Needless to say, correct punctuation gives the right meaning to the sentence, and its wrong placement can totally change the meaning. How many punctuation marks are there in English? Period, comma, apostrophe, quotation, question, exclamation, brackets, braces, parenthesis, dash, hyphen, ellipsis, colon, semicolon! However, you don’t need to use all of them at the exam. Following the correct usage will make your IELTS writing look more appealing and easier to read. 

Punctuation also influences your score. If you don’t use it properly or forget to use some punctuation marks, it will count as a grammatical mistake. Remember, grammar range and accuracy make up 25% of your score. So, it’s better to avoid making any grammatical mistakes in your IELTS Writing. In today’s blog post, we are looking at different types and proper use of punctuation for your IELTS essays and reports. Make sure you remember all of them and practise using them during your IELTS preparation. 

Period (also called ‘full stop’)

At the end of sentences to mark a sentence’s grammatical end. For example:

• Censorship can protect the public from content that is potentially harmful to the human psyche. But it can also violate the right to freedom of speech and expression.

At the end of abbreviations, such as Mr., Ms., etc., and so on.

You should place the period right after the last letter of the last word in the sentence and leave some space between the period and the first letter of the first word of the next sentence. It might look obvious, but many candidates don’t do this. Start the next sentence with the capital letter.
Using abbreviations in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 and Task 2 is not a good idea. Instead, write the words out. The exception is for symbols like % and $ which you should use, as they are faster to write and very commonly used, even in formal writing. For example:

• Thus, the figures for the college library fluctuated insignificantly at approximately 65%, while students’ attitude to safety changed more substantially, plummeting by roughly a third in the 70s, and then surging by nearly 40% in the next decade. In the end, nevertheless, it returned to the initial rate of 95% satisfaction.

Apostrophe

In contractions to show that letters are missing, e.g. I’m, it’s, they’ll, who’s. DO NOT use them in IELTS Academic writing. Short forms are too informal:

• On the one hand, it’s difficult to predict what effect this law will have on those citizens who can’t stop driving. – On the one hand, it is difficult to predict what effect this law will have on those citizens who cannot stop driving.

In possessions to indicate ownership. For example:

• Joe’s hat, girls’ hat
• From a student‘s point of view, practical knowledge is much more essential.

READ ABOUT: How to work on your IELTS grammar

Comma

To separate items in a list. For example:

• Line graphs, bar charts, tables and multiple charts have a lot in common. 

To separate clauses by ‘and’ or ‘but’ if they have different subjects. For example:

• Relaxation is an essential condition of good productivity, and it would be better for everyone to find time for it in their schedule.  

When the subordinate clause goes before the main clause. For example:

• Since you are going to write the Academic Module, you will need to use the academic style in your writing.

When the clauses give extra, non-essential information:

• My sister Rebecca, who lives in Moscow, is getting married.

When subordinate clauses or non-finite comment phrases give additional information. For example:

• Helped by local volunteers, staff at the museum have spent many years sorting and cataloguing more than 100,000 photographs.
• From the individual point of view, living alone in a large city has both upsides and downsides. 

Colon

To introduce lists:

• There are three main reasons for the spread of the virus: unprotected contacts, open borders and poor sanitation.

When the second sentence explains or justifies the first sentence:

• Try to avoid crowded places: it will prevent the spreading of the disease. 
• You may guess that academic style is different from the language of everyday communication: it is much more formal and less emotional, and it uses a lot of abstract words.

Quotation marks

Use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word:

• Words like  ‘acquire’ or ‘obtain’ are used instead of ‘get’ in Academic Writing. 

To refer to titles of the books, newspapers, magazines, films, songs, poems, videos, CDs, etc.

• Such cases were described in ‘The Daily Mail’.

Capital letters

To mark the beginning of the sentence.

For proper nouns: personal names, brand names, nationalities and languages, days of the week and months, public holidays and geographical places no matter where they fall in a sentence.

