How good are you at grammar to deliver your answer?

Lesson 4. How good are you at grammar to deliver your

answer?
The Importance of Grammar in IELTS
Though in IELTS test, there is no actual grammar test section, all sections of the test
require your ability in grammar. Especially in Speaking and Writing, grammar
becomes one of aspects the examiners use to assess your performance.
In Writing Task 2 band descriptor (Public Version) for band 7 in the aspect of
grammatical range and accuracy, it is stated:
 Uses a variety of complex structures
 Produces frequent error-free sentences
 Has good control of grammar and punctuation but may make a few errors

In Speaking Band Descriptor (Public Version), for band 7 it is also stated in the aspect of
grammatical range and accuracy:

 uses a range of complex structures with some flexibility

 frequently produces error-free sentences, though some grammatical mistakes persist

In brief, grammar plays an important role that a test taker should well concern to
achieve the high band score in IELTS.
In this lesson, grammar will be mainly discussed based upon 3 aspects:
1. Parts of Speech: Elements of Sentence
2. Time Occurrence (Tense Use)
3. Sentence Structure
Though grammar section is included in Writing Task 2, it is very important for you
to face other IELTS sections such as Writing Task 1, Listening, Reading and
Speaking.

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

This part focuses on grammar by analyzing a single sentence based on three
aspects: elements of sentence, time occurrence and sentence structures

What Elements does it have?

Sentence What Tense does it show?

In What structure is it built?

1. Parts of Speech: Elements of Sentence

ADJECTIVE

NOUN VERB
ADVERB

PREPOSITION

Word Classes Correlation

1,1 The Main Word Classes (NOUN and VERB)

NOUN. To make it simpler, you can use a noun both as a subject or an object in
the forms of Noun Phrase, Gerund, or Gerund Phrase beside proper noun or
common noun.
Noun Phrase A comprehensive method to solve the problem is needed
Gerund Smoking is a bad habit
Gerund Phrase Leaving on the Jet Plane is my favorite song

VERB meanwhile, functions to show an action or state of being. A verb shows

what someone or something (Subject) is doing. In use, a verb sometimes changes
dependent upon the time of occurrence (tenses – later discussed more deeply).
Verb can be categorized into:
a. Action Verb: Walk, Write, Read
Woman reads a novel
b. Verb “To be” or Linking Verb : am, is, are (present) was, were (past)
She is an iron woman
c. Modal Verb: Can, Could, Will, Would, Might, May, Shall, Should, Ought to
Working late might trigger stress

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In use, a VERB can in the form of Active Voice and Passive Voice. Voice
indicates whether the subject is acting or being acted upon.
Active Voice Passive Voice
The government issues a new policy A new policy is issued
The government is now discussing A new policy is being discussed
about a new policy

Verb also sometimes changes – dependent upon the tense (time occurrence) of the
sentence. The change can be regular or irregular (it is discussed in TENSES – time
occurrence).
1.2. Additional Word Classes
Some additional word classes (adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun and
conjunction) are needed to modify or give additional information to NOUN or
VERB. To explain how these additional word classes are used to modify NOUN or
VERB, it might better, in my opinion, to discuss it by explaining one of features of
academic writing that is COMPLEXITY that means that written language is
relatively more complex than spoken language –it is lexically dense (there is a higher
proportion of content words per clause). Formal written English uses nouns and
nominal group (noun-based phrases) more than verbs. This can be done by
modification of nouns to form nominal groups.
A typical nominal group is structured in the following way

Head
Determiner Pre-Modifier (A Noun as Subject Post-Modifier
or Object)
A Complicated Solution To a problem

From the noun phrase “A complicated solution to a problem” above, it can be seen
how the subject Solution as the head or main word is given some additional word
classes that can be grouped into 3: Determiner, Pre-Modifier (adjective placed
before a noun) and Post-Modifier (modifying a noun and it is placed after a noun)

ADJECTIVE in Part of Speech functions to modify a noun. It can be as placed

either as the Determiner, Pre-modifier or as Post-Modifier.
Determiners such as article (a, an, and the), some, many, a number of, several,
few, or more, are adjective to show the quantity and status of Subject. Remember, a
noun mostly needs a determiner.
Basically, an adjective has three forms in use: Positive, Comparative and
Superlative.

