Yes! That’s right – this week Nick and I are looking at a grammar point – parallelism! This is not a topic that is widely discussed in the IELTS world, but if you are looking for a score of 7.0 or higher in Writing, it is definitely something that you should pay attention to.
So, you’ve finished writing your essay but there’s 2 minutes left in the exam – what do you check for first? ⏱ Well, there are lots of mistakes that students make in their essays – articles, unnecessary passives, fragments, bad use of contrast clauses, etc – but perhaps none are as costly as 💀 NOT having subject / verb agreement 💀 So, in today’s post I want start by looking at what subject / verb agreement is, and how you can avoid the most common errors made by many IELTS test-takers.
One of the enduring problems for many IELTS test-takers is being able to use uncountable and plural nouns correctly. Today, Nick and I take a deep-dive into the common problems that IELTS test-takers make in their writing and speaking.
If there is one sentence structure that IELTS students are obsessed with, it is inversion. But, as Nick said today “Not only do I hate inversion, but I wish the students would forget it!” Why? Because too many students attempt these sentences without really understanding how they work and, as a result, they make mistakes. Today, Nick and I take a deep dive into inversion in IELTS writing to show you not just how to form these sentences correctly, but also how to use them in the right context. Wish us luck!
You put down your pen. The essay and report / letter are written. Yes! But there are still 3 or 4 minutes left on the exam clock What do you do in this time? The temptation may be to read through your essay from start to finish to check for errors, but is this really the most efficient way to find your errors? And which mistakes should you actively be looking for? Find out today as Nick and I talk IELTS error correction!
You can guarantee that some point during your IELTS exam, you will need to demonstrate that you can make good comparisons. Interestingly, although the language of comparison is introduced at an Elementary level in most English course books, this is something that many high-level students still struggle with. Today, Nick and describe 4 ways that you can make comparisons in IELTS compare essays, and then show how the same techniques can be used to good effect in the speaking test (which Nick giving a masterful demonstration of how to answer some Part 3 questions)!
I know, I know, I know – not everybody likes grammar! In fact, even Nick hated it when he first started teaching. The problem, though, is that 25% of your score for writing and listening will be awarded based on your sentence structures. There are many places where students can make errors in the writing test, but day upon day, Nick and I see the same 3 common IELTS grammar mistakes again and again. What are they? Well, you will need to listen to find out!
Hey! Grammatical Range and Accuracy makes up 25% of your IELTS Writing and Speaking scores so should be a very important part of your preparation. Today, I want to look at the 5 most common IELTS grammar mistakes that I see when marking students essays to show you how you can avoid them.
We know that to get a high score in IELTS writing you need to be able to produce sentences that are error-free. Every year I mark literally thousands of IELTS writing scripts, and it is amazing how often I see the same mistakes again and again, no matter what the nationality of the writer. So, in today’s post, I want to challenge you to complete my IELTS grammar quiz to see if your current knowledge is up to the mark or not!
Hey! My philosophy as a teacher is that the only way to increase your IELTS score is to work hard on improving your language skills and academic techniques. But, I would be lying if I said that I haven’t learned a few shortcuts over the last 17 years that can help students to quickly move from 6 to 7 in IELTS writing! So, in today’s blog post, I want to share my top 5 IELTS Grammar Tricks.