex?

Which of these is a COMPLEX sentence (a main clause plus a subordinate clause)?

• Although she was exhausted, she kept running.
• She was exhausted.
• She was exhausted and she kept running.
• She kept running. She was exhausted.

Choose the punctuation

Three pairs of clauses. Choose the mark that joins each correctly.

• Two complete, closely related sentences: "The hall fell silent" and "Nobody moved". You want to show they belong together.
• You want to introduce a list: "She packed for three climates" then "wet, cold and blazing hot".
• Two complete sentences where the second follows FROM the first: "It was late" and "I went home".

Proofread it

One word in this paragraph is misspelled. Tap it.

• The evidence was
• overwhelming
• , and the committee had no choice but to
• seperate
• the two proposals before the
• necessary
• vote could be held.

Write with range

Write a short paragraph describing a place at night, using all three sentence forms on purpose: at least one simple, one compound and one complex sentence.

• Open with a simple sentence, one clause only, for impact
• Use a compound sentence joined with and, but or so
• Use a complex sentence that opens with a subordinate clause, and punctuate the join correctly

In the exam

Bootcamp complete. Grade-9 habits for AO6: • Use a **wide range** of punctuation **accurately**: apostrophes, semicolons and colons, not just commas, and never a **comma splice**. • Get the **homophones** right (their/there/they're, affect/effect) and spell your ambitious words correctly. • Mix **simple, compound and complex** sentences deliberately. Range plus accuracy is what earns the marks.