1、1IELTS WRITING- Dr.HasibIELTS WRITING TASK -2 In Writing Task 2 you receive a topic and you have to write an essay of 250 words.This task has more weight than Writing 1. It also takes longer 40 minutes, when Writing 1 takes only 20 minutes. The topic of essay can be one of 3 possible types: i. Argum
2、ent topic: appears in exam in 75% casesii. Persuasion topic: appears in exam in 20% casesiii. Narrative: appears in exam in 5% casesAny essay you write on any topic must have structure you receive (or lose ) points for it. Structure means at least 4 paragraphs. First paragraph is introductory, the n
3、ext two or three is the actual essay its body, and the last one for conclusion.The first thing to do is to understand what kind of topic is before you.Next: For argument you need to explain both sides and agree with one of them For persuasion you need to present another point of view and say which o
4、ne you agree with and why For narrative/discuss a problem you need to explain it, discuss and offer solution and discuss it too.No matter what type of essay you are writing, you must provide some facts, evidence and information. When you explain the problem evaluate it; say when/where/who for it is
5、especially difficult. If you present an idea of solution discuss it; say what its good and bad sides are. Add examples from your own experience to support what youre saying.2Difference between an Argument and Persuasion topic:Argument topic Persuasion topic1.Question pattern:Most Argument topic will
6、 end with this line: Discuss both sides considering the fact of internationalcommunication, further education in other countries and overseas travels, I prefer learningan additional foreign language at school.N.B: Try to memorize those bold lines and use in every argument topics 6SAMPLES OF PERSUASI
7、ON TOPICS:SAMPLE 2:Societies ought to enforce capital punishment or Are there alternative forms of punishment that would be better used. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?”Capital punishment is the killing of a criminal for a crime that he has committed. Previously most cou
8、ntries employed this method of punishment but nowadays it is much less widely used. People in favor of capital punishment argue that it is mandatory for societies to stop crime, others, however disagree in a formal letter you should write: A copy of the receipt will be forwarded to you as soon as po
9、ssible instead of I will send you a copy of the receipt asap. Avoid using informal intensifiers such as really, so, absolutely; use extremely, highly, entirely, fully instead. Avoid using phrasal verbs which tend to be used in informal writing and conversation; for example, use seek a job instead of
10、 look for a job; most phrasal verbs are idiomatic in nature, that is, their meaning cannot usually be inferred from their individual parts. Avoid using informal discourse markers and link words such as besides or by the way and use incidentally instead.8 Do not use set phrases and idioms, for exampl
11、e, I am not going to pay you a penny instead of Your fee will not be paid. Avoid ellipsis (leaving out words), for example, leaving out the subject I in Hope to hear from you soon.A more academic style will contain all of the features for formal style listed above. In addition, you should do the fol
12、lowing: Employ more tentative rather than assertive language by: using possibly and probably in front of verbs and noun phrases: This is possibly caused by. or This is probably the most important factor. using the modal verbs may and might This may be the most important factor. using appears to and
13、seems to: This appears to be the most important factor. avoiding always and every, and replacing them with often and many much. Use formal vocabulary, for example, discuss rather than talk about. Use more formal grammar, for example by: Using There as a subject: There is a serious risk of. using It
14、as a subject: It is very difficult to. Use an impersonal style by avoiding the use of personal pronouns, for example by: Using one as a subject: One may ask whether. (One is a formal version of You) Using the passive voice: Many things can be done to. to avoid using land we Avoid using rhetorical qu
15、estions: Smoking is dangerous. But is banning it such a good idea after all? Avoid the overuse or misuse of certain logical connectors, especially besides, furthermore and moreover. Besides is informal, and both furthermore and moreover mean that the following information is more important than the
16、information before. Use In addition or also instead.DOs and DONTs: Make sure that you read all of the information in the questions very carefully and respond appropriately. Make sure that you follow all instructions including the number of words that you need to write. Make sure that you stop Writin
17、g Task 1 after 20 minutes to allow enough time to answer Writing Task 2. Remember that Writing Task 2 carries more marks, so you need plenty of time to answer it. Make sure that, for Task 1, you use figures or data from the question paper accurately. Make sure that you plan your ideas before you beg
