THE BEST GUIDES TO IELTS WRITING

THE BEST GUIDES TO IELTS WRITING

Collected and Shared by Tran Manh Trung – Foreign Language Department

Hong Duc University – Thanh Hoa Province

FORMAL AND INFORMAL WORD LIST

(Collected and selected by Tran Manh Trung – Hong Duc University)

Rules for formal writing are quite strict, though often unstated Formal writing is used in academic and

scientific settings whenever you want to convey your ideas to a wide audience, with many possible backgrounds

and assumptions Unlike casual conversation or emails to friends, formal writing needs to be clear,

unambiguous, literal, and well structured

Table 01:

10 to do well to succeed thành công

39 to want to desire mong muốn

68 childish immature/ infantile như trẻ con (tính cách)

97 Government must make laws There is a need for laws cần có luật về …

99 Every coin has two sides There are advantages and disadvantages to mọi vấn đề đều có ưu điểm và nhược điểm

120 to do (research) to carry out, perform, undertake tiến hành (nghiên cứu), đảm nhiệm

127 prove confirm khẳng định

157 to pay to settle trả tiền, thanh toán

163 There are no big differences between No significant differences emerges between Không có sự khác biệt đáng kể nào

165 to put smth into action To be implemented/ carried out Được tiến hành, được đưa vào hoạt động

186 meat-eater carnivore động vật ăn thịt

215 viewpoint stance lập trường, quan điểm

220 to make smth better /to get better to improve/to upgrade cải thiện, làm cho tốt hơn

245 TV/ telly television tivi

250 and so on / and so forth / etc among other examples / or avoid using them v.v

Academic Language

The term academic language commonly refers to the language that is used in formal situations such as

classrooms, college or universities Moreover, it is the language of textbooks and exams Academic language is the language used by teachers and students in order to acquire new knowledge and skills It differs in structure and vocabulary from language used in daily social interactions This means that academic language includes

specialized vocabulary, as well as conventional text structures such as the use of nominal groups, i.e., groups of words that provide more information about particular concepts For example, the language of linguistics includes words like morphology, language acquisition, or language learning

Features of Academic Language

The uses of specific linguistic features depend on the discipline for which an assignment is written For example, an essay in history may contain a number of past tense verbs than a paper that discusses the dialects spoken by a particular speech community in which the present tense verbs are used The three features of academic languag are lexical, grammatical, and discourse”

IELTS Writing Task 2: Useful Language

Memorising set phrases for use in the IELTS test is a highly effective way of achieving a higher score Try learning the following signposting language which will make you sound more confident and sophisticated when writing an opinion or argument essay in Task 2

Introducing the topic

 Some people argue that…

 Have you ever considered… ?

 The question raises the issue of…

Stating an opinion (thesis statement)

 I believe that…

 It is my belief that…

 This essay will argue that…

Indicating the scope of the essay

 In this essay, I will state…

 This essay will examine…

 … will be covered in this essay

Giving reasons

 One reason for this is that…

 This can be explained by…

 This can be attributed to the fact that…

Giving further reasons

 Not only that, but…

 A further reason is…

 It should also be stated that…

Citing general opinions

 It has been claimed that…

 It is widely believed that…

 There is a widespread belief that…

Refuting opinions

 I would dispute this, however

 However, this is not necessarily the case

 There are some faults with this reasoning, however

Hedging strategies

 It could be argued that…

 One explanation might be that…

 This suggests that…

Strengthening an argument

 There can be no doubt that…

 Therefore, we can say beyond any doubt that…

 These are just some of the reasons why…

Concluding and summarising

 To sum up, … / In summary, … / In short, …

 Overall, … / On the whole, …

 To return to my original idea,…

IELTS Writing Task 1: Useful Language

1 THE LANGUAGE OF APPROXIMATION

In report writing it is good style to use approximation Approximation means describing numbers or statistics by using a fraction that is similar to the exact number There are a number of reasons for doing this Firstly, it is easier for people to understand and remember Secondly, the numbers or statistics may be more detailed than necessary

Table 02:

Ord numbers/statistics similar fractions Ord numbers/statistics similar fractions

2 THE WORDS AND PHRASES TO DESCRIBE TRENDS:

to dip

to dive

to plunge

Phrases

to show an upward trend

to show a downward trend

to hit the highest point

to hit the lowest point

Adverbs

sharply suddenly rapidly abruptly dramatically

significantly steadily considerably markedly slightly gently gradually wildly

Adjectives

sharp sudden rapid abrupt dramatic steep significant steady considerable marked slight gentle gradual

MORE WORDS AND PHRASES TO DESCRIBE TRENDS:

