Of the four parts of the IELTS exam, most people find that writing is the hardest. In fact, even incredibly skilled candidates struggle to get a score that matches the other parts of the test. In today’s article, I’m going to explain how you can improve your writing score with the help of my writing correction service. I will do so by outlining 6 actionable steps to take. Step #1 – find out what you’re doing wrong This should be obvious, but many people don’t realise it. They just keep writing practice essays and hope that they improve. When they take the real IELTS test, they find that their ..read more

English grammar can be difficult to master and that’s partially because of all the different verb tenses we have. Some of them seem quite confusing to learners and even to native speakers! One of the confusing parts is choosing between the past simple and past perfect tenses. In this lesson, I’m going to explain the two verb tenses and then show you the differences. Hopefully, by the time we’ve finished you’ll be able to use them with confidence. Past Simple Firstly, let’s look at the past simple tense. This is one of the most common verb tenses in English, so knowing how to use it properly is ..read more

Today, we are going to do an important grammar lesson. I will show you what a complex sentence is and then give lots of examples so that you can understand how to make them by yourself. What is a complex sentence? A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The two clauses will be connected by a linking word. For example: She is hungry because she hasn’t eaten all day. I am annoyed that you didn’t call me. In each of these examples, there are two clauses joined by a linking word (because; that). Let’s look in more detail to understand this better. How can ..read more

Today, we are going to look at a sample band 9 answer for an IELTS task 2 question about fast food. Specifically, it is about whether or not we should tax fast food. Analysing the Question When you are given an IELTS question, you should take some time to analyse it before planning your answer. That’s because you need to fully understand what you are going to write about. This is essential for a high score in terms of Task Response. Here’s a question about taxing fast food: In some countries, an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much fast ..read more

In the 21st century, going to an airport is a common experience for many millions of people. As such, it is useful to know lots of words and phrases to talk about these places. It is also helpful for IELTS candidates because occasionally airports are mentioned.   If you prefer to learn through a video, then you can look at this one I made last year: Parts of an Airport Let’s begin by looking at the different parts of an airport. We’ll start with the exterior. Airport Exterior Vocabulary In this cartoon image, we can see some key parts of an airport: Terminal building The main airport ..read more

Today, you are going to learn how to put examples in an IELTS essay. Specifically, this will be a task 2 essay because you won’t need examples in a task 1 report or letter. We will cover a few things here. Firstly, I will explain why you ought to include examples. Then, I’ll talk about picking appropriate examples. Finally, we will look at the language used for giving examples in an essay. Table of Contents Why do we need examples? What makes a good example for an IELTS essay? Can you make up examples? Can I use personal examples? What language is used for giving examples? Common mistakes Wh ..read more

Today, we’re going to look at a band 9 letter about sport. I recently wrote this for one of the students using my writing correction service and I wanted to share it with others because it contains some useful ideas. Question Prompt In IELTS general writing task 1, you will be given a prompt. It will tell you what you should put in a letter. Here’s our prompt for today: Your English-speaking friend who lives in your town has asked for your advice about learning a new sport. Write an email to your friend. In your email recommend a new sport that would be suitable for your friend to learn expl ..read more

Today, I’m going to teach you about pluralisation. In English grammar, this means using your words to say whether there is one thing or more than one. This is something that is incredibly important in English but which many learners struggle with. Please note that in American English, they say “pluralization.” I’m from the UK, so I’ll use British spelling in this article. Why is pluralisation important? In many languages, pluralisation just doesn’t exist, but in English it is utterly essential. We need to know whether there is one thing or more than one thing. For example: I bought some books ..read more

When I’m marking essays for my IELTS writing correction service, I sometimes find that people misuse the word “content.” This is understandable because actually it can be quite a confusing word! In this lesson, I will explain when you should use “content” as an uncountable noun and “contents” as a countable one. Content vs Contents – What’s the difference? The word “content” is sometimes countable and sometimes uncountable. It depends on what exactly you mean. Most often, people use “content” to refer to the ideas contained within a book, magazine, film, or speech. For example: The book was b ..read more

Today, I want to give you some advice about an interesting IELTS writing task 2 question. It concerns the tricky topic of “elder care” and I think this is a great chance to talk about some important aspects of writing for IELTS. As usual, I will divide this lesson into parts, including an analysis of the question, some thoughts on structure, and so on. Analysing the Question Firstly, let’s look at our question for today: If old people are no longer physically, mentally, or financially able to look after themselves, younger family members should be legally responsible for supporting them. To w ..read more