Quick & Easy Writing Tip for IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, PTE

Hi. I’m Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson I’m going to share a quick and easy technique that you can follow in order to get higher marks on your TOEFL or your IELTS writing. Okay? And it’s one way to make weaker sentences into stronger sentences. So, what does that mean? That means that perhaps the sentences you’re writing sometimes are actually correct grammatically, but they’re still not very powerful. So, you can get lower marks sometimes because you make a mistake, but sometimes you can also get lower marks if you write sentences that are not very strong, because of vocabulary or because of sentence structure. So I’m going to show you a quick and easy change that you can make so that your sentences and your essay can get higher marks and be more impactful. Okay? So, here we go.

So, what we’re going to do is to avoid using structures that start with: “There is”, “There are”, “There was”, “There were”, or: “It is” and “It was”. Okay? This is what we want to avoid; not because it’s wrong, but because it’s just not very strong. It’s not powerful. And what happens when you use this is that you end up using a verb which is actually very weak, instead of looking for a good, strong verb. Okay? So let’s look at how we can transform these sentences, and you’ll see for yourself that the second sentence in each case is actually much more powerful. Okay? Let’s look.

Number one: “There is a lot of useful information in that book.” Okay. There’s nothing wrong with that sentence; it’s just not very powerful. So, how can we make it stronger? We could say: “That book contains a lot of useful information.” Now what happened, instead of just using this structure with “is”, we’re using “contains”. Right? “contains” is a strong verb. All right? So, even when we’re talking about things in general… First I’m going to give you some general examples just so that you get the idea, and then I’ll give you some more examples which are specifically from some TOEFL or IELTS essay topics. Okay? So, here you see that just changing that structure and using and introducing a better verb is giving you a higher score, in effect. Okay.

Next: “There are several benefits to online classes.” Again, nothing wrong with that, but what can we do? So, look for… Look for the actual subject. Look for the actual subject you want, which is “online classes”, right? So, try and start with that; sometimes that strategy works. So, here, we said: “Online classes offer several benefits.” Okay? So, now we’re starting with the subject, which is strong, we’re using a verb which is a good verb-all right?-and we adding some other details. All right?

Next: “It is the director who makes the final decision.” Okay? Because this strategy can be used not only on your IELTS or TOEFL; it can also be used in your general writing, it can be used in your business writing, in your email, and so on. Okay? So it’s a good strategy to learn whether you’re appearing for an exam or even if you’re at work. All right? Or in all your life, as such. So, here, how can we change it? So we’re talking about the director, so let’s make the director the subject of the sentence. “The director makes”, right? “The director makes the final decision.” Okay? Did you get it? Good.

Let’s get another example. “It was low sales that forced them to close.” So, what are we talking about here? “Low sales”, so let’s start with that as the subject. “Low sales forced them to close.” Okay? Close the store, close the factory, whatever. Okay? But, again, we’re starting off with the thing which is most important, we’re adding a verb which is strong, and even though you used the same verb there, it was kind of hidden because it’s hidden when we say: “It was”, “It is”, “There is”, “There are”, “There was” – then things get hidden, and you want to put them upfront and strong so that your sentences are more powerful. So, let’s see how to do that now with some examples which are from TOEFL and IELTS kind of topics. Okay? Let’s do that next. […]