35 IELTS phrases hi there in this video we're going to look at 35 phrases you can use in
your IELTS writing then I'll give you some advice as to where you can use them where
you can't use and why you should why you shouldn't because I'll explain in part 2 they can be
quite dangerous and then at the end of the video I'll show you how to use them like as
in examples I'll give you examples where together we answer IELTS writing task 2 questions and
by the way these phrases are available in a PDF just follow the link in the description
the first batch of phrases we can use in our IELTS essay are related to stating the focus
of the essay so obviously we're going to use these in the introduction and here they are:
the central thesis of this essay is that or the main topics covered in this essay are
the main issues covered in this essay are so you can see all we have to do is make each
sentence relevant this essay argues that global warming is a serious threat to the industrialized
world okay this essay has three key aims firstly to discuss the impact of global warming the
cost involved and finally what actions need to be taken these ones because it's like the
beginning of the sentence and we just have to fill in the middle they're slightly easier
to use than other ones however they are still useful of course you only need to master two
or three but here what I would recommend is just choose which two or three you want to
use and start sort of like mastering that sentence okay obviously like I said before
we have to do this with caution I'll explain this more in the second part like the dangers
involved and why you need to yeah use them with caution and use them with intelligence
of course as well so the aim of this essay is to discuss some of the prominent issues
related to employment and gender equality in the workplace you know next one stating
the focus of the paragraph obviously we're going to use these more in our body paragraphs
I'm not a big fan of these personally with the writing system I developed at the online
course we don't really use these ones we use similar phrases but stronger ones however
if you do need phrases to state the focus of the paragraph these are quite useful these
are more my style these are more my favorites I prefer using these ones because this is
more related to academic writing which is our objective when we're writing an IELTS
task 2 and these phrases kind of force you to write in academic style okay so they force
you to back up your claims which is exactly what you need to be doing if you're writing
academically you need to be making claims you need to be arguing and you need to be
strong in your communication and persuasive as well this is like the heart of academic
writing especially with your IELTS essay so these sentences force that that's why I like
them I love this one especially I mean how many times have you heard the word historically
probably not that often and this is the kind of style that I aim for my students to be
writing this is what I want them to aim for you know just writing with a little bit of
flair a little bit of well yeah just a little bit of flair that's all so historically research
investigating the factors associated with global warming has focused on cabin emissions
and pollution I don't know okay but it's easy you just fill in the blanks now also we've
got to use these with caution okay for many years this phenomenon was surprisingly neglected
by government employers so here we can't just directly copy/paste the topic we need to put
a little bit of thinking into this and we also need to adapt the sentences which is
what I'm going to go into in more detail and especially at the end of the video I'll give
you examples an important point to consider when you are using these sentences you have
to bend the sentence for the purpose of the essay for your position of the essay do not
bend and mold your essay or your argument to fit in with the sentence it's the other
way round and this is really important because you can make it much more complex and much
more incoherent and harder to understand if you start bending your argument to fit in
with the sentence then it just gets really unclear and it's not enjoyable to read so
more backing up your claims with evidence from a historical perspective several lines
of evidence this one was one of my favorites as well I'm going to highlight it and send
it to a student but if you can start incorporating this into your writing several lines of evidence
suggest that global warming is a – I don’t know -- is serious event that is going to
impact the lives of many generations to come you know something like that but several lines
of evidence it's another phrase that you probably haven't heard of it's not that common and
it just shows the examiner you've got more style and it's still academic and you’re
just showing you’re a higher level writer okay but once again we're only going to use
it where it's relevant okay data from several studies suggest that it’s now established
from a variety of studies that global warming is increasing etc. so they can be quite easy
to use that's why I focused on these ones they can be quite easy to use but there is
a warning we must use them with caution now the reason why we should use them with caution
is that we should use them sparingly we should use them with caution because they can mess
up your essay if you're not using them correctly and if you got a very low level then use them
use them much more often but what I recommend is that you use them you get feedback on how
to use them and also you master a few of them okay master a few of them and then you can
start playing with it which is what I'll show which is what I'll show you at the end of
the video okay so the analogy I've put here is like the crutches okay crutches are those
pieces of wood or metal that you put under your armpits they're really long and you use
them to support yourself when you're walking if you've got a broken leg so they'll help
you get from point A to point B but you're not going to get much stronger especially
if you rely on them for a long time and the worst way you can use them is in sentences
like these I hate these I hate these sentences this is how politicians speak they say a lot
of different words but there's nothing there there's no substance and if you write like
this in your essay you're going to get crucified you’re going to get murdered by the examiner
that's just a figure of speech by the way but you're never going to impress any examiner
if you're writing like this okay it's just garbage it’s empty I could put this into
an essay about global warming about gender equality about crime in major cities and it
is kind of relevant in a very very mild and weak way but the examiners know this is a
copy/paste sentence so this is why you should use them with caution these sentences that
I'm giving you and most importantly you should adapt these sentences to your essay I mean
