Top 20 Great Grammar for Great Writing IELTS Book

Aug 25, 2022

Top 20 Great Grammar for Great Writing IELTS Book discusses twenty rules of grammar that are critical for proficient intermediate- to advanced-level English writing. However, the focus of the ebook is on assisting pupils in identifying the discrepancy between their native tongue and proper English in IELTS. The goal of Top 20 Great Grammar for Great Writing is to help students write and edit creative works of literature while teaching them how to recognise and fix common grammatical problems.

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Main Features of IELTS Ebooks

Additional chapters added, including ones on conditionals and essay editing.
Chapters have been revised and rearranged to follow a development from nouns to pronouns and verbs.
To address the most often confused word pairings, the confusing words chapter has been simplified.
Better explanations of grammar.
The use of genuine grammar examples taken from academic textbooks. The seven academic fields represented by these examples are those that our students most frequently study: law, history, psychology, humanities, communication, study skills, and physical science.

Why is Grammar Important in The IELTS Exam?

Grammar is given due weightage in IELTS writing and speaking tests where the candidate will be asked to speak and write full sentences.
Good knowledge of grammar helps you to write complex coherent sentences which will give you a higher IELTS score.
Grammar knowledge helps you to structure your thoughts properly.

Various Forms of Grammar and Its Importance

It is important that a candidate knows how to write each type of sentence correctly:

Sentence Clauses:

It is established that in order to score higher,you need to write complex sentences without grammatical errors which express your thoughts coherently. One of the major components of a complex sentence are its clauses.

Every clause has a subject and a verb which expresses a particular thought, idea or action. A sentence can have several clauses, the greater the number of clauses in a sentence, the greater is the complexity and the length of the sentence.

Example 1- Entertainment is necessary

This is an example of a sentence with just one clause.

Example 2- Entertainment is necessary but it can also get addictive.

This is an example of a sentence with two clauses.

Example 3- Entertainment is necessary but it can also get addictive so we need to be careful about our habits.

This is an example of a sentence with three clauses.

Note: Be careful to notice the difference between clauses and phrases.

Sentence Structure:

There are different types of sentences based on its structure:

Simple sentences

Simple sentences have one clause which can however have more than one subject and/or verb.

Example: Joe is studying. (In this example there is one subject but 1 verb)

Compound sentences

When two or more simple sentences are joined together, they form a compound sentence which means that a compound sentence has 2 or more clauses. Two simple sentences are joined together to form one sentence using conjunctions. This set of conjunction words are called coordinating conjunction.

Some commonly used coordinating conjunctions are-

Example: Maria is studying science and Tina is studying Maths.

(This is an example of a compound sentence with 3 clauses)

Note: A compound sentence cannot have 2 “and”s joining 3 clauses. That is a wrong sentence structure.

Complex sentences

Complex sentences are also like compound sentences where two or more clauses are joined together to form a single sentence. But in this case, coordinating conjunctions are not used to join the sentences, rather the sentences are joined using subordinating conjunctions.

List of subordinating conjunctions:

After
Although
As if
Because
When
Since
Whereas
Whenever
As soon as/ as much as

Example: Tara went home as soon as she was done with her classwork because she needed to reach home at time.

Compound-complex sentences

Compound complex sentences are a combination of both complex and compound sentences, where one is followed by another.

Example: Emma changed her optional subject to French because she wanted to learn the French language as she will be visiting France this summer.

(“because” is a subordinating clause and “as” is coordinating clause)

Different types of clauses:

There are two primary types of clauses:

Dependent Clause - Clause which relies on some other information to make complete sense and cannot survive independently.

For example: “He finally finished his novel, after months of research.”- this is not a complete sentence and relies on some other information.

“ We canceled the picnic because it is raining” - now this sentence makes complete sense and we see that the second clause after “because” is dependent on the 1st clause.

Independent Clause - A clause which makes complete sense on its own and doesn’t have to rely on other information to survive.

For example: In the above example : The first clause “ He finally finished his novel.” makes complete sense and doesn’t necessarily require the second part. So the first clause is an independent clause.

There are 3 types of clauses which are used in complex sentences

Adverbial clauses - These clauses answer the questions: why/how/when/where.

These clauses are made by connecting a dependent clause with an independent clause using the following subordinating clauses:

Because
Although
If
Until
Even though

Example: I came here by foot, because I can't wait for the bus.(In this sentence the adverbial clause answers the question ‘why?’)

Relative clauses - Relative clauses like adverbial clauses are also formed by combining an independent clause with a dependent one. It is generally used to modify a noun. The relative clause is placed after the noun it is modifying.

Example 1: The book that she read was important for her literature review.

(the noun ‘problem’ is modified and the relative clause is followed after the noun which needs to be modified)

Relative problems like which, that, who and where are used to do this.

Example 2: Walden University, which is entirely online, has main administrative offices in Baltimore and Minneapolis. ( noun which is modified - ‘place’)

Noun clauses - Noun clause is often confused with adverbial clause as a noun clause also answers the question what/who but it comes after the verb.

