What counts
| Accepted | Not accepted | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | The text's own words | Your paraphrase |
| Length | The phrase that proves it | The whole paragraph |
| Accuracy | Copied exactly, with accents | Approximated from memory |
| Completeness | Judgement and quotation together | Either one alone |
Quoting a whole paragraph is nearly as weak as not quoting: it shows you found the area but not the sentence, and markers look for the specific line.
Working efficiently
- Decide the answer first.
- Find the line that proves it and underline it in the question paper.
- Copy the shortest phrase that does the job.
- Check you have written both parts of the answer.
At DELF this matters doubly because of the minimum-per-paper rule: a paper below 5 out of 25 fails the whole diploma, and justification marks are the most mechanically recoverable in the reading paper.
Justifying answers — FAQs
2 questions
No. The quotation must come from the text.
The shortest phrase that proves the point.
More compréhension des écrits question types
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.