18、in to write. For Writing Task1, stop to locate and select the most important pieces of information. For Writing Task 2, take time to organise your ideas and argument. Be sure to provide supporting evidence for any of your claims or views in Writing Task 2.9 Leave time to check your answer for carele
19、ss mistakes at the end. Try to check for spelling mistakes, verb and subject agreement, singular/pluralnouns, tense mistakes and problems of fluency. Make sure that all of your ideas are relevant to the question. Try to avoid repeating the same words, phrases and ideas too often. Try to use a range
20、of vocabulary. Try to make sure that you do not repeat the same idea too often, make sure you explore different ideas to provide a well-balanced response. Make sure you write as clearly as possible. Make sure that you produce organized and linked paragraphs and that the style of your language is aca
21、demic. Dont copy from other peoples work. Dont write less than the required number of words. Dont repeat task instructions in your writing. Dont use note form or bullet points. Dont leave out any required information. Dont waste your time learning essays by heart to use in the exam. You will be pena
22、lized for this and you will waste valuable time that could be spentdeveloping good writing skills. Dont simply copy words and phrases from the question paper; try to use your own words at all times by paraphrasing the question.IELTS Writing: telling the difference between formal and informalMany of
23、you have asked me about the difference between formal and informal writing in IELTS and this tells me that its a common problem. So here is what you need to know about the styles of writing in IELTS.If you are preparing for the Academic IELTS module, both Task 1 and Task 2 in the Writing test are fo
24、rmal. For General Training candidates, Task 2 in Writing is always formal, and Task 1 can be formal or informal. As you know, Task 1 for GT module is a letter, and if the topic asks you to write to someone you know, that is an informal letter as opposed to writing to someone you dont know; which is
25、formal.The difference between formal and informal styles is mainly in the vocabulary. Informal words are the ones used in everyday conversations and formal are used in books, contracts, business letters and essays. If the task requires formal writing avoid using informal vocabulary. If the task requ
26、ires informal writing, such as a letter to a friend, avoid using formal heavy words.10Apart from the vocabulary in formal writing it is best to avoid words like “I”, “you”, “we”, unless you are expressing an opinion. For example in an essay instead of writing “You would find it difficult to get a jo
27、b without proper qualifications”, write something like “One would find it difficult to find a job without proper qualifications”, or you could write “Finding a job without proper qualifications would be rather difficult”.For those of you who dont live in an English speaking country and dont speak En
28、glish on daily basis it will be difficult to tell the difference between formal and informal vocabulary, which is why I compiled this short list of words. You could memorize it and use in your writing while practicing this way the chances you will use the correct word in the exam increase.Formal Inf
29、ormalInform me Let me knowCancel DropContact Get in touchObtain GetApologise Say sorryPostpone DelayRequest Ask forCompensate Make upEstablish Set upDiscover Find outHandle Deal withInvestigate Check up onTolerate Put upIncrease Go upChildren KidsMany / Much A lot of Many / Much Heaps of11IELTS writ
30、ing: using transitional phrasesTransitionsTransitional words and phrases are what gives your essays coherence, we need them to join sentences and thoughts together. Look at the lists below. These are transitional phrases that you can memorize and keep in your arsenal for the IELTS writing module. AG
31、REEMENT: also, plus, in addition, further, furthermore, moreover, additionally, to add to that, next, in accordance with, accordingly, in agreement, finally, for instance, for example, in exemplification, exemplifying that, in fact, factually speaking, in terms of, and so forth, looking at the nexus
32、 between, in coordination with, along those lines, collectively speaking, generally speaking, indeed, undoubtedly, obviously, to be sure.CONTRAST: however, contrastingly, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, To put it into perspective, from a different angle, nonetheless, nevertheless, b
33、ut, yet, a catch to this is, sadly enough, as a hindrance, looking at the holdups, oddly enough, instead, in direct opposition, still, and rather.RESULT: as a result, as a consequence, consequently, thus, therefore, hence, thereby, resulting in, ultimately, in the end, finally, in the overall analys