A Introduction

1 The graph (biểu đồ)/table (bảng)/ shows (cho thấy)/indicates (chỉ)/ illustrates (minh hoạ)/ reveals (tiết lộ)/ represents (trình bày) … 2 It is clear from the graph/table …

3 It can be seen from the graph/table … 4 As the graph/table shows …

5 As can be seen from the graph/table … 6 As is shown by the graph/table …

7 As is illustrated by the graph/table … 8 From the graph / table it is clear …

B Verbs

1 to constitute/ make up: tạo thành 2 to comprise: bao gồm

3 to account for: chiếm đến 4 to amount to : lên đến (số)

5 to stand at: giữ ở (số) 6 to treble: gấp ba lần

7 to double: gấp đôi 8 to increase three fold: tăng gấp ba lần

9 to halve: chia đôi, giảm đi một nửa 10 to diminish: sụt giảm, làm sụt giảm

11 to slow down: chậm lại 12 to remain the same/ unchanged: không thay đổi, giữ nguyên

13 to deplete: làm giảm 14 to lessen: giảm bớt, làm giảm bớt

15 to escalate: leo thang, tăng nhan 16 to stand at the same level: giữ nguyên

17 to fall to … %: giảm tới … % 18 to fall from … %: giảm xuống dưới … %

19 to fall by …%: giảm khoảng … % 20 to drop to … : giảm tới … %

21 to rise to … %: tăng tới … % 22 to rise by … %: tăng khoảng

23 to rise from … %: tăng từ … %

24 to increase at …% /reduce at … %: tăng/giảm … %

25 to increase to … /reduce to … : tăng/giảm tới … (số)

26 to remain relatively steady: vẫn duy trì tương đối ổn định

C Adverbs

1 exceptionally: cá biệt, khác thường 2 remarkably: đáng chú ý

3 moderately: vừa phải 4 extremely/enormously: cực kỳ, rất

5 substantially: to lớn, đáng kể 6 marginally: hơi, đôi chút

7 hardly/ scarcely: hầu như không 8 slowly: chậm

D Prepositions and prepositional phrases

1 In/within the range of … and … :Trong phạm vi

2 For/During the first six months, …: Trong sáu tháng đầu

3 During the remainder of the year, …: Trong thời gian còn lại của năm …

4 During the first half of this century, …: Trong nửa đầu thế kỷ này …

5 Between 1950 and 1960, …: Giữa năm 1950 và 1960 …

6 In the period from 1960 to 1990, … :Trong giai đoạn từ 1960 to 1990 …

7 In the period between 1950 and 1960, … : Trong giai đoạn giữa năm 1950 và 1990 …

8 From that time on: Từ thời gian đó trở đi

9 Over a ten-year period, … : Trong giai đoạn 10 năm

10 Throughout the nineteenth century: Trong suốt thế kỷ 19

11 Unlike …: Không giống với …

12 In contrast to …: so với … /tương phản với …

13 In comparison with … : so sánh với …

E Nouns and noun phrases

1 overview: cái nhìn khái quát, cái nhìn tổng quan

2 a large number /percentage of … : một số lớn /một tỷ lệ phần trăm lớn của …

3 the whole/total amount/quantity of … : tổng lượng của …

4 the total number of … : tổng số của … 5 An increase of … %: sự tăng lên … %

6 trend: khuynh hướng 7 correlation: mối liên hệ

8 a drop of … %: sự giảm … % 9 an increase in … : sự tăng về …

10 a slight increase: sự tăng nhẹ 11 a drop in …: giảm về …

F Comparison

1 Comparing the figures for 1990 and 2000 …: So sánh các con số của năm 1990 và năm 2000 …

2 Compared to/with x, y is …: So với x, y thì …

3 Comparing with x, y is more …: so với x , y thì hơn…

4 Comparing X with Y we find that … : So sánh X với Y chúng ta nhận thấy …

5 Comparing x with y, it can be seen by us that …: So sánh x với y chúng ta có thể thấy rằng …

Types of Trend

THE RULES SHOULD BE MEMORISED

PRIOR TO WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS

Rule 01: Avoid using contractions or abbreviations. (Ex Use can not instead of can’t)

Avoid contracted auxiliary verbs and negatives These are very common in informal speech and writing, but are considered inappropriate in academic writing

Non-academic: I don’t think that I’m working hard

Academic: I do not think that I am working hard

For example: can’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t, I’ll, I’ve, I’d, won’t, etc…

Note that “cannot” is one word

Do not use abbreviations or symbols

Spell the words out Ex: & = and; dept = department

Rule 02: Use third person voice or impersonal language

(Ex One can interpret instead of You can interpret )

