IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 – Lexical Resource & Grammatical Range and Accuracy

In IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, two important criteria that are assessed are lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy.

1. Lexical Resource: This refers to your ability to use a range of vocabulary appropriately and accurately. To improve your lexical resource, you should:
   1. Learn and practice new vocabulary regularly
   2. Use synonyms and paraphrasing to avoid repetition
   3. Use topic-specific vocabulary that is relevant to the data presented
   4. Avoid using overly complex vocabulary that may be difficult to understand
2. Grammatical Range and Accuracy: This refers to your ability to use a range of sentence structures accurately and appropriately. To improve your grammatical range and accuracy, you should:
   1. Learn and practice the different types of sentence structures, such as simple, compound and complex sentences
   2. Use a variety of sentence structures to make your writing more interesting
   3. Check your writing for common grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement, verb tense, and article usage
   4. Use appropriate punctuation to help clarify your meaning

In order to achieve a high score in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, it is important to have a good balance of lexical resources and grammatical range and accuracy. By using a range of vocabulary appropriately and accurately, and using a variety of sentence structures accurately and appropriately, you can effectively communicate your understanding of the data presented and achieve a high score.

• How to avoid repetition of words and grammatical structures:
  • Use synonyms to replace repeated words
  • Use different sentence structures to avoid repetition
  • Use pronouns to refer back to previously mentioned nouns
• How to use the correct tenses:
  • Use the past tense to describe data from the past
  • Use the present tense to describe data from the present
  • Use the future tense to describe data that will occur in the future
• Language to describe changes:
  • Use verbs such as increase, decrease, rise, fall, fluctuate, and remain steady to describe changes
  • Use adverbs such as rapidly, slowly, gradually, and steadily to describe the rate of change
  • Use adjectives such as significant, slight, and moderate to describe the degree of change
• Verbs and adverbs:
  • Use strong and precise verbs to describe the data presented, such as illustrate, demonstrate, indicate, reveal, and suggest
  • Use adverbs to modify verbs and provide additional information, such as quickly, significantly, and steadily
• Adjectives and nouns:
  • Use descriptive adjectives to provide more detail and precision, such as sharp, steep, and gradual
  • Use specific nouns to accurately describe the data presented, such as percentage, ratio, and proportion
• Prepositions and articles:
  • Use prepositions to accurately convey relationships between data points, such as in, on, and between
  • Use articles appropriately to convey specificity, such as using the definite article “the” to refer to a specific data point, and the indefinite article “a/an” to refer to a general data point
• Time phases:
  • Use time phrases such as “in the past”, “at present”, and “in the future” to clearly convey the time period being described in the data
• Comparison vocabulary:
  • Use comparison vocabulary such as “more than”, “less than”, “equal to”, and “comparable to” to accurately compare data points
• Pie chart vocabulary:
  • Use specific vocabulary to describe the parts of a pie chart, such as slice, segment, and sector
• Improving your writing style and skills:
  • Practice writing regularly to improve your skills and become more comfortable with the format of IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
  • Read examples of high-scoring essays to gain a better understanding of what is expected in terms of style and content
  • Seek feedback from a teacher or tutor to identify areas for improvement
• Joining two changes together:
  • Use linking words such as “and”, “in addition”, and “furthermore” to join two changes together
• Commenting on the data in a graph:
  • Use language that accurately reflects the data presented, and avoids making assumptions or drawing conclusions that are not supported by the data
  • Use phrases such as “according to the data”, “as shown by the graph”, and “based on the information provided” to indicate that your comments are based on the data presented
• Essential language for making comparisons:
  • Use comparative phrases such as “as compared to”, “in contrast to”, and “similarly” to make comparisons between data points
• More comparative structures:
  • Use superlative forms of adjectives to compare multiple data points, such as “the highest”, “the lowest”, and “the most significant”
  • Use comparative structures such as “more…than”, “less…than”, and “not as…as” to compare data points
• Advanced comparatives and linking devices:
  • Use more advanced comparative structures such as “in comparison to”, “by comparison”, and “on the other hand”
  • Use linking devices such as “however”, “although”, and “despite” to show contrast
• Advanced comparatives and linking devices:
  • Using comparative structures such as “more/less than”, “as…as”, “not as…as”, “the same as” to compare and contrast data in graphs and charts.
  • Using linking devices such as “however”, “nevertheless”, “in contrast”, “on the other hand”, “despite”, and “although” to show the relationship between different pieces of data.
• Describing numbers and numerical comparatives:
  • Using precise numerical language such as “nearly”, “almost”, “just over”, “slightly more than”, “more than double”, and “less than half”.
  • Using fractions, percentages, decimals and ratios to describe numerical data.
• Ranking information:
  • Using superlatives and comparatives to rank data, such as “the highest”, “the lowest”, “the most”, “the least”, “the fastest”, and “the slowest”.
  • Using ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) to indicate ranking.
• Different sentences you can use alternatively:
  • Using a variety of sentence structures, such as simple, compound and complex sentences.
  • Varying sentence length and using appropriate punctuation to convey meaning.
• How to check my writing for mistakes:
  • Proofreading your writing carefully for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
  • Checking for subject/verb agreement, pluralisation, word formation, and correct use of articles and prepositions.
  • Using online grammar and spell-check tools to identify errors.
  • Having someone else read your writing to provide feedback and identify errors.
• Pluralisation:
  • Check that you have used the correct form of the noun (singular or plural) throughout your writing.
  • Pay attention to irregular plural forms, such as “child” becoming “children”.
• Subject/verb agreement:
  • Ensure that the verb agrees with the subject in both tense and number.
  • Check for irregular verbs that may not follow standard conjugation rules.
• Word Formation:
  • Pay attention to word roots, prefixes and suffixes to help with spelling and meaning.
  • Ensure that you have used the correct form of a word (e.g. noun vs. verb).
• Spelling:
  • Use spell-check tools and/or a dictionary to check spelling errors.
  • Pay attention to common spelling mistakes, such as homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings), and words with tricky spellings.
• Wrong Word:
  • Ensure that you have used the correct word with the intended meaning.
  • Watch out for homophones and words with similar meanings that may be easily confused.
• Unnecessary words:
  • Check for repetition and unnecessary words that do not add meaning to the sentence or paragraph.
  • Ensure that you have not included unnecessary words or phrases that may confuse the reader.
• Missing Words (Missing subject, relative pronoun):
  • Check that you have included all necessary words in your sentences.
  • Pay attention to missing subjects and relative pronouns (such as “who” or “which”) that may be needed to clarify the meaning of the sentence.
• Omission/incorrect inclusion of articles:
  • Check that you have used articles (such as “a”, “an” or “the”) correctly and appropriately.
  • Ensure that you have not omitted articles where they are needed to clarify meaning.
• Missing third person ‘s’:
  • Ensure that you have used the correct verb form for the third person singular (e.g. “he walks”, “she runs”, “it jumps”).
• Word order:
  • Ensure that your sentences have clear and logical word order that conveys meaning effectively.
  • Check for sentences that may be awkward or unclear due to incorrect word order.