Example: I know that patience has its limits.

(the part in bold is the noun clause which answers the question - “What do you believe about experimentation on animals?” and the verb is “believe”)

Modal Verbs:

Modal Verbs are helping verbs which give more information by getting added to the main verb. They can’t be used independently and always require a main verb.

Modal verbs comes in handy while the IELTS writing and speaking test as they are used to discuss:

Degrees of certainty
To recommend something or make a suggestion
Hypothetical situations like a possibility

Examples of Modal verbs - may, might, can, could, will, must, should, ought to, would

Sentence examples:

We could go to the cinema tomorrow.(hypothetical situations)
If it's dry, shall we play outside?(suggestion)
They may be coming to our house tomorrow.(degree of certainty)

Note: some modal verbs like ought, have, need require an infinitive, i.e. they are followed by a ‘to’. (ought to, have to, need to)

Subject Verb Agreement:

Subject verb agreement is a very prominent error which can be spotted easily in writing and speaking. Therefore, understanding this concept is crucial. The main idea is that the subject needs to be in agreement with the verb you’re using i.e a plural subject requires a verb which indicates plurality.

Some basic rules:

For a singular third person(he/she/it) in present tense, the verb must be an -s ending. Example: He takes the train to school. (For first person, “I take the train to school”)
There is and There are : There is never the subject.The subject is the word that comes after the verb, so the verb has to agree with that word.

Examples:

The dog drinks his water everyday. (singular word, therefore the verb form is singular too)
The teachers in the classroom are very experienced.(the word is plural, therefore the verb is plural as well)

When there are several nouns, the verb agrees with the first one.

Examples:

There are pencils, erasers, sharpers and one scale on the table.
There is a board and some pens lying on the table.

Separated subjects: The verb always has to agree with the subject which is at times separated from the verb by a clause or a phrase.

Examples:

Pollution due to firecrackers is a serious problem.( he verb has to agree with the subject which is ‘Pollution’ and not firecrackers)

Gerunds take singular subjects.

Example: Fundamental rights is a basic knowledge everyone should have.

Indefinite pronouns take singular verbs i.e end with -s or use ‘is’ (Indefinite pronouns are everyone, something, anywhere, nobody)

Examples:

Everyone is invited for the carnival hosted by the NGO people.
Something sounds fishy about his plan for today.

Neither and Either- In sentences with neither..nor and either..or, the verb agrees with the closest noun.

Examples:

Neither they went to the Church nor are they in the Hotel
Neither she is in the play ground nor she is at home.

Expression of quantities: When there are quantity words like one, none - the verb agrees with the quantity.

Examples:

One of the journals I wrote about anxiety recently got published in the newspaper.
Joey has invited five of his friends for the halloween party this weekend.

Gerunds:

Gerunds are basically nouns formed by adding -ing to the verb.

Example:

Verb	Gerund
Learn	Learning
Speak	Speaking
Read	Reading
Write	Writing
Spend	Spending

Sentence example:

Reading is a fundamental skill required to achieve excellence.

Gerunds can be used as a subject:

Example: Cooking is a basic skill that everyone should have.

Gerunds are used as a direct object:

Example: Cycling is a good form of exercise.

Gerunds used as objects of prepositions:

Example: One of the ways of tackling air pollution is a ban on firecrackers.

Infinitives:

It is important to know where infinitives need to be used or else the meaning of the sentence can get distorted.

Infinitives is basically the ‘to’ before the verb. The infinitive form of the verb doesn’t take a tense. Examples: to go, to write, to speak, to eat, to consider, to wait.

Sentence example: The teacher asked Robert to wait for 5 minutes outside the principal’s office.

Note: If 2 verbs are used together then the second verb needs to be an infinitive.

Example: She was asked to wait in the cabin by the doctor. (first verb ‘hope’ is followed by another verb see, so the second verb needs to be an infinitive)

Parallel Structure:

Parallel structure means to balance the grammatical structures of words, phrases, clauses and sentences while writing.

Common errors:

Gerunds and infinitives cannot be mixed up.

Example:

Wrong form : Rakesh wants to join the academy and learn Guitar.

Correct form : Rakesh wants to join the academy to learn guitar.

Adverbs:

Example:

Wrong form: Tina ensured that the place is neat and clean.

Correct form: Tina ensured that the place was neat and clean.

Adjectives:

Example:

Wrong form: The food was yummy, delicious and it looks mouth watering.

Correct form: The food was mouth watering, yummy and delicious.

Prepositional phrases:

Example:

Wrong form: I like to go grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is behind my house.

Correct form: I like to go grocery shopping at the Whole Foods behind my house.

Passive Voice:

There are 2 ways in which sentences are written: Active voice and passive voice.

For IELTS, passive voice predominates majorly. In active voice, the subject does the action, whereas in passive voice, the subject is receiving the action.

Examples:

Active Voice- I am learning Swimming.

Passive Voice- Swimming is the skill I am learning.