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Positive
Comparative Superlative
One-syllable adjective High higher the highest

Three-syllable more productive The most

or more adjective productive less productive productive
The least
productive

Adjective ending in –y wealthy wealthier the wealthiest

Short adjective ending with a
hot hotter the hottest
consonant/vowel/consonant
Irregular good better the best

Regarding the word form, adjective can be in the form of”

 Common Adjective with the a number of endings
-ent (excellent) -ive (decorative)
-ant (important) -ous (generous)
-ful (careful) -al (bilingual)
-ic (tectonic) -able (capable)
-less (meaningless) -ible (impossible)

 Ing-participle: it means an adjective explaining that noun actively makes it

happen.
Breaking News (it means that the news has made other programs break
(active)
 Ed-Participle (It means an adjective explaining that noun accepts (passive)
Haunted house (it means that ghost haunts the house)

Related to the Complexity in Noun, beside those forms of adjective can be as the pre -
modifiers, they can also be as the Post-modifier.

- A brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments (ing-participle)

- Canoes preserved by a hard plaster (ed-participle)

ADVERB modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It is mostly formed

from adjective such as careful – carefully, promising – promisingly
 Adverb modifying a verb: She shouted her friend loudly
 Adverb modifying an adjective: She has a very loud voice
 Adverb modifying another adverb She listened very carefully
Note: an adverb modifying a verb can be put in some places.

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 She shouted her friend loudly.

 She loudly shouted her friend.
 Loudly, she shouted her friend.
However, adverb modifying a verb cannot be put between verb and object.
She shouted loudly her friend.
When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it must be placed before
the adjective or another adverb.

PREPOSITION is a word (or group of words) that shows the relationship

between its object (a noun or a pronoun that follows the preposition) and another
word in the sentence.
 The cat is sleeping under the table (object of preposition modifying verb is
sleeping)
 The woman with the red jacket is writing a journal (object of preposition
modifying subject the woman)

There are three kinds of preposition: simple (at, in, on, with), compound (within,
outside, underneath) and phrasal (on account of, on top of).
Preposition
Aboard Back of Except Of Through
About Because of Except for Off Throughout
Above Before For On Till
According to Behind From On account of To
Across Below In On behalf of Towards
Across from Beneath In addition to Onto Under
After Beside In behalf of On top of Underneath
Against Besides In front of Opposite Until
Along Between In place of Out Unto
Alongside Beyond In regard to Out of Up
Alongside of By Inside Outside Up to
Along with By means of In spite of Over Upon
Amid Concerning Instead of Owing to With
Among Considering In terms of Prior to Within
Apart from Despite In view of Regarding Without
Around Down Into Round
Aside from Down from Like Since
At During Near Subsequent to
Away from Notwithstanding Together with

Practice 1
After learning about the use of noun and its relationship with other additional word
classes i.e. determiner, adjective, adverb and preposition, identify the word class of

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the randomized words below and rearrange them to form a noun-based phrase to
create a complexity.
1. approach – different - a – fundamentally
2. in - a – promising –era - very – job – millennial –the
3. populated – in - the – country – the – most – world
4. the - prepared - January- the - well - ceremony - in - of - very – mid
5. blind – called - Braille – writing - for - a - of - the system

PRONOUN is a word used to replace a noun. All pronouns must have

antecedent – a noun which the pronoun refers to or replace.
Singular
Nominative Possessive Objective
Case Case Case
1 st person I My, mine Me
2 nd person You Your, yours You
3 rd person He His Him
She Her Her
It Its It

Plural
Nominative Possessive Objective
Case Case Case
1st person We Our, ours Us
2nd person You Your, yours You
3rd person They Their, theirs Them
Classes of Pronouns
Relative
Who, whose, whom, which, what, that
Demonstrative
This, that, these, those
Interrogative
Who, whose, whom, which, that
Intensive and Reflexive
Myself, himself, herself, yourself, themselves, ourselves
Indefinite Pronouns
All Both Everything Nobody Several
Another Each Few None Some
Any Each one Many No one Somebody
Anybody Either Most Nothing Someone
Anyone Everybody Much One Something
anything Everyone Neither Another Such

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In IELTS, the proper use of references, i.e. pronoun

is deemed important as it can help to result in the
cohesion or interrelation among sentences in a
paragraph. This then can improve the score for the
aspect of Coherence and Cohesion

Study some examples in the use of pronouns in IELTS essay of Writing Task 2
IELTS
Personal pronouns: (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one, them)
Global warming is now top of the agenda for most governments.
However, they are unlikely to take the steps necessary to tackle it.
Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
These days, it is often the case that children are neglected. This may be
because of the fact that many parents in cities now both have to work so are
often not around to give their children support when needed.
Possessive adjectives: (my, your, his, her, their, one’s, its, our).
Parents also have to take more responsibility for their children’s actions.

CONJUNCTION functions to connect individual words or group of words

(phrase or clause). There are 3 kinds of conjunction commonly used in a sentence:
coordinating conjunction, correlative conjunction and subordinating
conjunction.

