IELTS Writing

How to write sentences about IELTS Graphs.

By ielts-jonathan.com on 2 April 2022 0

Writing error-free sentences for IELTS Task 1 Writing

In the previous lessons, I asked you to try writing one factually correct sentence about a graph.

This time, are you able to write a sentence that compares two numbers without making a mistake?

If not, then this an area we have identified as something you should practise.

Errors is writing are as important as writing factually correct information.

Here is the image we are using in this example.

Finding corrections in your writing

It is not easy to find errors in your own writing.

Often, you will find you need to read again and again to spot any errors.

TIP: It is much easy to find errors in the writing of others.

If you have the opportunity to read work from another student this can really help you make improvements.

Here are some sentences which students wrote about the chart.

Each sentence has an error of some kind.

One sentence does not have any errors, but it could be improved.

Can you see what is wrong with each sentence? What are the errors? What corrections would you make?

In 2011, there was a rise in both prices but as compared to oil, food index price rose more to 240 points.
In 2011 food price index raised dramatically and reached a peak almost to 240 points and there was also a slight increase in oil price, it was about $100 by that time.
In 2011, the average oil price rose to nearly $100 per barrel, while the food price index reached its peak, at almost 240 points.
After gradual increase in the previous year, the price of oil and food inclined to 100 dollars per barrels and 240 points respectively in 2011.

Finished?

Here are the corrections with the errors shown.

In 2011, there was a dramatic rise in both average prices but as compared to oil, the food index price rose more sharply from 170 to 240 points.
In 2011, the food price index rose dramatically and reached a peak of almost to 240 points. There was also additionally a slight sharp increase in oil prices which reached about $100 per barrel by that time.
In 2011, the average oil price rose to nearly $100 per barrel, while the food price index also reached a peak at almost 240 points.
After a gradual increase in the previous year, the price of oil and food ~~inclined~~ increased to 100 dollars per barrels and 240 points respectively in 2011.

and the correctly written sentence was;

In 2011, the average oil price rose to nearly $100 per barrel, while the food price index reached its peak, at almost 240 points.

More Error Corrections for Task 1

Can you find the corrections in these sentences.

Tip: all the sentences are factual, but there are errors of grammar or word choice.

From the table, it is clear that more rains fall in Sierra Leone during summer than any other country
America and China are the most exported countries of all, exporting almost 2300 billion and 1600 billion respectively.
In Japan, most teenagers tend to play basketball than any other sports.
There were more expenditure spends on cars than to any other consumer goods.
More water was used in agriculture in Central Asia than any surveyed areas.
Africa consumed least water for industrial purposes, using just 7% and 5% respectively.
More time is allocated to teaching primary school children than other level of education.
Britain and Australia are the most educated of the fifteen countries, with 50% and 60% of citizens holding university degrees respectively.
China and India are clearly the fastest developing economy of the fifteen countries; however the USA remains the most developed.

From the table, it is clear that more rain falls in Sierra Leone during summer than any other country
America and China are the largest exporting countries of all, exporting almost 2300 billion and 1600 billion respectively.
In Japan, more teenagers tend to play basketball than any other sports.
There was more expenditure spent on cars than to on any other consumer goods.
More water was used in for agriculture in Central Asia than any surveyed areas.
Africa consumed the least water for industrial purposes, using just 7% and 5% respectively.
More time is allocated to teaching primary school children than to any other level of education.
Britain and Australia are the most educated of the fifteen countries, with 50% and 60% of citizens holding university degrees respectively.
China and India are clearly the fastest developing economies of the fifteen countries; however the USA remains the most developed.

Final Conclusion

You can really improve and learn a lot from correcting the work of others and it is much easy to find errors in the writing of others than your own.

If you have the opportunity to read work from another student, do this, but if not, I can correct and give valuable feedback to improve your IELTS writing using my correction service link here.

You can go over to my Facebook page and join other students who are working towards the test and join my IELTS WRITING TASK 1 group, for free practice.

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Finally, you can review a workexample worksheet that I use with advanced IELTS and English for Academic Purposes students who are already at university.

