Shopping and public services 购物与公共服务

✗ Reading or hearing 这条裤子很便宜 and answering as if it said 贵 (expensive), or the reverse. ✓ Learn 便宜 (piányi -- cheap) and 贵 (guì -- expensive) as a fixed opposite pair and re-check which one appeared before answering a price question: 这件外套很贵，可是那件很便宜。(Zhè jiàn wàitào hěn guì, kěshì nà jiàn hěn piányi.) — This coat is expensive, but that one is cheap.

✗ Choosing a different place word instead of 银行 (yínháng -- bank) when the options look or sound similar. ✓ Learn 银行 with its neighbours 邮局 (yóujú -- post office) and 商店 (shāngdiàn -- shop) as a distinct, fixed set. 例：我想去银行取钱，然后去邮局寄一个包裹。(Wǒ xiǎng qù yínháng qǔqián, ránhòu qù yóujú jì yí gè bāoguǒ.) — withdraw money at the bank, then send a parcel at the post office.

✗ 我想买一个衣服和一个鞋 (个 does not collocate with clothing or shoes). ✓ 我想买一件衣服和一双鞋。(Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yí jiàn yīfu hé yì shuāng xié.) — a piece of clothing and a pair of shoes. Learn each shop-item noun with its own measure word — 件 for clothing, 双 for pairs — rather than defaulting to 个. A wrong measure word is flagged on the Writing accuracy checklist.

Reading short answers must give the precise detail, not a whole copied sentence — random lifting earns no credit. If a passage says 服务员打了九折，一共一百五十块 and the question asks the final price, answer 一百五十块, not the entire sentence. Find the exact phrase the question word points to and write only that.

An answer that has the right content but drops the key verb or subject is judged ambiguous and loses the mark. e.g. for what she did about a faulty coat, answering just 换 (exchange) is too bare — write 她想换一件新的 (tā xiǎng huàn yí jiàn xīn de), keeping the subject and verb. Keep the grammatical element that makes the answer unambiguous.

✗ 我想退货，因为有问题。(有问题 is too vague to show what is actually wrong.) ✓ 我想退这双鞋，因为鞋底松了 (…yīnwèi xiédǐ sōng le) or 因为质量不好 — name the specific fault: a hole 有一个洞, a loose sole 鞋底松了, or poor quality 质量不好. A specific problem earns Task Completion credit that a bare 有问题 does not.

Every countable Chinese noun has its own measure word, and shop items are full of exceptions to 个: clothing takes 件 (一件衣服), shoes/pairs take 双 (一双鞋), bottles take 瓶 (一瓶啤酒), flat items like stamps take 张 (一张邮票), and weight uses 斤 (一斤苹果). ✗ 我想买一个衣服。✓ 我想买一件衣服。(Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yí jiàn yīfu.) — a piece of clothing. Always learn a new noun together with its measure word.