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Prepare for IELTS with Yashal

10 MOST COMMON IELTS GRAMMAR MISTAKES

Your IELTS grammar score is calculated using two broad criteria – range and
accuracy. Very simply, this means that to achieve a high score, you will need to
show the examiner that you can write a number of different types of complex
sentences (so not just the same one again and again). Every year I mark literally
thousands of IELTS writing scripts, and it is amazing how often I see the same
mistakes again and again, no matter what the nationality of the writer. So, in
today’s lesson, I want to show you the 10 most common IELTS grammar mistakes
and more importantly, how to avoid them!.

Let’s test your current knowledge of IELTS grammar

But, before we start, why don’t we see if you already know these errors and can
already correct them (after all, it will be you who sits the test, not me!) Each of the
following sentences / clauses contains AT LEAST one mistake. I want you to look
at each sentence, identify the mistake/s and correct them:

1. While multinational companies provide employment opportunities, but they

often cause local businesses to go bankrupt.
2. One of the reason for the popularity of the cinema is that watching films on
the big screen is more exciting.
3. Not only advertising affects people’s spending habits, but it also has an
impact on the types of products we desire.
4. Problem of the crime is very common in the cities, and is one that
government has to deal with in future.
5. If the government spends more on promoting healthy lifestyles, it would
encourage people to change their habits and to become more active.
6. Many people today are not having a regular rest, which means that they are
being stressed.
7. By selling my car resulted in me being able to buy a computer.
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8. Every member of community should be given a chance to have their basic

right of learning, it’s the government’s job to provide people with this
opportunity.
9. Overall, it can clearly be seen that the total amount of electric production
was skyrocketed in Australia and France in 20 years.
10. Although children are used to studying when they finish school.

OK, how did you get on? Do you think you found them all? I would say that if you
found 8 or more, you have done a great job! So, let’s go through each item
individually so that I can show you what the mistake is and how you can avoid it
from now on.

1. Writing poor contrast sentences

I would say that of all the different types of complex sentences, those that
show contrast are the ones that I see the most mistakes with. Here we have a
classic error. The student has started the sentence with “although” to show
contrast, which is great. However, they then destroy their sentence by adding “but”
in the middle! Now we have TWO words joining only TWO clauses, which is a
massive error . All we have to do to fix this mistake, is to remove the “but”

 Although multinational companies provide employment opportunities, but they

often cause local businesses to go bankrupt.
 Although multinational companies provide employment opportunities, they often
cause local businesses to go bankrupt.

Another common error I see with contrast sentences is using a comma after
“whereas”. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of this type of word that
“whereas” is – it is a SUBORDINATOR not a TRANSITIONAL SIGNAL. If you got
this question wrong or don’t know how to use “whereas”
(or while or despite or yet), then you can watch my free Three Types of
Contrast video lesson to find out more.

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2. Subject / Verb Agreement

No matter how good your level, you are probably still in danger of writing
sentences that contain an agreement error. In this sentence, I included TWO
common mistakes:

1. When we start a clause that starts with “one”, we have to use a PLURAL
noun after “of the”
2. When we start a clause with a gerund, we have to use a SINGULAR verb –
so even though we have “films” just before the verb, we still need the
singular “is”
 One of the reason for the popularity of the cinema is that watching films on a
high screen are more exciting.
 One of the reasons why people enjoy going to the cinema is
that watching films is more interesting there.

If either of these mistakes surprised you, then you can read about other strange
subject/verb agreement rules in this blog post. And if you found both of these
mistakes, pat yourself on the back, take a bow, and look smug !

3. Not using inversion after “Not only”

Using “not only” in a sentence is a GREAT way to add emphasis to your

argument. However, to get maximum points from the examiner, you must use it
correctly. The easiest way to use “not only” is to put it AFTER THE SUBJECT of
the first clause:

Advertising not only affects people’s spending habits, but it also has an impact
on the types of products we desire.

This is great, but it is really only band 6.0. To move up to a 7.0, we need to move
the “not only” to the BEGINNING of the sentence. However, when we do this, we
have to use something called “inversion”. I have a 30 minute lesson on different

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types of inversion in my grammar course. But, very basically, it means that what
comes after “not only” must look like a question. In our example sentence, the
student failed to do this. So, how can we correct this error? Well, because the first
clause was in the present simple, we need to make a present simple question,
which means adding “does”.