It helps show how sentences and cohesion are developed in complex sentences.

Sentences for Cohesion

Sentence structure for IELTS and EAP Ielts-Jonathan

Paragraphs for Cohesion

Paragraph structure for IELTS and EAP Ielts-jonathan

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

The Best Approach to Task 2 Writing

Paragraphing in Task 2 Writing

Strong Arguments for Task 2

Writing the Introduction

Writing a Line of Argument

Cohesion for Task 2 Writing

Writing – Benefits of a Foreign University Education

How to select key details in IELTS Task 1 for a Band 7 + score?

By ielts-jonathan.com on 30 March 2022 0

How to notice key features for a main body paragraph

What is the purpose of the main report paragraph

Perhaps the most important paragraph and the most difficult to write well is the main body of the an IELTS report.

The main body is the section where key figures or points are used to illustrate the significant information in the visual.

Unlike the overview, which is a summary, the main body is a selection of important points, and can be problematic for many students.

Selecting the wrong information can result in a poorly written paragraph which can affect the whole band score which could limit you to just IELTS Band 4 in Tasck Achievement.

What are key features in IELTS

Key features should be obvious and a genuine IELTS test question should provide them. It should only take a few minutes to see the key features and it’s still a good idea to mark or circle these on the question paper so you remember them as you are writing.

Different visuals will require a different strategy and the key features will be different too.

Bar charts, Graph and Pie are concerned with numbers, amounts, percentages, and time periods. Key features may be the highest and lowest numbers, figure changes in a trend over time or a comparison of percentages

Tables are primarily concerned with numbers relating to categories and these will often have dates associated with them

Maps and plans may focus on changes in the past, present or future so key features are these changes and the language to describe location, direction and movement.

Processes and diagrams feature stages and so a key feature will be each stage and the specific language to describe these stages such as passive sentences or active sentences depending on whether the process is man-made or natural.

Multiple charts can have a variety of visual information and may require a combination of these task strategies.

You may have to report percentages in a pie chart and consider changes in a smaller map or plan but this task should not be any more difficult than any others.

Finally, depending on the information, you may need to decide on having one or even two paragraphs so you can organise key features logically.

What is a good IELTS report paragraph

A good report paragraph is one that is selective, organised and shows progression.

It is important to include specific data related only to KEY Features and not to make a list of numbers for example.

The IELTS band descriptors describe how the candidate should summarize the key features

Only summarise the key features and ignore the minor ones.

So, for example, you can mention details such as

‘imports decreased by 30%, sales went up from £40 to £80, numbers peaked at 500/ in 2010, or inflation rose by 5%,

but don’t report everything or you will just have a list of numbers that is difficult to read.

The IELTS band descriptors also describe how the candidate should make comparisons of the key features.

You should analyse and make comparisons but only ‘where relevant‘

So a comparison may not always be possible.

Students that strive to make comparisons often end up reporting minor details or changes.

If a comparison is possible, it will be obvious to you!

Avoiding irrelevant and minor details

Remember that students who try to make comparisons which are unnecessary often end up reporting minor details or changes.

If a comparison is possible, it will be obvious to you!

It’s the same for students that try to view every detail as important.

If there are many small changes in a graph, you can say it fluctuates.

If there are minor differences in bar chart numbers, you can say the numbers are similar, and so on.

In these cases, reporting the numbers would be irrelevant and they would spoil the progression of your writing.

Remember that the Key Features are important and NOT your opinion.

You might be lucky and have some general knowledge or expertise regarding the question you’re given.

This may help you read and understand the data. You might disagree with the data too.

You may understand why a change or feature presented in the chart has happened but DON’T express that opinion.

You will lose marks as you will probably be using your own viewpoint and not referring to the question data.

Never say that the data is wrong, just report what you see.

Sentences such as these,

‘In 2000 only 20% of UK citizens owned an Android mobile phone, whereas 10 years later this number had trebled to 60%.

In 2001 30 per cent of British households had an internet connection but by 2016 this percentage had risen to 80%.’

are good, but remember don’t compare every number, figure or change.

