Travel and transport 交通与旅行

✗ 一个车、一个飞机、一个火车 — 个 does not collocate with any vehicle noun. ✓ 一辆车 (yí liàng chē -- car; bus is 一辆公共汽车), 一列火车 (yí liè huǒchē -- train), 一架飞机 (yí jià fēijī -- plane), 一艘船 (yì sōu chuán -- boat). Learn each vehicle measure word as a fixed set with the noun, the way you learn 一本书/一杯茶. A wrong measure word costs Accuracy marks even when the meaning is clear.

✗ 上个星期我们坐飞机去海边度假 (no 了 — reads as a general statement, not a completed event). ✓ 上个星期我们坐飞机去了海边度假。(…qùle hǎibiān dùjià.) — Last week we flew to the seaside. ✗ 我常常坐了公共汽车去学校 (了 wrongly added to a habit marked by 常常). ✓ 我常常坐公共汽车去学校 (Wǒ chángcháng zuò gōnggòng qìchē qù xuéxiào) — habitual, so no 了. Add 了 only for a single completed step, never a repeated trip.

✗ 坐地铁的好处很多。(claims many benefits but names none — this does NOT meet top-band Task Completion, even though it is grammatical.) ✓ 坐地铁的好处很多，比如很方便，而且不会堵车。(…bǐrú hěn fāngbiàn, érqiě bú huì dǔchē.) — …for example it is very convenient, and it does not get stuck in traffic. Always follow a general claim with at least one specific, named benefit or drawback.

The wrong option is usually a detail that WAS spoken, just attached to the wrong time, place or person — not a word never mentioned. e.g. a passage says an earlier train 晚点 (wǎndiǎn -- delayed) but the one asked about is 准时 (zhǔnshí -- on time); word-spotters pick 晚点 because they heard it first. Ask which train the true detail belongs to, not just whether the word was said.

A single negative or qualifying word reverses the meaning, and journey passages hinge on it: 飞机没有晚点 (fēijī méiyǒu wǎndiǎn -- the flight was NOT delayed) is the opposite of 飞机晚点了 (fēijī wǎndiǎn le -- the flight WAS delayed), differing only by 没有. Do not answer on the first delay word you hear or read; check whether a 没/不 negates it before choosing.

In a sentence with a turn (……但是……), the second clause often overrides the first, but candidates answer on the first half only. e.g. 飞机本来要晚点，但是后来准时起飞了 — the flight ends up 准时 (on time), not 晚点. Read or listen to the WHOLE sentence, especially the part after 但是/后来, before choosing an answer.

了 marks COMPLETION or a CHANGE OF STATE, not grammatical tense. ✗ 我以前每天都坐了公共汽车去学校 (每天 signals a repeated habit, so 了 does not belong). ✓ 我以前每天都坐公共汽车去学校 — habitual, no 了. Contrast one completed trip: 昨天我坐公共汽车去了学校 — one finished event, 了 is correct here. Check whether the action is a single completed/changed event or a repeated habit before adding 了.