Coordinating  When we came back, it was clear and cold (and connects
Conjunction two equal words)
 and, but, or, so, yet,  The man working on the roof and cutting the wood is my
nor brother (and connect two equal/parallel phrases)
 Writing an essay seems to be hard so it needs a good
plan (so connects two clauses)

Correlative/Paired
Conjunctions
Neither …nor….
Either …..or…. Neither government nor private party can offer a proper
solution for this conflict.
Not only…but also….
Both… and…..
Whether …. Or….

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Subordinating
Conjunction
After, although, as, as if, Although it is hard to do, I believe there is a way to cope with
as long as, because, it.
before, if, provided that,
whereas

2. Time Occurrence (Tenses Use)

Now try to write one sentence in each square below describing:
1. Something you do every day.
2. Something you are doing right now.
3. Something you did in the past at an unspecified time.
4. Something you started in the past that you are still doing now.

1. 2.

3. 4.

English has 12 tenses divided into 3 times: Past, Present, and Future, each of
which equally has 4 aspects: Simple, Continuous, Perfect, and Perfect
Continuous, which of course express a different function and meaning in terms of
time occurrence.
 Simple Present functions to show:
1. Routine actions: He goes to the market every weekend.
2. Facts and permanent situations - The sky is blue.
3. Directions or instructions - Turn right at the corner and walk for fifty meters.
- Open the box and then remove the plastic.
 Present Continuous functions to show:
1. An action happening as we speak.
I’m doing some housework.
2. Something ongoing but not necessarily happening right now
I’m reading a book called On the Road.
3. a developing situation
It is getting dark outside.

 Present Perfect functions to show:

An action or something that is already done in the past without stating a particular
time. It is for example to answer the question “Have you ever visited Bali?” and
it is answered: “Yes, I have ever visited Bali”. Here, the purpose of present perfect

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is only to say an experience that we have. When a definite/certain time in the past
is added, then past tense will be used: “I went there two years ago”
 Present Perfect Continuous functions to show:
An ongoing activity and the length of time that it has continued. Simply, this
tense is to show the duration so far from an activity that is still being done.
Say, it is to answer a question “How long have you been learning
Grammar?”
We have been learning Grammar for 1 hour
Aspect Sentence
Simple The woman writes a novel everyday
Present

Continuous The woman is writing a novel now

Perfect The woman has written a novel
Perfect The woman has been writing a novel for three hours
Continuous
Aspect Sentence
Simple The woman wrote a novel yesterday
Past

Continuous The woman was writing a novel when I visited her last night
Perfect The woman had written a novel when I visited her last night
Perfect The woman had been writing a novel for three hours when I
Continuous visited her last night.
Aspect Sentence
Simple The woman will write a novel everyday
Future

Continuous The woman will be writing a novel now

Perfect The woman will have written a novel
Perfect The woman will have been writing a novel for three hours
Continuous

3. Sentence Structure
3.1. Clause
Talking about sentence structure means talking about clause. Principally, a sentence
is built from or contains a clause or more than one clause. A clause refers to a group
of words that at least have one subject and one verb.
Clause itself is divided into two kinds: Independent Clause and Dependent Clause
 It contains a subject, a verb and often a complement.
 It expresses a complete thought.
independent

 It can stand alone as a sentence by itself.

clause

The proportion of elder people is increasing

Subject Verb

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 It begins with a subordinator (i.e. when, while, if, that, or who)

followed by a subject and a verb

dependent clause
 It is not a sentence by itself for not expressing a complete thought.
 It is also called a sentence fragment because, by itself, it is an
incomplete sentence, and it is an error.

When the proportion of elder people is increasing

Subordinate Subject Verb

3.2 Types of Sentence Structure

Simple The high crime rate among teenagers in urban areas increases
Sentence recently.
Subject verb
 Using coordinate connector (For, And, Nor, So, But, Yet, Or)
Japanese people live longer than other nationalities , for they
consume healthful diet .
Compound  Using Semicolon (;)
Sentence Japanese people consume healthful diet; they live longer
 Using Conjunctive Adverb (however, in contrast, on the other hand,
therefore)
Japanese people consume healthful diet; therefore, they live longer.

Complex I. Complex Sentence with Noun Clause

Sentence What you did was wrong
Connector S+V
II. Complex Sentence with Adverb Clause
When you write a piece of academic writing, you need to make
sure it well-organized
III. Complex Sentence with Adjective Clause (who, which,
that)
A leader that can make employees secured is an ideal figure
Compound
Complex I love that book that you showed me, so I need to have it soon
Sentence

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