common IELTS grammar mistakes

Do you know what most IELTS students have trouble with when it comes to their writing? … It’s articles (the, a, an) and countable/uncountable nouns.

Over many years of marking IELTS essays and listening to students when speaking, I have noticed the same mistakes, most commonly they are articles (the’, a, an) and countable/uncountable nouns.

Correct use of grammar in IELTS Writing and Speaking accounts for 25% of marks in the exam. If you have more than one grammar mistake in each sentence then the chances are that you will get a Band 5 or 6 in grammar in the writing section. Also in the Speaking test grammar is important. For articles (the, an, a) there are a lot of different rules in English regarding these.

With some knowledge on this, you can learn to avoid making these common errors in your writing and speaking. Try the exercise at the bottom of the page and see how well you do.