Topics · Primary Chinese · Correct-Sentence Identification (病句)
病句: finding the sentence that is wrong
A 病句 is a sick sentence — grammatical enough to read past, wrong enough to lose a mark. There are only about six ways a sentence goes wrong, and knowing the six is how you find them.
- 159 exam papers analysed
- appears in 79% of P5 Chinese papers
- ~2 min read
01 Strip the sentence to its bones
Most 病句 hide behind description. Take the adjectives and the phrases out and look at what is left: who did what to what.
在老师的帮助下，使我的成绩提高了。 Strip it and you get 使我的成绩提高了 — there is no one doing the action. That is the error.
If the skeleton does not work, the sentence does not work, however good the rest of it sounds.
02 The six ways a sentence goes wrong
Nearly every 病句 in a primary paper is one of these.
| Kind | What is wrong | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 成分残缺 | something missing — usually the subject | 使我提高了。 |
| 搭配不当 | words that do not go together | 增加水平 |
| 语序不当 | words in the wrong order | 我把书看完了昨天。 |
| 重复啰嗦 | saying it twice | 大约十个左右 |
| 前后矛盾 | the halves contradict | 全班同学都来了，只有小明没来。 |
| 用词不当 | the wrong word for the meaning | 他的成绩很丰富。 |
03 The phrases that cause most of them
A few constructions produce 病句 far more often than the rest, and spotting them is faster than analysing.
- 在…下 followed by 使 — one of the two must go. 在老师的帮助下，我进步了。
- 通过…使 — the same fault. 通过这件事，我明白了…
- 大约…左右 — both mean approximately, so one is redundant. 大约十个, or 十个左右.
- 是否 / 能不能 against a one-sided second half — 能不能取得好成绩，取决于是否努力。 Both halves must be two-sided.
- 都 with an exception — 都 means all, so a 只有…没有 afterwards contradicts it.
04 Repairing it
When the question asks you to rewrite rather than to identify:
- Change as little as possible. Delete the one word causing the fault, or move one phrase. A rewritten sentence risks new errors.
- Keep the original meaning. A grammatical sentence that says something different is still wrong.
- Copy the rest exactly, punctuation included. Marks are lost to characters miscopied from a sentence that was printed right there.
- Read the repair back. If it now reads naturally and means what it meant, it is done.
05 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. The respelling is Hanyu Pinyin, with the tone marked over the vowel. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- 病句saybìng jù
A faulty sentence — literally a sick sentence. The paper asks you to find it or repair it.
- 修改sayxiū gǎi
To correct. The instruction 修改病句 means repair it, changing as little as possible.
- 成分残缺saychéng fèn cán quē
A missing element — usually the subject, pushed out by 使 or 通过.
- 搭配不当saydā pèi bú dàng
Words that do not go together, such as 增加水平.
- 语序sayyǔ xù
Word order. Chinese fixes the position of time and place phrases more strictly than English does.
- 重复saychóng fù
Repetition — saying the same thing twice, as in 大约十个左右.
06 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P4
Recognising a sentence that is wrong among several that are right.
Practise P4 Higher Chinese Correct-Sentence Identification (病句) — 8 questions →25% of P4 Higher Chinese papers
- P5
The common fault types, and repairing a sentence by changing one word.
Practise P5 Chinese Correct-Sentence Identification (病句) — 10 questions →79% of P5 Chinese papers
- P6
Longer sentences with more than one candidate fault, and repairs that must preserve the meaning exactly.
Practise P6 Chinese Correct-Sentence Identification (病句) — 10 questions →67% of P6 Chinese papers
07 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“It sounded fine to me.”
Strip it to who did what to what. Most 病句 sound fine until the description is taken away.
“通过这件事，使我明白了。”
通过 and 使 together leave no subject. Drop 使: 通过这件事，我明白了。
“大约十个左右。”
大约 and 左右 both mean approximately. Keep one.
“I rewrote the whole sentence to be safe.”
Change as little as possible. A full rewrite introduces new errors and can change the meaning.
“全班同学都来了，只有小明没来。”
都 means all, so the second half contradicts the first. 除了小明，全班同学都来了。
Now try it
28 questions across 3 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.