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IELTS Practice

The document provides guidance on grammatical structures for describing trends, increases and decreases, and comparisons in IELTS writing. It recommends using noun phrase + verb + adverb and there + be + adjective + in + noun phrase to describe trends. For increases and decreases, it suggests noun phrase + verb + adverb and there + be + noun + in + noun phrase. To make comparisons, it lists structures using more/fewer/less, most/least, more/less, high/low/few-er, and high/low/large/small-est. It also discusses the common errors of using incorrect prepositions like "of" and "in", and incorrect use of articles like "the", "

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133 views4 pages

IELTS Practice

The document provides guidance on grammatical structures for describing trends, increases and decreases, and comparisons in IELTS writing. It recommends using noun phrase + verb + adverb and there + be + adjective + in + noun phrase to describe trends. For increases and decreases, it suggests noun phrase + verb + adverb and there + be + noun + in + noun phrase. To make comparisons, it lists structures using more/fewer/less, most/least, more/less, high/low/few-er, and high/low/large/small-est. It also discusses the common errors of using incorrect prepositions like "of" and "in", and incorrect use of articles like "the", "

Uploaded by

Linh Phan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GIÁO VIÊN: TRANG PHAM

0356388415
IELTS WRITING

SESSION 3

How to Describe Trends

The two most useful grammatical structures for describing trends are:

1) Noun phrase + verb + adverb

For example: The number of unemployed women fell significantly.

2) There + be + adjective + in + noun phrase

For example: There was a dramatic improvement in the percentage of people in


employment.

How to Describe Increases and Decreases

The two most useful grammatical structures for describing increases and decreases
are:

1) Noun phrase + verb + adverb

For example: The popularity of social media climbed steadily.

2) There + be + noun + in + noun phrase

For example: There was a fluctuation in university applications.

There is now a swimming pool in the location of the old factory.


GIÁO VIÊN: TRANG PHAM
0356388415
IELTS WRITING

How to Make Comparisons

1) More/fewer/less + noun + than

For example: More teenagers play computer games than a sport.

2) Most/least + adjective

For example: The most common childhood illness in 1979 was chickenpox.

3) More/less + adjective + than

For example: Cruises were more popular than beach holidays in 2012.

4) High/low/few -er + than

For example: A lower number of teenagers play a sport than play computer games.

5) High/low/large/small -est

For example: The largest proportion of immigrants came from Mexico.

2 Common Grammatical Errors

Prepositions

There are two specific prepositions that you will probably use numerous times in your
Task 1 essay when reporting change – ‘in’ and ‘of’. They are easy to get wrong.

Follow this general rule:

● When stating the specific value of the change (number, amount, percentage etc.)
– use ‘of’.
● When stating what has changed – use ‘in’.
GIÁO VIÊN: TRANG PHAM
0356388415
IELTS WRITING

For example:

● An increase of 20%.
● An increase in the number of over 60’s taking exercise classes.
● A drop of almost a half.
● A drop in house prices.
● An improvement of 45 units per week.
● An improvement in retail sales from April to June.

‘Of’ is also used after a value. You will probably want to use proportional values in your
Task 1 essay so here are some examples.

● a small percentage of
● just under a quarter of
● exactly a half of
● roughly three quarters of
● a significant majority of
● a high number of
GIÁO VIÊN: TRANG PHAM
0356388415
IELTS WRITING

Articles

Many languages do not have articles, and native speakers of those languages can find
it a huge challenge to remember to use them. In English, there are three articles – the,
a, and an. Each is used in specific instances.

1) With singular and plural nouns:

● Use the before singular and plural nouns when the noun is a specific thing.

For example: The bar graph illustrates how many male and female students were
studying full-time and part-time in Britain during the years 1970/1971, 1980/1 and
1990/1.

● Use a or an before a singular noun or noun phrase when the noun is non-specific
and could be any one of a group or type.
● Use a before a noun or noun phrase beginning with a consonant. Use an before
a noun or noun phrase beginning with a vowel.

For example:

● Less than 30% of the population took a foreign holiday between 1975 and 1985.
● There was an upward trend in families taking an annual holiday abroad after
1990.

2) Noun combinations:

Also, use a/an before adjective singular noun combinations such as these from our
preposition list:

● a small percentage of
● an insignificant minority of
● a high number of

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