• The graph below shows the profit made by four different cafes in Richmond, Australia, between 2005 and 2015. 
• Over the span of 6 years, Wesla Motors halved the number of petrol cars they manufacture. 
• The figures for Tyldon Homes and Hensen Group demonstrate a similar pattern, with a more significant decline for Tyldon Homes. 

For titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, music,  e.g. ‘Oliver Twist’, The Guardian.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• How to write IELTS cause-and-effect essays
• 5 effective ways to brainstorm ideas for IELTS Writing Task 2
• Tips for writing advantages and disadvantages essays

Writing essays is an important part of the Writing section of the IELTS test. Many candidates sitting the test struggle to get the desired score. The reason is obvious: they fail to understand the essay task properly. There are five common types of essay in the IELTS Academic exam:

• Cause-and-effect essay
• Opinion essay
• Mixed essay
• Two-views-and-opinion essay
• Advantages-disadvantages essay

What do you have to write in each of them? Read this article and you will learn how to unpack the essay task in order to write an appropriate response.

Take IELTS with confidence

The essay task

What you have to do first before you actually start writing an essay is to read the task carefully. You cannot omit this step otherwise you will fail the task and will lose your points for the task achievement criterion. If you look at any IELTS Academic Writing Task 2, you are likely to notice and interesting detail. No matter what type of essay it is, the task will have a statement, a question or several questions to answer, and guidance (or instruction) for you. Let us have a look at the following task:

The statement is the topic of the essay. The questions tell you what you have to write about. The guidance tells you how to write your essay and what to include.

For example, in the task above the topic is “using the Internet to find solutions to health problems is becoming more popular”. You have to write the reasons and consequences of doing so because the questions ask you “Why do people do that?” and “What are the results of such actions?”. You will also have to give details to answer and provide good examples because the guidance asks you to give reasons and include relevant examples.

The questions and the guidance also assist you in understanding what type of essay it is. If you are aware of whether you have to write an opinion or a mixed essay, etc., you will know how to structure it, i.e. the score for coherence and cohesion will be higher.

READ ABOUT: 6 typical mistakes in IELTS essays

Cause-and-effect essay

This type of essay usually asks you to state the main causes of the problem and discuss what effects it might have. For example:

It can also be worded in other ways:

Statement + Discuss the causes and effects of …

Statement + What do you think are the causes of …? What effect will this have on …?

Statement + Outline the reasons for … and discuss what effects …?

Statement + What are the positive and negative impacts of … and what can be done to minimize the bad effects?

Opinion essay

In this type of IELTS essay, you are asked to give your opinion on a given statement. For example:

You will have to clearly state your opinion and develop it without suddenly changing your mind in the middle of the essay, i.e. you have to remain true to what you state in the introduction. You will also have to provide some reasoning and support it with good examples of your own or someone’s experience.

You can come across different wordings of this type of IELTS Writing Task 2 though:

Statement + What is your opinion…?

Statement + Do you agree or disagree…?

Statement + To what extent do you agree or disagree…?

Mixed essay

Sometimes at the IELTS exam, you have to answer more than one question. A ‘mixed essay’ is the type of task where you have to write about your opinion and answer another question about another aspect of the same topic. For example:

During the test, always check if the task asks you to give your opinion. Questions about opinion may be very obvious if you look at the previous type of essay. However, there may be some other questions that also ask you to write what you think. They can be worded in the following ways:

Is it a positive or negative trend?

Is this the worst problem that humanity is facing nowadays?

Should the media be controlled in such a way?

Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

When you look at them more carefully, you will easily work out that they all require a YES or NO answer, or ask you to choose between the two alternatives.

This task usually looks like this:

Statement + Question 1 + Question 2 +Guidelines

One of the questions is always a question about your opinion. For example:

READ ABOUT: 25 phrasal verbs to avoid in IELTS Academic Writing

Two-views-and-opinion essay

In such type of task, you will find a statement that gives you two different views on the same problem. You will have to discuss both opinions as well as give your opinion about the issue. It’s important to support both views with the detail and examples equally no matter which one you choose to approve later in your essay.

