IELTS Writing BAND 9 Tips and Tricks

hi there it's Asiya and today I want to show you some features of formal English writing that are usually used by those who have really advanced English skills but you can learn them too and use in your essays to make your writing more complex just make sure you use them correctly that's because if your complexity goes up but your accuracy falls your score might well go down but if your complexity and accuracy both go up your score will follow ready? let's get started! the first thing that advanced English writers do is they soften their language in English if you're too direct it may be perceived as a bit rude aggressive and simplistic native speakers usually soften their language and there are two ways to do that the first way is to use modal verbs could would might mean these modal verbs create this sense of probability possibility it's not a statement anymore and yes in ielts writing if you know how to use modal verbs correctly you get some extra points for your grammar i have some examples for you here is the first sentence banning cars from city centers will alleviate the problem of air pollution that's a statement we are absolutely certain but probably we aren't so you could write cars from city centers may alleviate the problem of air pollution here is another one some people consider physical education at school unnecessary a softer more polite way to say that would be some people might consider physical education at school to be unnecessary when not stating their will but we suspect that they might the meaning is still clear and if you've noticed at the end of this sentence i also inserted to be they consider physical education to be unnecessary that's a more formal way to say it and yes using modern verbs in your writing is considered to be a complex grammatical structure so you get extra points for that the second way to soften your english is to use verbs seem and appear the first phrase is it appears that for instance it appears that at some point diesel cars were considered to be more environmentally friendly than cars with patrol engines it appears that or we can say it seems that's what happened in the uk and that's why we have so many diesel cars on the roads another phrase is it would seem that or it seems that it would seem that no action needs to be taken the second feature i want to show you today is called inversion not many language students use it it's a highly complex feature but you can easily learn it so what is inversion let me show you an example never have the results of global warming been more apparent this is an inverted sentence the normal sentence would be the result of global warming have never been more apparent inversion happens in english for emphasis we really emphasize that these changes or the results have never been more apparent so the emphasis is on never the the structure is quite dramatic but it is formal and it's perfect for your task to assess to invert a sentence we need to change the word order and actually it's very similar to asking a question let me show you the normal sentence is first we have our subject then the auxiliary or modal verb so auxiliary verbs are do does will have has had then we put the adverb in the main verb for instance such rapid changes have never occurred before to invert the sentence we need to put the adverb first never then the auxiliary verb have then our subject such rabbit changes the main verb occurred and the rest of the sentence before and then the inverted sentences never have such rapid changes occurred before this sentence isn't present perfect we already have the auxiliary verb have but sometimes there is no auxiliary verb in the normal sentence for instance in present simple he really comes to school on time no auxiliary verb so we need to add it we put the adverb first rarely then what verb would you use to ask a question does he come to school on time it's just like asking a question and if you use does then you don't need to add s to your main verb you may ask can i use inversion in any sentence the answer is no there are just several situations when you can use it but in task 2 you should use it with negative or limiting adverbs such as never seldom really scarcely hardly only little nowhere not and other similar words i think it will be easier for you to get it if you see several more examples the first normal sentences one seldom hears a politician say sorry so we put adverb first seldom does one hear a politician say sorry and again we use dos because the sentence is in present simple and this subject is he and the next sentence is people rarely connect exercise with mental and emotional well-being how do you invert it we put adverb first rarely do people connect exercise with mental and emotional well-being let me show you one more sentence it's a little bit more complex the normal sentence is students can only achieve excellent grades by studying extremely hard so first of all in this sentence we have the modal verb can and we keep it to invert sentence we use it to invert the sentence and we say only by studying extremely hard can students achieve excellent grades you see in this case we didn't just put the adverb at the beginning of the sentence we put the whole limiting phrase only by starting extremely hard otherwise our new sentence would make no sense as i mentioned this type of inversion is a little bit more difficult but you can choose where you use it it's such a specific grammatical structure and using it once in your task two is enough the next tip is place adverbs within the verb in informal english we often put adverbs at the beginning or at the end of our sentences and it's not a mistake but in formal writing it's better to put them in the middle of the sentence within your verb let me show you an example and you will understand what i'm talking about the rainwater is collected into a large reservoir then it is filtered so the key word is then and it's at the beginning of the sentence it's better to write the sentence like this collected rain water is then filtered you see it's inside the verb in this way it attracts less attention and if your adverbs if your linking words attract less attention that's a sign of a really high score for your coherence and cohesion okay where exactly should you place your adverbs well if you only have the main verb put it before the verb companies often consider if you have an auxiliary verb put it after the auxiliary verb companies have often considered if you have a modal verb again place it right after companies might often considered or might often consider and sometimes we may have two auxiliary verbs particularly in the passive voice in this case place it after the first one this proposal has often been considered now let's talk about linking words you can place some of them within your verb in exactly the same way here is an example excessive use of fossil fuels contributes to global warming however there may be other reasons for climate change linking word is however and let's move it there may however be other reasons for climate change we place it right after our modal verb me and please don't forget to put a comma before and after your linking word here is another example a study showed that bilingual children did better than monolinguals in intelligence tests therefore it is advisable to teach children to speak two or more languages from an early age the linking word is therefore again let's move it it is therefore advisable to teach children and so on please note that in this sentence the verb is to be and we place it right after our verb it is therefore advisable and again we put a comma before and after our linking word again it's not a mistake to begin your sentence with the linking word it's all right and you can do it but if you hide them inside your sentences your transition will be smoother and this link between sentences will attract no attention and that's a sign of a really high score for your coherence and cohesion my next tip is simple avoid using very very important very strong very large do you often use it in your writing if it's once or twice it's okay but if you overuse it it's problematic and i'm talking about several ways to avoid using very and some other tips that will help you elevate your writing in this video thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye

Channel: Fastrack IELTS

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Keywords: ielts, ielts exam, ielts test, ielts exam preparation, ielts preparation, how to prepare for ielts, ielts tips, ielts writing, ielts writing task 2, ielts writing academic, Fastrack education, fastrack ielts, fastrack asiya

Id: TQe0v6CxZtk

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 01 2020