Do you know English?

[boondocks77]

"Rigorous test aimed at newcomers
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
June 01, 2008 09:48

Think you speak English? Try this test.


Find the grammatical (or syntactic) error in this sentence: The standard of living has increased.


Stumped? Soon, that will count against you if you’re hoping to immigrate to Canada. The rigorous language test that will be a requirement is vital to be fair and efficient with the influx of newcomers or vastly discriminatory and fatally flawed, depending on whom you talk to.


The correct answer is: The standard of living has risen.


The grammar questions are among the trickiest in the International English Language Testing System exam, broken into 30 minutes of listening, 15 of speaking and an hour each of reading and writing. Created at Cambridge University in England, IELTS scores from one (“essentially has no ability beyond a few isolated words”) to nine (“appropriate, accurate and fluent”) with a six (“generally effective despite some inaccuracies”) the most common pass.


The cost and the “one-size-fits-all” test alarms immigration lawyers. In a May 20 letter to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Canadian Bar Association calls the time, money and academic rigour of the test a turnoff for people who are fluent in English and French and too hard for bricklayers and plumbers."

That just blew me away.
I don't know about everyone, but I didn't particularly catch that phrase error. The school board in my province has a certain English exam (OSSLT: Ontario Seconard School Literacy Test), but that doesn't even come CLOSE to these exams that immigrants have to take, such as the TOEFL. The OSSLT is a test grade 10 students officially take nowadays as one of the several means to earning a high-school degree. But the questions on it are as ridiculous as :

Which of the following is the most correct?

a. Snowstorm the outside was strong.
b. The outside strong was snowstorm.
c. The snowstorm outside was strong.
d. Strong was the outside snowstorm.

(If you picked anything other than c, you don't deserve a high-school degree.)