In other words, the impersonal language should be used Most formal writing aims to establish an air of

objectivity and impartiality, an air with which the personal pronouns I, me, and my seem inconsistent In truth,

objectivity results from proper use of evidence and logic rather than pronoun choices, but there is something to be

said for seeming as well as being objective Moreover, some professors prohibit their students from using

first-person pronouns as a kind of discipline: many students do inject first-personal opinions and unexamined assumptions where persuasiveness demands objective evidence, and prohibiting personal pronouns seems to help curb this tendency

The convention in much academic writing is to write with minimal reference to yourself as an author The reason for this lies in a tradition of needing to present your work "objectively", as the work of a dispassionate and

disinterested (that is, unbiased) researcher So, one of the features of academic writing is a general absence of the

first person pronoun "I" This can be difficult, as lecturers often say, "tell me what you think" Well, they do want

to know what you think, but presented as a rational, objective argument For this reason we also avoid using

emotive language; instead we let the "facts" - or our reasoned argument - make the point for us

It is important to note that while the avoidance of "I" has long been part of the academic tradition, these days some academics consider its use to be acceptable So, you may encounter different views about the use of "I" over the course of your degree In any case, you will need to develop the flexibility in your writing to play down the

"personal element" Your lecturer, Cathi Lewis, for example, has stated that she prefers undergraduates to avoid the use of "I" in Introduction to Sociology (See the Lecturer's Advice section of this tutorial) Regardless of your

particular lecturer's views, you will need to learn how to use "I" sparingly So let's look at how we can write passages without reference to the first person pronoun

Avoid personal "I", "you", and "we", except for the thesis statement So, instead of: "As I mentioned above ", write" "As was mentioned above " except for the thesis statement So, instead of: "As I mentioned above ", write" "As was mentioned above "

There are several ways to avoid using the first person pronoun "I":

One way is to let the assignment "speak for itself": for example,

"I show " becomes "The report shows "

"I interpret the results as " becomes "The results indicate "

Another way to avoid the first person is to use the passive voice construction:

(active voice) (passive voice)

NOTE: for further help with using the passive voice, go to the passives tutorial in the Grammar section of this

Website

- The second-person singular pronoun - you - raises a similar issue when used to refer to a hypothetical rather than

a real individual Consider the following sentence:

You eat peas with a fork, not with a knife

- This you is not a definite person who chooses to eat peas with one utensil rather than another The meaning of the sentence is actually something like, "Peas should be eaten with a fork, not with a knife." This you is a fictional character who in sentences of this kind also frequently goes by the name one, and who is standing in for a whole

Rule 03: Be sure to use transitions between points, within a paragraph

Use appropriate linking words/phrases to show the links between paragraph, as well as to link sentences within paragraphs Do not use simple linking words (e.g and, but, so) except for variety

Conjunctions: avoid weak conjunctions such as "but." This is a VERY weak word with which to begin a

sentence Look in the thesaurus for others, such as "however," "moreover," "nevertheless," "nonetheless,"

"regardless," etc Although it is grammatically correct to begin sentences with "And", “Or”, and "Because," you should be careful and avoid doing this because many students do not do so correctly

- Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, or, yet, so):

Put a comma before these conjunctions (Don't use them at the beginning of a sentence in more formal writing.)

example: The movie has already started, but my friend has not arrived yet

- Correlative Conjunctions (These have two parts: either or):

* Put a comma before the second part if it connects 2 clauses (complete sentences)

example: Eric is not only an outstanding teacher, but he is also a gourmet cook

* You don't need a comma if it only connects words or phrases

example: Eric is not only an outstanding teacher but also a gourmet cook

- Transitional Words and Phrases:

* Put a comma after these if they are at the beginning of a sentence

example: I like to travel Specifically, I enjoy places with old cathedrals

* Use a semicolon to connect the two sentences

example: I like to travel; specifically, I enjoy places with old cathedrals

* Use a comma before and after the transitional word/phrase in the middle of a clause

example: I like to travel, and, specifically, I enjoy places with old cathedrals

Some Common English Transition Words and Phrases

Adding Information

and

not only but also

also

moreover (more formal)

furthermore (more formal)

in addition (more formal)

Examples

We have seen the movie twice, and now we want to see it again

Not only did my brother break his leg, but he also bruised his rib

My friend speaks Korean and English She also speaks Chinese

Cheating is dishonest Moreover, it hinders students from learning

Students should be on time Furthermore, they must be prepared

You must complete this essay by 5 p.m In addition, you must do the exercises on page 47

He often eats strange foods For instance, he once ate cow brains

I like to travel Specifically, I enjoy places with old cathedrals

I love fruit In particular, I like bananas, pineapple, and berries

My friend hates skiing for several reasons The first reason is that she dislikes being cold

Another reason is that she often falls

Showing a Contrast

but

however

Examples

Bill earned an A on his essay, but Susan got a B

We wanted to leave at 8:00 However, Mike arrived too late