It is important to use linking words for cohesion and coherence but this is unnecessary for every sentence.

In fact, too many linking words can sound unnatural!

You are looking to arrange your work logically, with just enough signalling words to help the reader.

How to organise key features in a text using an example

Let’s look at an example together and see the process that I took to identifing the key features in these pie charts.

The first thing I needed to do was to establish the relationships between the pictures.

I made a mental note that one chart was concerned with the use or the consumption of energy, and that the second was the result, or the emissions of the previously noted consumption percentages which means the tasks require a comparison between the figures in the two charts only.

As no time or date is given I decided to use the present tense only to report any differences or changes.

I spent some time looking at the figures in the first chart, and noting the largest percentage, the percentages that were large and similar, and then looked at the lowest figures.

I noted that the information is displayed slightly differently in the second chart, but I repeated the process, noting the largest percentage, the percentages that were large and similar, and then looked at the lowest figures.

I decided in order to keep the writing simple and to show progression, I would report from the highest to the lowest the figures found in the power consumption chart and then to compare or contrast, I then reported the figures in the second chart in a similar way from the highest to the lowest.

To signal that I was comparing or contrasting, I also used a contrasting linking word at the beginning of the paragraph.

In the paragraph, I noted that the highest consumption resulted in the highest emissions BUT then went on to show that the other figures in the emissions chart, as a percentage, were higher than the comparable consumption figures.

I was careful not to speculate or introduce any personal knowledge about this subject and simply reported the figures or facts.

By looking at the average energy use of an Australian household we can see that heating takes up the lions share and is the largest percentage at 42% This is followed by the heating of water which stands at 30%. The use of other appliances is much smaller at 15% Refrigeration accounts for 7 percent, followed by lighting and cooling at 4% and 2% respectively.

By comparison when looking at the emission of greenhouse gases it is clear that the heating of water results in the largest emissions at 32%. Other appliances and refrigeration account for much higher emissions than their energy use. For example, other appliances account for 28 percent of emissions but just 15 percent of energy use and for refrigeration, the figures are 14 and 7 percent respectively. Emissions from lighting is also high, at 8 percent compared to 4 percent of energy use while emissions from cooling (3%) is almost comparable to the energy used at 2 percent. A last point to make is that while heating accounts for 42 percent of energy used, it only results in 15 percent of greenhouse emissions.

243 Words

Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS 10, 2015

Student errors in selecting Key Features

This is not the only approach and each task will require a different strategy. This just takes practice and often you need someone to tell you about your mistakes and errors to improve.

To summarise this section:

The key features will depend on the task type and will require a different approach
Not every feature is Key, you need to judge is something is a minor detail
A comparison might not always be necessary
Never introduce your viewpoint
Only report what you can see

Finally, let’s look at some practical errors to avoid by looking at this chart.

Let’s consider some sentences that you could typically use to describe the graph below.

The graph below shows changes in global food and oil prices between 2000 and 2011.

First of all, as you can see, the graph is extremely complex with detailed information but don’t worry though.

Typical student errors and mistakes

It would be impractical to report this much detail in any Task 1 Report. You don’t have the time and there is too much unnecessary detail.

Sadly however, I have seen attempts to do just that. 🙁

So let’s be honest, even an industry expert would only focus on the significant details, and that what the IELTS examiner wants you to do too.

If your try and report as much detail as you can, because you think the examine will see great grammar and vocabulary, you’re mistaken.

The examiner will immediately mark you down.

The trick is to focus on the most significant numbers or features.

In other words,

Ignore the minor details, just report the main ones.

Practicing identifying the important features

So lets look at some sentences and see how these sentences identify the key details.

Example Sentences using the image

A sentence about the year 2000:
In the year 2000, the average global oil price was close to $25 per barrel, and the food price index stood at just under 90 points.

A sentence about the years 2000 to 2007:
Over the following four years both prices remained relatively stable, in spite of frequent small fluctuations, before rising steadily between 2004 and 2007.

