The purpose of the previous eleven articles has been to draw attention to specific language points you need to be comfortable with in order to reach a level 7 or above.
The focus has been on the following areas of assessment: grammatical accuracy, lexical range, coherence and task achievement.
This article will quiz you on how much you have understood, and give you a chance to both review and also to identify those areas which need more study and practice.
Exercises
1. Articles
Find five mistakes connected to definite and indefinite articles in the following extract from a task 2 essay.
Most people would consider children who have many toys to be fortunate ones. Interesting things to play with stimulate many positives in young boy or girl, such as an optimum brain development, hand-eye coordination and colour recognition, apart from simple joy of playing. Modern toys are designed to be educational as well as fun, and concerned parents carefully select products which might speed their child’s acquisition of numbers or the alphabet.
2. Modal Verbs
Decide which is normally the more natural response.
a) She could / would have told me but I can’t remember if she did or not.
b) It should / must have been a frightening experience getting caught up in a typhoon.
c) Could / Would you be interested in buying my car?
d) She was able to / could answer all the questions in the exam.
3. Multi-word Units (Prepositional phrases)
Match the beginning of each sentence with an appropriate ending.
| The conclusions are fair in | other words we were understaffed. |
| Mrs Harvey was given the award in | some ways it was sheer good fortune. |
| We had too much work to do; in | most respects but by no means all. |
| We need more information on the candidates, in | conjunction with the university of Hawaii.
|
| The study was carried out in | spite of the allegations of cheating. |
| I managed to get a good job almost immediately; in | particular their academic records.
|
4/5 Cohesion & Coherence
Add the following phrases to the sentences below that you think each one most appropriately belongs to.
a) French food is very good. Many people think it’s the best in the world.
b) Spanish food has some excellent dishes. Paella is famous all over the world.
c) Italian food tastes delicious. It’s cheap and easy to prepare.
d) Mexican food is becoming more and more popular. Some people find it a little too hot.
e) Japanese food is varied, healthy and tastes good. It’s excellent.
f) I like Thai cooking very much.
g) The food in Portugal is very good. You can usually eat well near the coast.
h) English people want healthier diets. The food is slowly getting better.
I hope this series of articles has helped you to get a better idea of what you need to do to obtain a level 7 or above.
If you are serious about taking your IELTS writing to the next level, sign up for your FREE 3 part IELTS writing video course that takes you through both task 1 and task 2. The video lessons are led by our highly experienced UK native IELTS teacher, Katherine. We also provide you with exercises to test your understanding!
Sign up your FREE IELTS writing video course by clicking here: https://swoosh-english.thinkific.com/courses/ielts-writing-video-course
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Answers
1. Articles
Most people would consider children who have many toys to be thefortunate ones. Interesting things to play with stimulate many positives in the young boy or girl, such as an optimum brain development, hand-eye coordination and colour recognition, apart from the simple joy of playing. Modern toys are designed to be educational as well as fun, and concerned parents carefully select products which might speed their child’s acquisition of the numbers or the alphabet.
2. Modal Verbs
a) She could / would have told me but I can’t remember if she did or not.
b) It should / must have been a frightening experience getting caught up in a typhoon.
c) Could / Would you be interested in buying my car?
d) She was able to / could answer all the questions in the exam
3. Multi-word Units (Prepositional phrases)
a) The conclusions are fair in most respects but by no means all.
b) Mrs Harvey was given the award in spite of the allegations of cheating.
c) We had too much work to do; in other words we were understaffed.
d) We need more information on the candidates, in particular their academic records.
e) The study was carried out in conjunction with the university of Hawaii.
f) I managed to get a good job almost immediately; in some ways it was sheer good fortune.
4/5 Cohesion & Coherence
