After a few years of teaching An Inspector Calls, marking starts to feel like déjà vu. The same slips appear in the same places, written by different students. That is useful information, because it means you can prepare feedback in advance.

These mistakes are rarely about laziness. Most come from students trying to use a technique they have been taught without fully understanding it. Once you recognize the pattern, the fix is usually a single clear instruction.

The list below covers the errors that show up most often, along with the language that tends to work when you write feedback for them.

It is worth sharing this list with students directly. Many of them can fix these problems themselves once they know what to look for.

Errors in argument and evidence

The first group of errors concerns how the essay is built. Students retell the plot in order instead of arguing a point. They use quotations only from Act One, since it is the section they remember best. Both problems suggest the essay was written without a plan.

• Retelling the story instead of answering the question
• Using evidence only from the first act
• Quoting long passages and commenting on none of the words
• Treating every character as equally guilty without comparing them
• Ending with a summary that repeats the introduction

Errors in analysis and context

The second group comes from technique. Students name devices such as dramatic irony or stage directions without explaining what they do. They also drop in context as a block of facts near the end, which weakens its impact.

A simple fix is the "which word, what effect" prompt. Ask the student to choose one word from a quotation and explain what it makes the audience think or feel.

Two small errors that cost marks

Two smaller issues deserve a mention. Character names are often misspelled, with Goole, Croft and Birling all frequent victims. Quotations are also sometimes paraphrased inaccurately, which shows that the student has not learned the lines.

Neither error is difficult to fix, but both leave a poor impression on a marker. A brief list of names and key quotations for revision costs almost nothing.

Catching them at scale

Across a class set, it is easy to miss how widespread a particular error is until the marking is over. AI feedback tools such as GraideMind can flag recurring problems, like evidence drawn only from one part of the play, and summarize them for the whole class, which tells you what to reteach.

The value is in the pattern. Once you can see it, you can fix it in one lesson instead of thirty separate comments.