A sentence about the year 2007:
By 2007, the average oil price had more than doubled, to nearly $60 per barrel, and food prices had risen by around 50 points.

A sentence about the years 2007 to 2008:
A dramatic increase in oil and food prices was seen from 2007 to 2008, with oil prices reaching a peak of approximately $130 per barrel and the food price index rising to 220 points.

A sentence about the year 2009:
By the beginning of 2009, the price of oil had dropped by roughly $90, and the food price index was down by about 80 points.

Task:1

Can you write one correct sentence about oil and food prices in 2011?

In 2011 both food and oil prices increased steadily, with oil prices being slightly higher.

What about writing a sentence to describe 2009

In 2009, oil and food prices were approximately the same at around the 10 dollars per barrel.

Now write a contrast about 2013 and then a sentence describing 2015, 2017 and 2019

My examples

In 2013, both oil and food prices dropped sharply.

In 2015, oil and food prices were approximately the same and both prices rose, with oil prices rising more sharply.

In 2017, world oil prices were significantly higher than food prices. However, oil prices experienced a slump and both prices levelled at 50 and 45 respectively.

In 2019, it appears that oil and food prices were stable, however, oil prices experienced a minor increase and food prices a minor or negligible decrease.

Let’s look at the final written report. 🙂

Notice that I have included an introduction and overview.

Then I have used the key details form the chart for the body of the essay.

Final Report

The line graph shows the global average price of both oil and food over a decade between 2009 and 2019.

Overall, average prices of both groups increased over the ten-year period with oil prices being consistently higher except for in 2015.

In 2011 both food and oil prices increased steadily, with oil prices being slightly higher. In 2009, oil and food prices were approximately the same with oil being around the 10 dollars per barrel. By 2013, both oil and food prices dropped sharply. In 2015, oil and food prices were approximately the same and both began to rise, with oil prices rising more sharply. By 2017, world oil prices were significantly higher than food prices. However, oil prices experienced a slump and both prices levelled at 50 and 45 respectively. In 2019, it appears that oil and food prices were stable, however, oil prices experienced a minor increase and food prices a minor or negligible decrease.

Are you looking for IELTS guidance?

I offer useful feedback and advice through my Writing Service.

Many students have used this service and I love the feedback they got.

I hope that you found this information useful and you have taken on board some of the tips.

You can share to someone you know and in the meantime take a look at my

Facebook Page and Website for IELTS answers and you can also join my Facebook Group here too.

I also recommend taking a look at my free blog below, or sign up to my Newsletter which gives further instruction on how to write that perfect Writing Task 1 overview:

The Best Approach to Task 2 Writing

Paragraphing in Task 2 Writing

Strong Arguments for Task 2

Writing the Introduction

Writing a Line of Argument

Cohesion for Task 2 Writing

Writing – Benefits of a Foreign University Education

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

Writing an IELTS Task 2 Essay – What Measures – What Solutions Essay? Practice 5

By ielts-jonathan.com on 11 August 2021 0

Techniques to improve IELTS Essay writing

Good teachers will not only ask IELTS students to write essays, they will also try to check whether the level and knowledge of vocabulary and grammar awareness is adequate to produce an IELTS Band 6, 7 or 8 essay.

Using tests to check IELTS vocabulary and grammar.

A very good way that teachers can check how much a candidate can produce is by construction awareness tests like the following examples.

This test looks at producing a What are the causes and What measures and What solutions IELTS essay.

A further advantage of doing this is that students can gain a good understanding of organisation, sentence structure and language choices suitable for IELTS academic writing as well as an enhanced awareness of topic ideas.

This is far better than just the passive activity of reading and reviewing essays themselves, a technique often suggested by teachers of IELTS.

Enjoy!

Instructions

Writing is a creative process and there is no one way to write an essay.

Read and complete the gaps in the essay.
Once you have completed, check the answers.
Note any new words to remember and grammar structures.
Reset the essay to the beginning
Then see how much and how quickly you can now complete the model writing.

