What markers actually penalise
Almost never accent-in-writing: unusual phrasing, a slightly formal register, sentence rhythms that come from another language. Those are read as style and often as precision.
What does cost marks is anything that makes meaning uncertain — a misplaced modifier that changes what a sentence claims, a wrong preposition that reverses a relationship, tense inconsistency in a methods section that makes the sequence of events unclear. The rule is that markers penalise ambiguity rather than difference.
Fix the errors that change meaning first
Which gives you a priority order that is much shorter than a general grammar review. Articles and prepositions matter where they alter a claim and not where they merely sound unusual. Tense consistency matters most in methods and results, where the sequence of events is the content.
Sentence length is the other high-value fix. Long sentences are where second-language ambiguity concentrates, and splitting one long sentence into two shorter ones resolves more problems than any amount of vocabulary work.
- Prioritise errors that change meaning over errors that sound unusual
- Split long sentences, where ambiguity concentrates
- Keep tense consistent in methods and results particularly
- Read it aloud, which catches what proofreading does not
- Keep your own phrasing where it is clear — it is not a fault
Detection tools flag you disproportionately, and that is worth knowing
Second-language writers are flagged by AI-detection tools at higher rates, because those tools score how statistically predictable text is and non-native writing tends toward more conventional constructions.
That is a property of the tool rather than evidence about you. The protection is provenance: draft in something that keeps version history, keep your notes and earlier drafts, and you can demonstrate how the work came to exist. It costs nothing and it is worth having in place before it is ever needed.
Use the support that exists, and keep your voice
University writing centres are free, underused, and generally experienced with exactly this. A weekly session for one term does more than years of self-correction.
And the thing worth protecting: your own phrasing, where it is clear, is not a defect to be edited out. Work that has been smoothed into anonymous academic English reads worse, not better, and it is also the version a marker who has read you all term will notice — which is why work prepared here is matched to your register rather than replaced with a generic one.
Questions this raises.
Should I ask for extra time on assignments?
Check whether your institution offers language-related support or accommodations, since some do and it is rarely advertised. It is a reasonable question to ask a student services office. Many students find that structured writing support helps more than additional time, because the constraint is usually confidence rather than hours.
Is using a translation tool acceptable?
Policies differ and it is worth reading yours rather than assuming. Translating your own drafted thoughts is generally treated differently from generating text you did not compose. The safest position is that the reasoning and the structure are demonstrably yours, which is also the position that leaves you able to discuss your own work.
Why do detection tools keep flagging my writing?
Because they measure how predictable text is, and second-language writing tends toward conventional constructions that score as predictable. It says nothing about how the work was produced. Keeping version history and drafts is the practical protection, and it is worth doing routinely rather than reactively.
Teodora Iliescu
PhD, research methods. Writes for The Ring on what actually moves marks in this subject, and coaches the students who bring it to us. The rest of the bench.
Where to go next.
Start your first ring.
Tell us the program, the term ahead and where the grade is leaking. A specialist in your field replies with a plan and a quote within two hours. The reading costs nothing, and sometimes the honest answer is that we are the wrong fit.