As you can see from the sample task above, such type of task usually consists of:

Statement (with 2 opposing ideas) + 2 questions (to discuss both views + give your opinion) + Guidelines (give reasons and examples)

Other wordings might look the following way:

Statement + Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Statement + Discuss both sides of this argument and give your own opinion.

It is likely that you will use the wrong structure for your essay if you misidentify the type of question. Once you have identified the type of essay, use our tips on how to write it.

Advantages-disadvantages essay

In this type of IELTS Writing Task 2, you have to analyse the benefits and drawbacks of a particular matter or problem. For example, you can come across such wordings:

Statement + What are the advantages and disadvantages of…?

Statement + Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages…?

Statement + Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion.

Generally, we can divide advantages & disadvantages essays into two types:

Type 1 asks you to simply discuss the advantages and disadvantages.

Type 2 asks you to discuss the advantages and disadvantages AND give your opinion on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa. We have already written about the essay structure and the main tips on how to write it.

Now, when you know everything about the possible types of questions you might have to answer in IELTS Writing Task 2 and we are sure you can spot them without much effort, it’s time to stick to your IELTS preparation and skyrocket your results.

Suppose you have finished writing Task 1 and Task 2 on the day of the IELTS exam in less than 60 minutes. Even so, have you completed the IELTS Writing? The answer is ‘no’ unless you have checked your writing for mistakes. This step is crucial in completing IELTS Writing tasks. It is also one of the most effective ways to improve your band score. Why? Within a few minutes, you can correct your mistakes or change sentences you have written. You are able to fix these mistakes if you know what to look for. Here is the checklist for efficiently editing your writing.

Grammar

• Verb tenses. In Writing Task 1, the tenses you use must match the time frame in the graph. Also check if they are consistent in your essay.
• Articles. They are the most common mistake candidates make in their writing. Make sure you use them appropriately.
• Subject-verb agreement. Even candidates at upper-intermediate and advanced levels make this common mistake. It is also a basic mistake that examiners will penalise more heavily. For example:

The list of items is/are on the desk.

If you know that ‘list’ is the subject, then you will choose ‘is’ for the verb.

• Parts of speech. This is another low level mistake, but even stronger candidates might make it. Make sure you use nouns, verbs and adjectives when needed. For example:

When performance on a regular basis, such workouts allow people to strong their immune system and increase metabolism, thus becoming healthier.

‘Performance’ is a noun. However, in the sentence above it was used as a verb instead of ‘perform’. ‘Strong’ is a noun, but the candidate has used it instead of a verb ‘strengthen’.

• Range of sentence structures. It might sound surprising, but if you want to achieve a higher band, you should vary your sentence structures. However, use them properly.

READ ABOUT: 6 typical mistakes in IELTS essays

Vocabulary

• Spelling. Many test-takers make spelling mistakes because a lot of English words are spelt differently than they sound. They have double letters, e.g. accommodation, recommend, opportunity, disappointment, necessary, different, silent letters, e.g. environment, night, letters that are difficult to predict from the sound, e.g. negotiate, choice etc.

The British and American spellings of many English words are also different. For instance:

colour (BrE) — color (AmE)

centre (BrE) — center (AmE)

litre (BrE) — liter (AmE)

theatre (BrE) — theater (AmE)

neighbor (BrE) — neighbor (AmE)

While both of them are equally correct, choose one and stick to it.

• Repetition. Looking for repetition is perhaps the area where you can most improve your writing. That is because it is quite easy to see if you repeat some words and substitute them with synonyms. The more varied your language is, the higher band you can achieve.

READ ABOUT: 10 typical mistakes in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

Coherence

Candidates often skip this important aspect of their writing and simply do not check it. However, it accounts for a large part of your score.

• Overview. Make sure you have written an overview of main trends and described the key features of the graph in IELTS Writing Task 1.
• Topic sentences and paragraph development. In you essay, each paragraph starts with a topic sentence that clearly relates to the question, and you developed it by providing explanations and examples. In Task 1, this includes having enough detailed information and facts.
• Linking words. They introduce opinions, add information, show contrast, change topics etc. Make sure you manage them well and use where necessary.