34、is, in hindsight, in retrospect, retrospectively, vicariously, the long term effect, as a short term result, significantly, as a major effect, effectively, heretofore, hereafter, thereafter, in short, generally, over all, concluding4 ways to get in trouble with your IELTS Writing tasksIf you have an
35、 IELTS exam this weekend, this post can literally save your score. Many people getin trouble with their IELTS Writing for no reason, just because they dont realize some things arenot acceptable in IELTS letters, essays or reports. Here is a number of ways you can get in troublewith your IELTS writin
36、g tasks:1. Using informal English in the IELTS Writing tasks.Informal English is OK for your Speaking test it is not OK for your Writing test. Even though notevery informal word gets penalized, the more formal your style is, the better your score will be. Todemonstrate the difference, informal expre
37、ssion “loads of / tons of” should be replaced with “many”or “much”; “fed up with” should be replaced with “lost his patience”, etc.122. Using contractions.Contractions are “its” instead of “it is”, “Ive” instead of “I have”, “were” instead of “we are”(these are only a few examples). Contractions are
38、 a bad, bad thing to use in your essay, they dontsave you much time and can cost you marks. Do me a favor and forget about contractions in yourIELTS writing. Write “should not” instead of “shouldnt”, “could not” instead of “couldnt”,“would not” instead of “wouldnt”. You get the idea.3. Using slang.Y
39、ou can use slang any time talking to your friends, but this is the only place where it belongs, in aconversation between friends. Keep it out of your IELTS essays, letters or reports. You cant write“dunno” instead of “dont know”, “wanna” instead of “want to” or “gonna” instead of “going to”.4. SMS-l
40、ike spelling.We all are typing SMS messages, chatting on Skype and the like, and there is a bunch of shorterways to write longer words. We type “u” instead of “you”, “c” instead of “see”, “IMHO” instead of“in my humble opinion”. None of these can appear in your IELTS work, unless you are specificall
41、ytrying to mess up and get a lower score than you deserve. You need to write the full word and spellit correctly, period.I hope this post has caught you in time to prevent any of the above mistakes. Good luck with yourexam!IELTS Writing task# 1: Rules of letter writing:1 The Opening Greeting of the
42、LetterYour letter will probably need to be a reasonably informal letter to a friend or a semi-formal letter. The opening of your letter should reflect which one you are writing.A friendly letter will open with Dear followed by a name which should then be followed by a comma, eg:13Dear John,A semi-fo
43、rmal letter will also open with Dear and then be followed by a name, (if you decide that in the situation you would know the name) or by Sir (if its a man), Madam (if its a woman) or Sir/Madam if you dont know, eg:Dear Mr. Phillips,Dear Mrs. Phillips,Dear Sir,Dear Madam,Dear Sir/Madam,The question a
44、lso might specify how you are to begin so follow what it says.2 The Opening Paragraph of the LetterIn a semi-formal letter, I feel it is important to state the reason for the letter straight away. You could use the following to help you:I am writing to ask/ tell/inform you that.I am writing to ask/i
45、nquire.I am writing with regard to.I am writing with reference to.I am writing in connection with.I am writing in response to.In reply to your letter, I am writing to. (if the question indicates that youhave had a letter)If the letter is a less formal one to a friend then you should open the letter
46、in a friendlier way. EG:Dear John,Hi there! Its been so long since Ive heard from you. I hope you are doing well and I hope all you family are doing fine. Im pretty good in spite of working hard. Anyway, the reason Im writing is.3 The Substance of the LetterIve already gone into detail about answeri
47、ng the question fully and using your imagination to produce a realistic letter fulfilling all functions so I wont repeat that. Through great experience with IELTS, I can say that questions tend to ask you to do certain things. Here I will give you some ideas about some language to use in the substan
48、ce of the letter which will help you to answer the task well.Asking for HelpI would like you to.I would be grateful if you could.14I need to ask your advice about.Id like to ask for information about.What Im looking for is.ComplainingIm writing to express my dissatisfaction/annoyance/ about.Im writi
49、ng to express my anger at.I am not happy about. is not what I expected/was expecting.I want to know what you are going to do about this situation.NB When complaining, dont get too angry. Ive had students who really became too heated in their complaints. In a polite semi-formal letter, this should not happen. Also, do not over-exaggerate. If its a reasonably small and understandable problem, do say that youre not satisfied but show that you understand and