Writing an IELTS causes and measures or solutions essay

⇒ Use this link for the next essay

Words used in this essay

long, increasing, personal, increasing, generations, ownership, leisure, upgrading, emissions, emissions, increasing, corporations, dependency, practical, increasing, alternative, development, benefits, walking, reduce, increasingly, limited, ownership, awareness, alternatives, encourage, remain, subsidising, redundant, manufacturer, dominates, bigger persuade, efficient, reduce, investment, measure, term, manufacturers, unnecessary, congestion, public, planning, majority, members, subsidise, regarded, petrol, climate, pollution, address, pollution, penalise, continue, affects, combustion, purchasing, options, affordable, initiatives, congestion, urban, repeated, average, reducing, efficient, running, required, term, demands, raising,

Reference Link

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I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

How to report an IELTS process diagram in Task 1, vocabulary, structures and resources.

By ielts-jonathan.com on 27 May 2021 0

Useful vocabulary, structures and resources.

Have a look at this old, but lovely informative video for your vocabulary and structure development in IELTS.

This video could be equally useful for both IELTS listening and IELTS Task 1 Writing – Describing a Process.

To successfully write about an IELTS process you will need to master using the passive tense.

The good news is there are plenty of videos out there that can help you think quickly in the passive.

It just takes a little practice and motivation.

A Process similar to an IELTS Process Diagram

Take this video for example.

Inside the UK factory where 1,000 MINIs are made every day

Around 1,000 robots are used to weld each mini body before it’s painted. It takes 4 litres of paint to cover each MINI and they can take up to 14 hours to paint. There are over 600 colour variations that can be ordered. Once it’s been painted the car is ready for the assembly line.

Watching this video provides plenty of passives examples and encourages to notice the structure and the tense.

You can then apply this knowledge and experience when attempt a writing task!

Practice the Passive Voice in IELTS

When you hear or see a passive sentence in the video, pay attention to the past participle spelling of the verb.

Try to notice that it is the result that is important and not who which carries out the action.

If the sentence is active, you can also practise changing the active sentence to a passive one as you watch.

Try to do this in your head so it becomes spontaneous.

This will hep you produce a quicker answer in the exam.

Here are some examples I noticed from the video on the ‘production of cars‘.

Over 3 million MINIs have been made in this factory.

Parts from over 27 countries are assembled here.

Steel panels are delivered each day

The parts come from the MINI plant in Swindon,England

Over 110,000 tons of steel is used in a year

The body of the car is created from the panels

Around 1,000 robots are used to weld each body

The bodies are then prepared for painting

They are cleaned with ostrich feathers.

4 litres of paint is used to cover each MINI.

Then the car is ready for the assembly line

Engines are built in the Hams Hall factory which is over a mile long.

The factory works 24 hours a day and one engine can be produced every minute

500 people are employed on the Oxford assembly line

Finally, each MINI is rigorously tested

A rain simulation and temperature of 90 C to -40C is carried out.

Does this advice help you?

If you need more assistance, I’ve written a complete post on describing a process for IELTS Task 1 here.

PROCESS TASK 1 WRITING

You can also use advice and information on this website to help make it easier to obtain a higher score, but remember you still need to work at learning the language to be successful.

The language you can consciously use, is your greatest IELTS strength!

Good Luck with your preparation and share and comment. 🙂

Jonathan

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I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

The Best Approach to Task 2 Writing

Paragraphing in Task 2 Writing

Strong Arguments for Task 2

Writing the Introduction

Writing a Line of Argument

Cohesion for Task 2 Writing

Writing – Benefits of a Foreign University Education

Why prepositions are important for IELTS TASK 1 Writing

By ielts-jonathan.com on 1 May 2021 0

Nouns and Prepositions for IELTS Writing

Is it ‘in, on, by or to’?

Using prepositions is important in explaining both the overview and the reporting the details in Task 1 writing.

To gain a high score you need to be able to use basic prepositions well enough so they don’t draw unnecessary attention to your writing.

They are especially important in IELTS Band Scoring as they are a feature of both the lexical resource, grammar and the coherence band scores.

Where are prepositions used in IELTS?