READ ABOUT: How to link ideas in IELTS essays

Punctuation

• The beginning of the sentence should always start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.
• Do not use exclamation marks. They should NEVER be used in academic writing.
• An apostrophe can be used only to indicate possessions. Do not use contractions and short forms of verbs in academic writing.
• Use commas to separate parts of sentences to avoid any confusion in the meaning.
• Write proper names with capital letters.

If you know that you often make some kind of mistakes, check your writing for them too. Be sure you check for one type of mistake at a time, because you might get confused if you check all of them at once.

Spend from 3 to 5 minutes at the end of the IELTS Writing section. That is because while writing, we tend not to see our mistakes.

In our course, we have included every single type of IELTS Academic Writing task. Each is followed by a certain strategy — you learn what to do step by step (analyse the task, plan your response, write, and check). You also develop your other skills necessary for the IELTS exam. At the end of the course, do a full mock test in Writing and Speaking and get feedback from one of our IELTS experts.

One of the main criteria for assessing your writing at the IELTS Academic exams is Coherence and Cohesion, which is 25% of your marks. Besides logically organising information and ideas, using paragraphing, you have to ‘use cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attention’. This requirement is taken from the document that IELTS examiners use to score your essay. Cohesion refers to the use of linguistic devices to join sentences together.

Using linking words is a grammatically correct and stylistically effective way to connect ideas and sentences. They are essential for IELTS Writing Task 2, and if you use them, chances are you will get a higher score. However, the examiner will check your range, accuracy and your flexibility of linking words in an essay. Let us look at how the linking words are used and how they add coherence to a sentence.

Why use linking words

Linking words and phrases are the tools that make your text naturally or logically connected. Thus, the reader can easily follow your ideas and understand them. Linking words play a very important role in the text:

• they make your writing clear and connected;
• they show how the clauses/parts of the text are related to each other;
• they help to express opinions, attitudes and purposes;
• they help to add further information, details, examples;
• they point to the conclusions etc.

What linking words to use

Contrast

Use these words and phrases when you need to introduce opposite ideas in your essay. They can also introduce exceptions to the rules:

• however
• at the same time
• although
• despite
• yet

Result

These linking words usually link reasons with results. Use them for the solution essay or any essay where you will have to explain consequences or results of something:

• thus
• as a result
• therefore
• that is why

READ: IELTS Academic essay writing tips and tricks

Explanation / details

When you are giving more details or want to explain your idea further in your essay, use the following phrases:

• this means
• in this way

Reason

If you have to write a cause/solution essay in your IELTS Writing task 2, you will need these linking words and phrases to explain reasons and causes for something:

• due to
• as
• since
• because of
• in view of

Addition

In essays, you have to give a main point, and then support it. If you use these linking words and expressions, the reader (examiner) will know that you are going to present some extra information:

• moreover
• furthermore
• what is more
• in addition

WE RECOMMEND: 5 things to avoid in IELTS Academic Writing

Condition

Use the following expressions to join a condition and its consequence together. They are alternatives for ‘if’ used in more formal contexts, including academic writing:

• on condition that
• provided that
• unless

Example

When writing your essay, it is good to provide examples to support main ideas. Make sure you use these expressions to introduce examples:

• to illustrate
• for instance
• for example

Now, have a look at the linking words and expressions in the following essay sample, and think about their functions:

As you can see, we have highlighted all the linking words and expressions in the essay above. In the introduction, the writer presents two opposite ideas. In the next two paragraphs, these ideas are developed, explained in detail, and supported by examples. The author of the essay also writes about advantages and disadvantages of an increasing lifespan, and its consequences that depend on different conditions; this means that he or she models different situations. Finally, we can see that in conclusion, the writer explains the reason why this issue is controversial, and why such a trend is impossible to stop or prevent.

In your essay, show a range of linking words and expressions, and try not to repeat them throughout your essay. If you wrote ‘for example’, next time write ‘for instance’. Use the variety of linking words, but be careful, and only use them when they should be used. It’s a bad idea to stuff your essay with linking words or phrases because the use of these devices must look natural.

