Grammar for IELTS Writing

Grammar for IELTS Writing

Grammatical Range and Accuracy accounts for 25% of your writing score. To achieve Band 7+, you must demonstrate a wide range of structures with good accuracy. This guide covers the key structures you need.

Complex Sentence Structures

Relative Clauses

Use defining and non-defining relative clauses to add information concisely.

• Defining: "The government which introduced the new policy faced criticism." (essential information)
• Non-defining: "Many students, who study for long hours, often suffer from stress." (extra information, surrounded by commas)
• Reduced relative clauses: "The data collected from surveys was analyzed." (instead of "which was collected")

Conditionals

Use all conditional types to discuss hypothetical scenarios, past hypotheticals, and real possibilities.

• Zero conditional (general truths): "If water reaches 100°C, it boils."
• First conditional (real future): "If governments invest more, the problem will improve."
• Second conditional (hypothetical present/future): "If students had more support, they would achieve better results."
• Third conditional (hypothetical past): "If governments had acted earlier, the situation would not have worsened."
• Mixed conditionals: "If I were a policy maker, I would have implemented this years ago."

Passive Voice

Passives are essential in academic writing to sound objective and impersonal.

• Active: "Researchers conducted the study." → Passive: "The study was conducted by researchers."
• Active: "The government will introduce new regulations." → Passive: "New regulations will be introduced."
• Active: "People believe that..." → Passive: "It is believed that..."
• Agentless passives: "Carbon emissions must be reduced." (who does it is not important)

Inversion (Advanced)

Inversion adds sophistication and variety to your writing.

• Never/Rarely + auxiliary: "Never have I seen such a response." (instead of "I have never seen")
• Only after +倒装: "Only after the policy was implemented did improvement occur."
• Not only: "Not only did the policy reduce emissions, but it also created jobs."
• Should + inversion (formal suggestion): "Should you require further information, please contact..."

Subordinate Clauses

• Causality: "Because/Since/As technology advances, society changes."
• Purpose: "Governments invest so that education improves." / "...in order to / "to improve education."
• Concession: "Although/Though/Even though technology has benefits, it also creates problems." / "Despite/In spite of having benefits..."
• Time: "Once/When/After/Before technology is adopted..."

Articles: The Most Common Error

• Countable nouns need articles: "The environment is important." (not "Environment is important" when singular)
• Zero article for plurals/generics: "Environments are important." / "Technology has changed our lives."
• The + superlative: "This is the most effective solution."
• The + unique nouns: "the government," "the economy," "the population"
• A/An: Use "a" before consonant sounds, "an" before vowel sounds ("a university" — "u" is consonant sound; "anhonest person" — "h" is silent)

Subject-Verb Agreement

• Collective nouns (government, team, family) — usually singular in British English: "The government is implementing..."
• Plural nouns ending in -ics (politics, economics, mathematics): usually singular: "Politics is complex."
• Either... or / Neither... nor: Verb agrees with nearest subject: "Neither the students nor the teacher was happy."
• None: Can be singular or plural depending on emphasis: "None of the data is useful" / "None of the participants were willing."

Prepositions: Common Patterns

• Depend on, focus on, rely on (not "depend of")
• Consist of (not "consist in")
• Conscious of, aware of (not "aware from")
• Interested in (not "interested of")
• Different from/to/than (British accepts all three, but "different from" is safest)
• Married to, similar to, compared to/with

Countable vs. Uncountable

• advice, feedback, progress, research, evidence: Always uncountable (not "advices," "feedbacks")
• A piece of / a number of: "A number of studies show..." (studies is plural verb)
• Much + uncountable: "Much research has been conducted..."
• Many + countable: "Many people believe..."
• A lot of / lots of: Can take either plural or uncountable depending on noun