Writing Like a Pro: Expert Tips for Grammar-Perfect IELTS
The IELTS test is designed to check your proficiency in the English language. To pass this test with a nice band score, you have to make sure your grammar is on-point. If you make grammar errors in, say, the speaking or writing part, you could seriously damage your chances of getting the band score that you need.
In this post, let’s take a look at some tips that you can follow to avoid making grammar errors in your IELTS test.
1. Brush Up on the Basics
The first thing you should do to make sure you don’t commit errors during your IELTS test is to brush up on the grammar basics.
This includes familiarizing yourself with the rudimentary stuff, e.g., sentence components,sentence formation, etc. This you can simply do with the help of a textbook or an online guide.
Some of the things that you should do when brushing up on the basics are:
1. Finding out what verbs, nouns, proverbs, adjectives, and adverbs are
2. Finding out what prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are
3. Learning about tenses and subject-verb agreement
And so on.
Using a textbook or an online written guide can be sufficient in most cases,
2. Learn About Common Grammar Errors
Once you are done learning about grammar basics, the next thing you have to do is learn about common grammar errors.
Why exactly?
So that you can learn to avoid them. Common grammar errors are common for a reason. People make them…a lot of times without realizing it. You have to make sure that you don’t do the same.
Some common grammar errors that you should learn about are:
1. Comma splices: “Splice” means to connect. A “comma splice” is a mistake in which a comma is used to connect two independent clauses that would otherwise have to be connected with a coordinating conjunction, a colon, semi-colon, or full-stop.
This type of error is common amongst not only beginners but even people with a moderate experience level. You should learn about it properly to make sure you don’t commit it during the test itself.
2. Wrong use of apostrophes: Apostrophes are used to show possession. For example, if a particular noun is being shown to possess something, it’s with like “…the cat’s eyes…” or the “…the soldier’s dog tag…” When the subject in question is in the plural form, the apostrophe comes after the ending “s”. Like “Students’ council.” This error is quite common.
3. Subject-verb disagreement: Subject-verb disagreement occurs when the subject in a sentence does not match the verb that addresses it. For example, the sentence “the woes of the potato on being boiled is understandable” is incorrect since “woes” has to be addressed with the verb “are.”
3. Learn About the Errors That You’re More Prone to Make
Other than brushing up on the basics of grammar and learning about the common errors, etc., you also have to learn about the errors you make more than the others. Once you know that, you can pay special attention to those and avoid making them during your IELTS test.
So how do you do this? There are two main ways.
a. The first way is to take the help of a human editor/proofreader. You can write your content and then have someone look it over. You can make a note of the errors that they point out and then work on them.
b. The other way to do the same thing is to use an online grammar-checking tool. A grammar checker, in this context, does the same thing as a human. You can submit your content to the tool and then look at the issues it points out.
The benefit of using a grammar checker is that they are a lot quicker than a human proofreader or editor. They can scan the given content quickly and give out the results in a matter of seconds.
On the other hand, the benefit of taking help from an actual person is that there are less chances of errors and mistakes. While a tool can slip up every now and then, a human proofreader is not as likely to do so.
Conclusion
Avoiding grammar errors is important in all types of settings where you have to speak or write something. However, in an IELTS test, it is even more important.
You can get started with the tips we’ve mentioned above. If you work on them regularly for long enough, you’ll be prepped and ready for your test when it comes.
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