تعداد کلمات و قوانین رایتینگ آیلتس

1. Do not use (…) (etc) 

One of the biggest problems in big cities is unemployment, crime, and pollution.

One of the biggest problems in big cities is unemployment, crime, pollution, etc.

2. No question mark

How do you think we can solve the problem of overcrowding in cities?

3. Do not use exclamation points

In my opinion, it’s the best solution to overcrowding in cities!

4. Phrases like “more and more”, “bigger and bigger”, and “greater and greater” are good. However, instead of writing “more and more people are driving cars these days”, you could use trend language in task 1 writing to write this sentence like

• “increasing numbers of people are using cars these days”
• “a significantly larger number of people using cars these days”
• “a growing increase in the number of people using cars these days”
• “Nowadays, the number of people who own cars has increased”
• “increasing numbers of students are going abroad for university study”
• “the number of cities that suffer from pollution has increased tremendously in recent decades”.

That’s much better than “more and more”. In addition, instead of using a structure such as “much more”, you can say

• a great deal larger

Also, “big” is too informal for reports and essays, we should use

• large
• sizeable
• significant

5. Do not begin sentences with “And”, “But”, “Or”. Instead use linking phrases that sound more academic such as:

• In addition/Furthermore
• However
• Since
• As a result

For more Lessons on linking phrases click here

6. The first sentence of each body paragraph should be a topic sentence, it should define the content of the paragraph in general terms. The number one job of the topic sentence is to tell the readers what they are going to read in that paragraph. It’s a signal to the readers. A topic sentence can do other things, but its number one job is to send the signal to the readers.

7. “Most/almost”: “Most” is an adjective (usually) that means the greatest quantity, amount, measure, degree, or a number of something. It is followed by a noun, prepositional phrase, or adjective:

• Most people
• the most popular
• most of his time
• most of my friends study abroad

“Almost” is an adverb that means very nearly (a language of estimation), it means close, but NOT totally. Examples:

• We’re almost home
• almost finished
• almost every house
• almost never
• almost all of the students

8. Manage your time well. Task 1= 20 minutes. Task 2=40 minutes. A poorly written essay for the report will receive a higher band score than an incomplete one. Task 1 = 150 words, Task 2 = 250 words. Make sure you write the minimum number of words.

9. Subject-verb agreement: He, she, it….plays, does, receives, negotiates, etc. This is a rule you learned in elementary grammar. You cannot still be making this mistake on the IELTS test. If you make this mistake in your essay, you can forget about getting a good band score.

10. Use the correct verb tenses. This is another elementary mistake that will keep you from getting a good band score. Pay attention to every verb you write and consider what tense you should be using—particularly, present tense. Most of the time, the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of the time, you are using the present tense. I would say that really no need for past tense, maybe some future, maybe modal verbs, but most of the time, you are using the present tense (present simple, present perfect, present continuous). That’s what something you should be thinking about.

11. Articles (a, an, the, no article): The last of the three biggest elementary mistakes. Maybe because you have articles in your own language. It’s a foreign concept to you. The other thing is you don’t read them out, and you usually use articles in theories whereas the best way on how to use articles is by looking at a lot of proper accurate writings. Review the rules about articles and apply them to every noun you write.

12. Singular/Plural, Countable/Uncountable: When speaking in general about something, use the plural form. For example: “People use computers in their offices every day. (Don’t say: people use a computer in their office every day); or: people need a lot of money for their lives (don’t say: people need a lot of money for their life.) When it comes to Countable & Uncountable, it’s a bit challenging here because there aren’t rules about what is countable and what is uncountable. I would say keep a little list of words that are countable and uncountable. I don’t want to see equipments, knowledges, advises, informations, etc. these are common mistakes students make.

13. Write your essays from a global perspective, because the questions are asked from a global perspective. Try to avoid relating the essay question only to your country. It should be about the world in general. If you say

• traffic in the city is a serious problem when you are traveling down Madison Avenue at rush hour.

it’s very specific. Instead, you should say:

• when people travel down busy streets in urban areas during rush hours…

now you are not talking about problems of a specific city, you are talking about problems that every city faces. That’s what you want. You want to be general.

14. Use linking words and transition phrases at the beginning of all body paragraphs, and the conclusion. Keep your sentences short and well-linked. It’s a key if you want to improve your grammar. It will help your grammar and your organization as well. For example:

• Firstly
• on the one hand
• on the other hand
• in summary

15. No contractions; for example: “shouldn’t” = should not, can’t = cannot, wouldn’t = would not, shouldn’t = should not, etc.

16. Keep pronouns out of the essay body paragraphs. Words such as you, we, I, us, should be omitted or written as people, students, society, etc. For example, instead of saying “when you go abroad, you will have a chance to experience new cultures”, you should say “when a student goes abroad, they will have a chance to experience new cultures”

17. Active tense can be changed to passive tense to omit the pronoun.

18. Effect is a noun. Affect is a verb.

19. In the introduction, tell the reader what you’re going to do. For example: “In this essay I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad”. No need. The way that I will teach you how to give an introduction is going to be incredibly clear, and incredibly high level. I’m not just teaching you how to write essays for a 5.5 in the exam, I’m teaching you how to write essays that will be good for any university in the world. So, my method is incredibly clear but helps you with your organization. So, instead, you could write a concise thesis statement.

20. Avoid using absolutes such as; all, every, none, only, always, never, completely, and totally. For example: when everyone goes abroad, they always suffer from homesickness. Be careful of using 100% and 0% statements.

21. Don’t use the word “thing” to name the object or action you’re writing about. For example, instead of writing “when students go abroad, they have opportunities to experience many different things”, you should write “when students go abroad, they have opportunities to experience many different things, such as new cultures and make new friends”. That’s ok because you are giving two specific examples of what things you are talking about.

Review this list. When you’ve done with your first essay, go through the list to make sure you are not making some of these mistakes.