Thursday, September 19, 2013
IELTS Academic Essay Writing; Casue and Effect
When you are writing about causes and effects, make sure that you do not confuse something that happened before an event with a real cause or something that happened after an event with a real effect. For example, if you have pizza on Monday and get the flu on Tuesday, eating the pizza is not the cause of the flu just because it happened before you got the flu, nor is the flu the effect of eating pizza-You just happened to get the flu the next day.
Friday, September 13, 2013
IELTS Writing; Word Count
Many students ask if each and every single word is counted in the IELTS Writing Test.
The answer is YES. All words are counted. Even small words like 'a/an/the', 'of', 'in', ....
The following sentence is counted as 12 words.
He is an engineer who leaves in the United State of America.
As you can see, it is not really hard to fulfill the IELTS Writing task in terms of word count.
The answer is YES. All words are counted. Even small words like 'a/an/the', 'of', 'in', ....
The following sentence is counted as 12 words.
He is an engineer who leaves in the United State of America.
As you can see, it is not really hard to fulfill the IELTS Writing task in terms of word count.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
IELTS Listening: multiple choice
Multiple choice questions can be difficult, especially when the
speaker mentions all of the possible choices. Look at this example
(Cambridge 7, page 15):
Janice thinks that employers should encourage workers who are
A) potential leaders.
B) open to new ideas.
C) good at teamwork.
This is what Janice says:
"Well, currently teamwork is in fashion in the workplace and in my opinion the importance of the individual is generally neglected. What managers should be targeting is those employees who can take the lead in a situation and are not afraid to accept the idea of responsibility."
As you can see, all three of the choices are mentioned. You really need to concentrate for this kind of question - don't just write the first thing you hear.
So, which answer is correct, and why?
Janice thinks that employers should encourage workers who are
A) potential leaders.
B) open to new ideas.
C) good at teamwork.
This is what Janice says:
"Well, currently teamwork is in fashion in the workplace and in my opinion the importance of the individual is generally neglected. What managers should be targeting is those employees who can take the lead in a situation and are not afraid to accept the idea of responsibility."
As you can see, all three of the choices are mentioned. You really need to concentrate for this kind of question - don't just write the first thing you hear.
So, which answer is correct, and why?
Many thanks goes to Simon, the ex-IELTS examiner from IELTS-Simon.com
16 Substitutes for “Because” or “Because Of”
Many words or phrases can be used to set up an explanation. The most
common is because (or “because of”). But others have their uses. Here are alternatives and a discussion of
their uses and their merits.
1. As: As is a direct synonym for because (for example, “He opted not
to go see the movie, as it had gotten poor reviews”), but it’s inferior.
2. As a result of: This phrase is a substitute for “because of,” not
because, as in “As a result of his intervention, the case was reopened and they were ultimately
exonerated.”
3. As long as: This informal equivalent of because is used to express
the thought that given that one thing is occurring or will occur or is true, another is possible, in such
statements as “As long as you’re going, could you pick some things up for me?”
4. Being as (or being as how or being that): This phrase has the same
sense — and the same formality — as “as long as.”
5. Considering that: This phrase is essentially identical in meaning to
“as long as” and “being as” and its variants.
6. Due to: Like “as a result of,” “due to” is a preposition, rather
than a conjunction like because, and is used in place not of because alone but instead of “because of.” It
applies specifically to an explanation of why something occurred or will or will not occur, as in “Due to the
large number of applications, we cannot respond individually to each applicant.”
7. For: This substitute for because is reserved for poetic usage, as in
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
8. Inasmuch as: This phrase is a very formal equivalent of because, as
in “Inasmuch as his account has been discredited, I wouldn’t believe anything else he says.
9. In view of the fact that: This phrase is identical in sense to
“inasmuch as.”
10. Now that: This phrase informally connotes cause and effect, as in
“Now that you’re here, we can
proceed.”
11. Out of: This phrase applies to explanations of emotion or feeling —
for example, “She asked out of compassion” or “Out of spite, I refrained from passing the message
along.”
12. Owing to: This phrase is equivalent to “due to”; the two choices
are more formal than “because of.”
13. Seeing that: This phrase is identical to “considering that.”
14. Since: This alternative to because is informal and is considered
inferior because since primarily refers to elapsed time and the usage might be confused, as in “Since it had
rained, we didn’t need to water the garden”; the reader might not realize until reading the second half of
the sentence that the sense is causal rather than temporal.
15. Thanks to: This equivalent of “because of,” despite the wording,
can apply to either a positive or a negative outcome; “Thanks to your meddling, we’re receiving much
unwanted attention” demonstrates the latter sense.
16. Through: Through is a preposition; it takes the place of “because
of,” as in “Through the efforts of these charities, the city’s homeless services have been reinstated.”
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
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