Using linking words or expressions is not the only way to make your writing cohesive. In our course, you will learn about other means that make different elements of the text hold together well. You will also keep all your strategies and useful tips in the Knowledge Bank so that you could return to them every time you need. With our new online IELTS Grade course, you will be fully-equipped to score high in IELTS Academic.

There are thousands of resources for both IELTS Academic writing tasks that you can make good use of. Also, there are plenty of model answers but it does not mean that your practice should include memorising them as examiners can easily spot such answers and you will risk having your entire test rendered invalid.

What to do to improve your writing skills and practice for the exam? Take a look at some of our advice, and you’re sure to ace the IELTS writing test.

Understand the requirements for both tasks

The IELTS examiners use detailed performance descriptors when assessing your writing. They include: 

• Task achievement (25 percent);
• Coherence and cohesion (25 percent);
• Lexical resource (25 percent); 
• Grammatical range and accuracy (25 percent).

Your final score will be the average of the four criteria.

Task achievement means you answer the question. Coherence and cohesion means you structure your essay in paragraphs, and even the paragraphs within themselves. Lexical resource means vocabulary. Grammatical range and accuracy means that you use wide range of structures with full flexibility and accuracy. 

You can check British Council’s website to read Task 1 and Task 2 requirements in detail.

Start practicing as early as possible

Take one sample question per day and write your answer. Luckily, there is a huge selection of IELTS Writing  questions for you on the Internet. By doing so, you will learn about the test format,  types of tasks, review your answers and compare them with model answers.

IELTS Academic offers practice questions and sample answers for Task 1 and Task 2.

IELTS.org has downloadable Academic Writing sample with answer sheets and examiner comments.

ESL Lounge has a range of exercises that give good practice of what you will face in the IELTS examination.

Always make an outline

If you want to keep focused as you write and save your time, it is necessary to make an outline of your essay or graph description. If you organize your ideas, you will also know what language you should use to complete the task. 

The outline of the introduction should include a thesis sentence or important points to include (e.g. in Task 1 write what information someone should know about these charts/graphs/diagrams.). For the body paragraphs, your outline only needs to reflect the main topic for the paragraph, the evidence to be used, and, if appropriate, how it supports your thesis statement. There is no need to write an outline of the conclusions because restate your arguments and do not present any new ideas.

Focus on language

As you prepare for the IELTS exam, you should be working to build your vocabulary for a variety of topics. To get a high score you need to show the examiner a range of different words. 

First of all, write down all the new words and phrases you read in the sample essays. Incorporate them into your writing as you feel comfortable and as they are appropriate. This way, you will improve your vocabulary through the practice course. 

Secondly, learn some vocabulary to describe trends and key features in Task 1. IELTS Liz has created a list of verbs and nouns, adjectives and adverbs as well as time phrases you can use while writing your response. Learn vocabulary to describe graphs, maps and linking words to write essays.

Use online tools that will help you check your grammar and spelling. Hemingway App, Grammarly, After the Deadline, and ProWritingAid are only a few to name that can help you identify the most common mistakes you make. They will be helpful if you are going to take a computer version of the test. You should look for small mistakes in spelling and grammar. The more mistakes you make, the lower your score will be, so best ensure you make as little as possible.

You are assessed on your ability to use correct and appropriate grammar and on the range of sentence types that you produce. If you do not have much time to prepare or have already completed the preparation course, check IELTS-exam.net for grammar exercises. 

IELTSbuddy offers explanations and exercises that  will highlight some specific things related to IELTS so you can see how they are relevant.

Although IELTS does not have a separate section on exam for grammar, you will need to have an excellent grammar to get a high score. IELTS worldwide has a list of grammar issues you will have to review for IELTS.

Learn to punctuate correctly. It helps your readers to follow and understand your message, in the same way that using pauses and intonation help your listeners while you are speaking, and it matters for your score!

Don’t forget about timing and word count

Always practice writing on the answer sheet. It will help you know the amount of words you write on one sheet, and you will not need to do the word count on the day of the exam and waste your time on it.

Remember to spend not more than 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2 as you prepare.