 Not only advertising affects people’s spending habits, but it also has an impact
on the types of products we desire.
 Not only does advertising affect people’s spending habits, it also has an impact
on the types of products we desire.

If this looks complicated, don’t worry, it is rather simple once you have some
practice. And, if you still find it difficult, you don’t have to use “not only” at the
beginning of a sentence! It is better to have an error-free easy sentence than to
make a mistake. However, if you can master this rule, it is a great way to push
your GRA score up to a 7.0+.

4. Articles

Articles, articles, articles! If I had £1 for every articles mistake I’ve fixed in an
essay, I would have retired many years ago! In this sentence, there were FOUR
mistakes!!!!

1. The student forgot the rule “the + noun + of + noun” – this is one of the most
common article mistakes, but it is also one of the easiest to remember and
fix (the problem of crime)
2. When we talk in general, we just use an uncountable noun or a plural noun
(crime / cities)
3. Government ALWAYS needs the definite article (the government) unless
you are talking about ALL governments, in which case you can use the
plural.
 X Problem of the crime is very common in the cities, and is one
that X government has to deal with in future.
 The problem of Ø crime is very common in Ø cities, and is one
that the government has to deal with in future.
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Articles are probably going to be a lifetime struggle for most students, but if you
are aiming for an 8.0, you really do want to minimise your errors to two or three in
the whole essay. Luckily, my lesson on articles is one of the free videos at the
start of the grammar course.

5. Mixing the 1st and 2nd conditionals

Conditional sentences are very useful to explain arguments in more detail or to

add an example. However, you have to make sure that when you use a
conditional sentence, you don’t mix the first and second conditionals.

1. First Conditional = If + present simple, will + infinitive = used for REAL or

LIKELY situations
2. Second Conditional = If + past simple, would + infinitive = used for
UNLIKELY or HYPOTHETICAL situations

In our quiz, the student used the FIRST conditional in the first clause, but the
SECOND conditional in the second. And, do you know what type of conditional
this makes? A TERRIBLE ONE!!!

If the government spends more on promoting healthy lifestyles, it would

encourage people to change their habits and to become more active..

So, we can fix this in two ways. We can change the “would” to “will” to make a 1st
conditional OR we can change the past simple to the present simple to make a
2nd conditional. Both are good, the only difference is how likely YOU think it is that
the government will spend this money .

 If the government spends more on promoting healthy lifestyles,

it will encourage people to change their habits and to become more active. = 1st
conditional (likely)
 If the government spent more on promoting healthy lifestyles, it would
encourage people to change their habits and to become more active. = 2nd
conditional (unlikely)

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6. Using the present continuous to describe a FACT

Now, I have to admit that this problem is often associated with your first
language (I’m looking at you my lovely Indian and Pakistani students!) In English,
when we are giving a fact or a general truth, we should use the PRESENT
SIMPLE not the present continuous. In this sentence, we are taking about the fact
that ALL people today don’t have enough rest, so the present simple is necessary
here:

 Many people today are not having a regular rest, which means that they are
being stressed.
 Many people today do not have a regular rest, which means that they are
stressed.

There are two tricks to remembering this rule. First of all you can ask yourself the
simple questions:

1. Is this always true?

2. Does this always happen
3. Is this a fact?

If the answer is yes to any or all of these questions, you need the present simple.
But, if you are still unsure, then my advice is to always use the present simple!
The present continuous is only used to show a changing trend, and that is rarely
needed in an IELTS essays (except for in, perhaps, the introduction), so the
present simple is usually the safest bet!

7. Adding “for” before a gerund when it is not necessary

This is a less common error, but it is one that pops up every week and can hurt a
high-level student. You mustn’t add “by” before a gerund unless you are giving a
result. Very simply, by + gerund = because I did this. In other words, the “by”
JOINS the sentences so we don’t need anything else to connect them). Look at
these sentences:

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 By selling my car resulted in me being able to buy a computer = BAD (“by +

gerund” and “resulted in” BOTH join the sentence and show result- you only need
ONE!)
 Selling my car resulted in me being able to buy a computer” = GOOD (only
“resulted in” joins the sentence and shows result)
 By selling my car, I could afford to buy a computer” = GOOD (only “by + gerund”
joins the sentence and shows result)