You will find the need to use prepositions in Charts, Graphs and Tables, as well as in Maps and Process Diagrams.

It’s not possible to predict the prepositions you will need in the IELTS Test, so just need to be as confident as you can be in using them.

Be aware that prepositions in your language do not always translate directly and this can create problems in your writing.

Italian speakers may come up with sentence constructions like

‘I go to the home’

while other languages may use just one preposition for many situations.

Always check the correct form and usage in English!

Examples

In the chart …

at around 5 % …

reached a peak of 1600 ….

the metro stop on the main road…

the percentage stood at ….

the number of people dropped to ….

the position of the school library moved from ……..to.…..

The total number is about …

The overall number dropped to a low figure ….

Why are prepositions important?

Having a good command of prepositions is vital.

They add precision to the details that you are giving, necessary for task achievement.

They add to the coherence of your writing, making it easier to read.

If they are used grammatically well, they will not look wrong, odd or out-of-place.

In other words, these small words used well, can really improve your writing.

Try this test.

Can you choose the best propositions for the phrases below.

The answers are below.

The Answers are

Propositions with Nouns

There has been a slight rise in the number of men employed.

Experts expect there to be a fall of approximately 30% over the next decade.

The introduction of digital downloads has led to a decline in CD sales.

Can you spot the pattern – when to use [ in ] and when to use [ of ]

Can you remember it and use it?

Rise + in the number (noun phrase)

Fall + of approximately (Noun + adverb)

Decline + CD sales (noun phrase)

Good news

The good news is, although learning prepositions can be difficult and confusing, especially for beginners, it is easy to practice remembering these small words for Task 1 Writing.

Always create a good habit

Practice and then develop your knowledge of prepositions with the basic, simple phrases.

Just repeat them, so they become a good habit formed!

The more often you do this, the easier it will become.

Easy! 🙂

Using Prepositions Trends Changes

Any questions about this post, comment below and please share!

Jonathan

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How to use the passive tenses in IELTS Task 1

By ielts-jonathan.com on 23 April 2021 0

Using the passive voice in IELTS writing

One area that can confuse IELTS students is how and when to use passive sentences in IELTS writing.

In some writing tasks, the passive is a requirement for accurate reporting and in others it’s not appropriate. This can lead to confused writing and inaccurate reports.

If you are not sure how to make or use passive sentences, or unsure where to use this tense in IELTS, follow this basic review to check what you already know and review some IELTS examples.

This will be good for your General English level, as well as for the Practical Skills Task of IELTS. 😊

Why the passive is important in IELTS

In Task 1, there are a number of tasks where the focus of the report is on changes, stages, developments or trends rather than on comparing numbers, percentages or amounts.

Really clear examples of this can be seen in maps and plans (changes and developments) and in process diagrams (stages and sequences of making something).

Your IELTS report really needs to focus on the information at hand. Using the passive in these examples means the report is accurate, to the point and omits any unnecessary information.

A further advantage is that using the passive is, in effect, a good way of paraphrasing the writing task.

What is the passive?

A passive sentence is where the subject that carries out an action of the verb is omitted.

In IELTS writing, these sentences are useful because who carries out the actions is often obvious from the question or unimportant.

Including the subject in your writing would also add too many words to the task.

Compare these two examples.

The coffee beans are laid out in a field to dry.

The coffee beans are laid out in a field by workers to dry.

Which sentence is clearer? Which one has obvious or unnecessary information?

I hope you choose the first one😊

Here’s another example on the same topic

Workers pick the coffee beans. (the focus (subject) is on workers, but the question is about coffee beans)

The raw coffee beans are picked by hand (this is additional information which adds to your writing)

The raw coffee beans are hand-picked. (this is higher-level language which adds to your writing)

The raw coffee beans are hand-picked by workers. (this is the agent, and is unnecessary; the context is clear)

Which sentence would report and display the level of your language best?

How the passive is formed

As long as you are familiar with your past tense verbs, the passive is not difficult to form.

