General IELTS writing - task 1

Task 1 writing in the IELTS exam is normally either a formal, semi-formal or informal letter. Candidates need to recognize the type of letter they are dealing with in the exam and choose an appropriate style of vocabulary based on that. The structure of the different styles of letters is very similar and future posts will deal with the composition of a letter, how to recognize which type of question is being posed and useful formal and informal vocabulary and expressions for letter writing in English.

Sentence structure in IELTS writing and speaking

IELTS needs to see evidence of various types of sentence structure - basic, compound, complex and compound - complex sentences to achieve higher scores in the exam. Many students make the mistake of thinking that writing or speaking with all complex or compound complex structure will get them the highest points. Actually, native speakers use a variety of all sentence structures and basic and compound sentences make up a very large proportion of our speech and writing.

Speaking fillers in IELTS

Using speaking fillers in IELTS enables the candidate to have some valuable time to think about what they are going to say rather than just rushing in and making lots of mistakes! Using them effectively at the beginning of answers for speaking part 3 can help you gain higher points in fluency. Balance is the key! For example - starting every answer with a speaking filler might not sound natural but using two or three different speaking fillers during the whole of speaking part 3 would.

Examples of speaking fillers are -

a) To be honest ....

b) Well ....

c) I hadn't thought about that before. Give me a moment to think please ...

d)It's difficult to say ....

e) It's funny you should ask that ....

Of course, there are hundreds of speaking fillers but knowing how to use a few correctly should be enough for the exam.