IELTS Writing Top Three Blunders?

Do you know which writing mistakes are the worst kind of errors in IELTS writing? Let us help you understand. There are many candidates who tend to find substantive grammatical trip-ups such as errors in using correct form of verbs more frustrating. There are other errors too such as typographical errors, stylistic errors, errors in placing the prepositions correctly, using homophone, etc. 

Use of incorrect verb forms

The use of incorrect verb forms in IELTS Writing is very common. There are many students who do that. This non-standard form of verbs may damage the credibility of your write-up or essay. 

Incorrect: I seen him yesterday.

Correct: I saw him yesterday.

Incorrect: I been invited.

Correct: I have been invited. 

Incorrect: She done the homework.

Correct: She has done the homework.

Incorrect: We was talking to his father yesterday.

Correct: We were talking to his father yesterday.

Subject-verb disagreement

It is essential that the subject of the sentence shall be aligned properly with the verb you are using (in terms of gender or number). The verb form changes as per the use of the singular noun or plural noun. 

Example:

The struggles that the women experiences while cooking the food for 20 members is intense. 

Here, the subject is “The Struggles.”

But, it doesn’t align correctly with the verb that is used (that is “IS.”)

The subject (Struggles) is plural but the verb form that is used is singular (is). The verb should be plural (are).

The correct sentence will be as follows:

The struggles that the women experiences while cooking the food for 20 members are intense. 

Of course, this is somewhat tricky but with a little practice it can be learned and mastered too.  You need to pay attention to the subject you are using (whether singular or plural) and accordingly you will have to make use of the verb form (is, are, am, was, were, have, has, had, etc).

But, remember compound subjects will follow a simple rule. They will take a plural verb. Check out the sentence given below:

Example:

Susana and Lucie are running a marathon this week.

Are you using run-on sentences correctly?

There are many students who make use of run-on sentences. And they do not know that they are using incorrect English. Run-on sentences form top grammar mistakes in IELTS writing.

What is a run-on sentence?

A run-on sentence will contain two or more independent clauses (a group of words which will have a subject and verb and it will stand alone as a sentence). But, these clauses will be connected incorrectly. Usually, a punctuation error is the major cause of this problem.

Example:

Incorrect: She enjoys writing but her deadline is on 2nd March she is starting to feel overwhelmed.

Correct: She enjoys writing, but her deadline is on 2nd March; She is starting to feel overwhelmed.

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