How to Add Complexity to Your IELTS TOEFL Writing

everybody welcome to right to the top I'm Adam in today's video we're gonna think about the word complex what does complex mean now this is this video is based on a question I got in the youtube comment section somebody wanted to know how to introduce more complex sentences into into the writing into the essay writing or maybe even task one so it got me thinking and I wanted and I think this is a very important topic and the reason it's very important is because many people don't realize that there's a difference between a complex sentence and a complex structure okay and when you're reading the scoring the official scoring rubric from IELTS or TOEFL both of them want to see some sentence complex sentence structures especially for the grammar score okay so we're gonna look at that a little bit today we're gonna look at complex sentences complex structures and basically how to condense simple sentences now before I get started on this you should also realize that there's a difference between simple sentence compound sentence etc so a complex sentence I did make a video about sentence variety which you can find up here a link to you can go watch that there's a bit more details more examples today I'm only gonna focus on the complex sentences and the structures okay now you explain to them explain to you what the graders are expecting from this from these words let's start with a complex sentence so in terms of technical construction of this technical structure of it it has one independent cause and one or more dependent clauses and the dependent clauses are adjective clause adverb clause noun clause so it's a sentence that has at least two clauses one independent one dependent you can have as many dependent clauses as you want as soon as you introduce another independent means to independence joined by a coordinating conjunction and but or so etc now you have a compound-complex so I'm not gonna look at that one today we're gonna stick to the complex sentences in an adjective clause the standardization results from Allah of creativity and an adventurous spirit which makes every type have a similar which makes that is your that's basically your adjective clause technically you have a complex structure here because you have you have the word make the good and service have this is called a causative I'll talk about that in a minute but you have a very simple 1 1 adjective clause one complex sentence and one dependent clause moreover there are a number of challenges that our world faces that necessitate here you have two adjective clauses beginning with that and that it's a little bit more complex structure because you have two adjective clauses together but again nothing too serious because the both of these adjective clauses are referring to the word challenges so you still have a complex sentence essentially adverb cause if although but if although because when et cetera these are showing our relationship between the independent clause and the dependent clause if I wake up early I can do some sports activities this is the complex sentence but a little bit basic then you're not gonna get too many extra points for that a lot of people use these structures while this may be true when it comes to something these are a bit fixed clauses you have two adverb clauses but again a little bit of a basic sentence because these these particular structures are commonly used so this is a thing you have to remember when it comes to complexity on the test and this is especially for those of you who want to get the higher scores 7 you don't need as much but 7.58 you definitely need to have some complex structures not just complex sentences and another thing you need to remember most people who use complex sentences they're using adjective clauses with which or that they're using adverb clauses with because although if and and they're not using many men clauses noun clauses for some reason people just don't like but I'll show you the common ones in a second so again if you're if you think you're getting complexity by using an adjective clause with which or that that's not what the graders are looking for that's minimum expectation to get to the higher scores they want some more complexity again now cause everybody uses that convinced that said that asked that found that study the recent research at this university found that something-something these are all noun clauses that's all very good and well this one dictating what learners must study is an object a little bit less common but still a little bit basic I don't see noun causes enough in essays try to use noun clauses try to use a noun clause as a subject rather than a rather than an object or a compliment in a sentence that's much more rare and that will be a little bit more impressive to the graders I'll make a video about no noun clauses as well now let's look at the complex structures so there are a few sentence types that are considered complex structures they're non-standard sentences in version causative subjunctive and passive I think most people know the passive but if you're not sure here's a link to another video I made about the passive and I'll give you some examples of oh sorry before that I'm gonna talk about the embedded clauses after that's the that's the focus here inversion inversion is when you're putting the subject that you're inverting the subject and the verb so the verb comes before the subject but it's not a question not only word deregulation encourage dot dot so that's an inversion subjunctive this is why it is important when you have this structure it is adjective followed by a that Clause or a noun clause all trainers be tested not are tested even though we have trainers I'm using the verb be okay that's called the subjunctive I also made a video about that you can link to is there as well and the causative some people believe that pair should make their children take so parents is a subject should make their children and then you have another verb you have the causative verb right here so this is a different type of structure so these you should definitely know how to use and you should definitely definitely try to use in your essays if you want the higher scores but what I recommend and what you should be practicing in terms of complexity in terms of showing your ability to use complex structures in your writing is embedded clauses these are clauses inside other clauses and these are very I wouldn't say they're difficult they're tricky okay and if you're just learning English they're a little bit confusing sometimes now the reason you should practice these is not only so you can use them in your own writing but these will help you very very much in the reading sections or just reading in English at all when you go to the States or Canada or the or the UK or Australia and you will go to university you will be doing a lot of reading and you're gonna see this is a very common part of formal writing of academic writing actually any writing very important to know so let's start we're gonna build our way up students are focused on the STEM fields tend to secure higher paying jobs after graduation I have a simple complex sentence here a basic complex sentence here students who focus adjective Clause identifying all good and well in case you're curious stem science technology engineering maths okay students who focus on the STEM fields tend to secure higher paying jobs after graduation though the demand for creative thinkers is on the rise adjective clause adverb