Common Grammar Mistakes in IELTS Writing?

Writing is certainly not a simple task. And for all those IELTS test-takers who have no expertise at it, it can be very difficult for them to write more convincing answer. Writing is all about how good you are at expressing your thoughts in written English. A perfect example of the 9-band score in IELTS writing test is the answer in which you will consider all points which you are asked to, which will have right level of coherence, which will be from grammatical errors, spelling errors and punctuation errors and finally which will perfectly fulfil the given tasks.

If you are taking IELTS writing test then remember, grammar is the backbone of the perfect answer. If you are not good at English grammar and you commit mistakes, then it is very difficult for you to get through it.

Here, we have discussed some of the common errors with respect to grammar in IELTS writing.

Errors with respect to

  • Subject-Verb agreement
  • Sentence fragments
  • Punctuation (for instance candidates miss adding a comma or do not make use of the apostrophe when needed or use the apostrophe at wrong place or use of colon where it is not needed, excessive use of superfluous commas,)
  • Misuse of the dangling modifiers
  • Wrong usage of pronoun reference / use of vague pronoun reference
  • Wrong choice of the word
  • Complex sentences which are long and thus confusing
  • No consistency in parallel structure
  • Sprawling of the sentence
  • Split infinitives and others.

Example sentences for some of these common errors have been given here.

Incorrect

Correct

An important part of her life have been her grandmother and grandfather who stood by her.

An important part of her life has been her grandmother and grandfather who stood by her.

Anna gave her friend a good gift after her visit from london. In spite of everything.

In spite of everything, Anna gave her friend a good gift after her visit from london.

In case you have not noticed her name doesn’t have the initials KK.

In case you have not noticed, her name doesn’t have the initials KK.

I do not think its finally Sunday.

I don’t believe it’s (= it is) finally Sunday.

The young lad jumped onto his car and he drove away with lightning speed.

The young lad jumped into his car and he drove away with lightning speed.

While walking on the main road during night time, I found a sparkly girl’s bracelet.

While walking on the main road during night time, I found a girl’s sparkly bracelet.

When Marlin finally got the letter, she was so happy

Marlin was so happy when she finally got the letter.

Similarly, it is important to check spellings. Often, candidates get confused with the words which are more or less the same in structure or in pronunciation. For instance, sometimes, candidates write “there” when they are actually expected to write “their.” Similarly, candidates write “though” when they are required to write “through”.

So, focus on learning and improving English grammar because your answer in IELTS writing test shall be free from all grammatical errors. And only such grammatically well-crafted answer will bring for you a good score.