An active sentence is made passive by adding the verb ‘to be’ and a past participle of the original verb, like this example:

Workers pick coffee beans. Coffee beans are picked

See how ‘coffee beans’ replace the original subject, ‘workers’.

The original subject is often unnecessary, but if you do want to include it, it can be used with ‘by’ or ‘with’ at the end of the clause, like this,

Coffee beans are picked by workers.

TIP: if you decide to include the agent in IELTS, there are two prepositions used to reintroduce the agent, by and with.

What is the difference between BY or WITH in the passive?

By is used to reintroduce the person while with is often used with instruments, objects or materials.

The machinery is operated by factory workers.

With

The bookcase has been replaced by/with a table.

The beans are sorted and graded by/with an automated machine.

More passive examples

Look at these examples and see how the verb ‘to be’ is added in a different form to the original sentence.

Active to Passive

He plants the tree – The tree is planted

He will plant the tree – The tree will be planted

He had planted the tree -The tree has been planted

He could plant the tree – The tree could be planted

He is going to plant the tree – The tree is going to be planted

Can you see a pattern?

It’s not too difficult, is it?

The number of passive tenses

There’s more good news!

Passive tenses are generally limited in IELTS to present or future simple, past simple, perfect simple and past perfect simple so no complicated choices.

Just read the legend or the question to understand the time periods.

In a process diagram, where no time period is usually given, use the present simple passive tense.

Writing errors

I see major student errors that can be corrected easily, the most common being changes in subject/verb agreement.

When the subject changes, it is easy to forget that the verb agreement might change too!

Look at how the verb changes in these examples.

He plants the trees

The trees are planted, not (The trees is planted) Singular to plural

They plant the tree.

The tree is planted, not (the tree are planted) Plural to singular

Simple grammar, but it’s surprising how this simple mistake can appear in the test!

Where can the passive be used in IELTS

Remember, the passive is generally used in maps and plans to describe changes and developments over a time period and in process diagrams to report the stages and sequences in making or producing something.

Map and Plans

Always read the question and the legend to understand the time period. It’s possible a present simple, past simple, present perfect or a future tense can be used in the passive.

The shops have been replaced by restaurants.

The farmland has changed use to a golf club and tennis courts.

The hotel has gained a car park.

Apartments have been built were there was a fish market and a fishing port.

Process Diagram

Process diagrams generally have no dates, so only the present simple passive is used.

Cold water is pumped below ground to a distance of 4.5 kilometres.
The hot water condenses and changes into steam (!)
The steam powers a turbine which then generates electricity. (!)
The electricity is sent by wire to electric pylons which connects to houses and factories.

TIP: (!) Be careful with process diagrams which show a natural process. In these cases, the subject is important!

There is a clear difference in how ‘solar energy is generated’ by man and how ‘adult fish spawn and reproduce’.

So, when a process is natural, use active sentences to focus on the subject.

The mature salmon swim upstream to the spawning areas.
When the cloud cools, water droplets form.

When the process is man-made, use passive sentence to focus on the results.

The coffee beans are picked, laid out and dried in a sunny field.
The finished product is packaged and then transported to shops for retailing to customers.

TIP: Sometimes there may be a mix of man-made and natural processes!

Try these IELTS related activities

Complete these sentences using the prompts in the correct passive tense? (there is only one correct answer)

Finally, why the passive is used (this is a passive sentence!)

As a further reference item, the Passive is used in General English for a number of other reasons:

When the agent (=the person who does the action) is not known, not important or obvious from the context.

A protestor was shot. (We don’t know who shot the protestor.)

This Imperial Palace Museum was established in 1925. (Unimportant agent)

The thief has been arrested. (Obviously by the police

To make something more polite or formal

Your room hasn’t been cleaned. (is more polite)

(You haven’t cleaned your room. – is less polite)

When the action is more important than the agent, as in processes, instructions, events, reports, headlines and in news items.

A number of people were affected by the disaster.

To place emphasis on the agent.

The airport will be opened by the current President.

Adapted from J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet, A Practical English Grammar, Oxford University Press, 1986

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I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

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Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

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