clause this is still a basic complex sentence I have one independent clause clause I've one independent clause I have two dependent clauses okay it's not as complex structure yet okay so all of this is building up to this this is an example of a paragraph this is a paragraph it's from an example essay that was sent to me to check now this is not the orig I I fixed a few things I made some changes to make it the English okay but I want you to look at this I'll show you the original in a minute this writer will get points at least for making the attempt at the embedded clauses him some other errors here and there but the embedded clause he actually got correct let's look at it so first of all take a moment press pause on your video player and try to understand what's going on here how many clauses do you see what is the independent clause of this sentence okay when you're ready press play and we'll start this is supported by a recent study ok very simple sentence there's your independent clause that was conducted now that was we take it out so technically what we're left here with is a participle not a full clause so we're not going to count that as a clause a study that was conducted at Oxford University now there's your full independent clause in which okay our recent study and the identifying adjective Clause so it's all part of the noun phrase in which so in this study we're beginning an adjective clause they claim the people who conducted the study obviously that now they claim what that beginning a noun clause so we add an adjective clause here we're starting a noun clause or noun clause object to the verb claim as China increasingly imports so as is also a conjunction an adverb conjunction that as something happens something else will happen from different countries the level of carbon dioxide rises sharply so this is the independent clause of the dependent clause beginning with AZ and the whole thing is part of the noun clause I'll do a separate video for embedded clauses I know this makes people a little bit crazy I'll do that separately and sorry and that so now I have another noun clause also part of the claim okay claim that one and that's two so you have a compound object to claim the both objects are presented as noun clauses inevitably more Chinese people are suffering from asthma so I have four I have four clauses in here I have one participle but you'll notice that this whole thing is one sentence of one sentence with clauses inside clauses that's the embedded clause this is a very complex structure and if you can do this and do it well you'll definitely get points okay now I'm gonna come back to this idea in a second just let me erase this for you now this is the original you can see there were other mistakes for example now I just want to make sure you understand done is not incorrect conducted is just a better word that's why I changed it here where we're not talking about Oxford University we're talking about the study so it's a study is not a place so where is incorrect but they claimed that that as and well didn't get a second end but he almost got it he will get some benefits for the attempt of course he will lose other points he has for example verities we probably met varieties eatable edible different words dioxide is one word has risen again he's losing points other places but he'll get some benefit of the doubt from the graders for the attempted embedded clause practice it and I'll talk to you in one second about how to do that and what you should or shouldn't do okay here's a one more thing I want to do this is the last example fast food so we're talking about how to introduce complex structures so when you find yourself writing paragraphs and you have a lot of simple sentences simple sentence simple senses simple sentence generally speaking you're probably repeating or repeating words or you have redundancies and there are things that you can squeeze together using complex sentences or complex structures to remove the simple sentences and to reduce the word count for example fast food is becoming markedly popular in many countries okay because it is convenient and cheap people tend to prefer junk food so okay essentially you have two sentences repeating something if it is becoming popular then obviously people prefer junk food basically this means the exact same thing you can get rid of one and squeeze the two you already have the clause that because just make the first and second sentences one sentence already you have a complex sentence and then you have all these other things so you notice I have five sentences and you can again press pause and look at everything slowly and carefully I have five sentences with 81 words so what I did I reduce this to three sentences and I got rid of ten words by doing so and I have a little bit more complexity if you really want to go all the way I made this into two sentences with sixty-six words now from this word from regular until blood pressure is one sentence do I recommend that you do this no absolutely not do not try to write sentences like this in your essay first of all it's very easy to get lost along the way and make mistakes second of all it's just not comfortable for a person to read a sentence this long it's correct but it's not a good sentence but what I do want you to do what I do recommend as an exercise is try to write sentences like this in practice okay find find your sample essays that you read in the past try to take your paragraphs and squish them squeeze them into shorter paragraphs fewer sentences fewer words same message don't get rid of any information keep the information get rid of the number of sentences get rid of the number of words that should be your exercise also just go into textbooks especially academic textbooks look for sentences like this very long sentences with lots of embedded clauses and then start picking them apart identify the independent clauses identify all the dependent clauses identify all the relationships and then rewrite it in simple sentences or put them all back together is a complex sentence get to understand what's working with what and I will make a separate video about embedded clauses I know it's a very it's very difficult and tricky thing for a lot of people to do it shouldn't be but it is or I'll help you guys with that okay and that's it complex sentences complex structures make sure you know the different inversion subjunctive causative etc make sure you do a lot of practice reading dissect or analyze sentences squeeze squeeze your simple sentences together and just practice practice practice reading reading reading okay if you have any questions about any of this please ask me in the youtube comments section don't forget to like each other's questions and comments try to answer them again I'll take the most popular questions at the end of the month and make a video answer for them and until then if you liked this video please give me a like subscribe to my channel come back next week for another hopefully useful lesson okay see you again bye bye

Channel: Write to the Top

Views: 41,490

Keywords: IELTS, TOEFL, English writing, writing skills, language test, English grammar, English vocabulary, high score, how to write an essay, essay writing, test tips, grammar, English sentence structure, IELTS writing, TOEFL writing, academic writing, language skills, sentence types, sentence variety, clause types, complex structures in English

Id: esB00PeUNbw

Length: 17min 10sec (1030 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 05 2018