Again, my advice would be if you are not 100% sure if the “by” is correct, don’t use
it! Most of the time all you need is the gerund to start the sentence (again,
Gerunds and Infinitives are included in my grammar course)

8. Using Magic commas / Writing Run-on sentences

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I don’t care if you call them “magic commas” or “run-on
sentences” or “comma-splices”, the simple fact is that YOU CANNOT USE A
COMMMA TO JOIN TWO CLAUSES!!! Commas do not contain magic powers! If
you want to use two clauses in one sentence, you have to add a word to “glue”
those clauses together

 Every member of community should be given a chance to have their basic right
of learning, it’s the government’s job to provide people with this opportunity.
 Every member of community should be given a chance to have their basic right
of learning, so it’s the government’s job to provide people with this
opportunity.

Here, I have added “so” to make a compound sentence, but you can also add
words to make complex sentences. This is one of the most basic rules of
academic writing, and if you make this mistake, you are going to find it hard to get
a 7.0+ in the exam. If you didn’t know this rule, you absolutely have to stop
reading this and go and complete my free Introduction to Complex Sentences
lesson. I’m serious, why are you still here? GO GO GO!
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9. Unnecessary passive voice

People get a bit obsessed about the passive in essays. They have this strange
belief that you have to use the passive to get a high score. This is absolutely not
true. Like any sentence structure, the passive is just there to help you when you
need it, but it is not compulsory. In general, we will need it to:

1. change the focus of a sentence

2. remove a subject that is obvious
3. remove a subject that is not known

However, sometimes students are so eager to use the passive tense, that they
use it in sentences where the passive is NOT needed. This is very common with
verbs that describe change like skyrocket, increase, decrease, etc. What
skyrocketed in this sentence? The total amount of electric production! And
because the subject is the same as the agent, we need an ACTIVE sentence
here!

 Overall, it can clearly be seen that the total amount of electric production was
skyrocketed in Australia and France in 20 years.
 Overall, it can clearly be seen that the total amount of electric
production skyrocketed in Australia and France in 20 years.

Guess what? You can learn how to write passives correctly in my grammar
course (and how to use them to distance to show that something is NOT your
opinion)

10. Writing a fragment

OK. I saved the worst until last. If there is one mistake that you have to avoid
marking, it is writing a FRAGMENT. Fragments are literally half a sentence, and
they are the quickest way to reduce your GRA score from a 7.0 to a 6.0. When
you start a sentence with a subordinator
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(like when or although or because or if), you must add a second clause to
complete the sentence. And, in general, you always need ONE extra clause for
every joining word. In this sentence we have TWO joining words but only two
clauses instead of three. This is a fragment. To finish this sentence, we have to
add another clause:

 Although children are used to studying when they finish school. = fragment
 Although children are used to studying when they finish school, they can still
benefit from a year off before university.

Again, if you don’t know this rule, please go and watch my free Introduction to
Complex Sentences lesson, where I discuss this in great detail! You really can’t
enter the exam room if you don’t know this basic principle.

So, those are my 10 most common IELTS grammar mistakes. Why don’t we
summarise them quickly here:

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10 Most Common IELTS Grammar Mistakes

1. Writing poor contrast sentences Don’t use “although” and “but” in the same
sentence
2. Subject / Verb Agreement You have to make sure that your subject and verbs
agree in number. Some subjects are surprising though – for example gerunds
always need a singular verb.
3. Not using inversion after “Not only” If you use “not only” at the start of a
sentence then you have to make sure that what directly follows it looks like a
question (even though it isn’t one!)
4. Articles Yes, there are hundreds of articles rules, but if you need a 7.0+, you have
to limit these mistakes to only a handful
5. Mixing the 1st and 2nd conditionals Remember to use present simple /
will and past simple / would . Never mix these or you will have no conditional at all
6. Using the present continuous to describe a FACT If you want to describe a
situation that is always true, or is a fact, you have to use the present simple not
the present continuous.
7. Adding “for” before a gerund when it is not necessary Remember that “by +
gerund = because I did this”
8. Using Magic commas / Writing Run-on sentences Commas do not have magic
powers. You always need to add a joining word to connect two clauses!
9. Unnecessary passive voice The passive is a great tool, but only use it when
necessary!
10. Writing a fragment – Every time you use a subordinator to start a
sentence, you must add a SECOND clause to finish it!

NOTE

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