obviously in this case it’s clear that you need to adapt them but we master them we adapt
them and we kind of just like start playing and manipulating them I'll give you an example
all right so we've got this question here this was a recent task 2 question so some
people spend a lot of money attending cultural or sports events is it a good or bad thing
give your opinion and examples from your own experience okay so let's see this is the copy/paste
sentence all right I have adapted it to my introduction I haven't just started off with
the aim of this essay now I put the first sentence of my introduction here then I'll
use this sentence my second sentence but I have adapted it okay and also it's all coherent
I've started off with both sporting events cultural activities okay and here I'm talking
about viewpoints so I'm going to mention two different viewpoints second thing is I'm rephrasing
the question we can use synonyms sometimes it's not easy to find synonyms in which case
maybe we can just change the word okay we can modify it to a certain extent okay here
I said cultural activities instead of cultural events put sporting events instead sports
events roughly they mean very similar okay here spending a lot of money I put increasingly
expensive you see buyers I used instead of some people so this is how what you want to
be aiming for with your writing okay undeterred by the high prices it's basically saying something
very similar undeterred means that they're not fazed that they're still going to do it
okay I don't care what you say I'm still going to do it so here I’m kind of rephrasing
everything that was said here and I'm given an indication as to where my essay is going
to go as well so also I'm continuing using synonyms expenditure spending a lot of money
you see person for certain people instead of some people I'm continuing and trying to
avoid using words from the question okay now going back to using these sentences because
I'm using this sentence I'm going to put in viewpoints or better still because I'm going
to write two different viewpoints in my essay I'm going to use this sentence all right so
this goes back to what I was saying before about we use the phrases that are suitable
for our essay and we don't adapt our essay to make it suitable for the phrases okay and
likewise this just shows you the versatility I could copy/paste this sentence I could copy/paste
this one now because I've put compare there I have to be aware that I should be comparing
the two viewpoints okay here I've got a little bit more flexibility but this just goes back
to we should use these sentences with caution and use them when they’re most appropriate
now my favorite previous research from a historical perspective okay so here I use this sentence
over the past decade most research in consumer spending on leisure activities which is basically
this it’s people spending a lot of money on cultural sports events and has emphasized
the health benefits derived from watching famous sports stars or singers perform their
trade now that's good that's a good sentence because it's pushing me to making my claim
it’s pushing into giving evidence and also here consumer spending I've made it green
because it's topic-specific vocabulary we get points with this we're only going to see
this type of vocabulary in an essay about cultural sports events most likely okay consumer
spending on leisure activities we're not going to see it in an essay about global warming
or in a question related to crime okay so as I emphasized the health benefits derived
derived could you incorporate that word into your essay if you can it's fantastic you're
on the right track from watching famous sports stars or singers perform their trade okay
so there you can see I had to adapt that sentence I had to chop off the end okay has emphasized
the health benefits I couldn't say has emphasized the use of health benefits that's just ridiculous
so be careful if you're using these phrases adapt them to your essay if you need to sometimes
you can just copy/paste directly like you've seen before other times you need to adapt
them now let's have a look at a different question and I’m going to more detail about
the introduction and the introduction and the body paragraphs so here I've used this
phrase actually let's look at the question government should provide 24/7 free public
transportation to reduce traffic congestion do you agree or disagree my copy/paste sentence
over the past few decades major advances in something have allowed something okay so once
again I have to chop off allowed to make it oh no I didn't actually I kept this one on
I thought I did it’s still left on my notes so over the past few decades major advances
in the study of traffic have allowed governments to conclude that the flow of traffic in a
city has an impact on productivity and wealth generated have permitted have forced governments
there’s lots of different versions probably that we could have used and so here I did
manage to copy/paste it but I still made it relevant by inserting the appropriate vocabulary
which is what you should be aiming for too now I finally get to use my let's see I finally
get to use my historically sentence so we've got it here historically research investigating
the factors associated with congested cities has and I had to delete focused and I'd substituted
it for covered okay has covered issues such as pollution safety and the costs okay that’s
been mixed up anyway these ones should have been at the beginning let's see there we go
that's better so here I'm using similar sentences this essay compares the two different viewpoints
review different viewpoints once again I'm using public sector transportation I'm using
topic-specific vocabulary I'm using words that are higher level yeah with how many times
do you hear complex in everyday speech not very often I'm using synonyms around-the-clock
transport instead of 24/7 this is what you should be aiming for as I said before if you're
going for a band 7 or above now so like I said use these sentences with caution if you
like writing like this if you like using like copy/paste structures if you like writing
with more guidance and clarity then you’ll probably love the sentence guide course because
we've just got I mean it's not so copy/paste like this where you just put in the topics
but it's very similar and it just makes the whole process straightforward and of course
you're getting feedback so you're not making any you're not making major mistakes or if
you are making mistakes you're getting feedback so you're not making them again so it's a
way to improve very quickly now if you want all these phrases that I mentioned I'll put
them in a PDF up and I’ll put a link to the PDF in the description so yeah that's
it for me for this video I hope you enjoyed it if you've got any suggestions please leave
them in the comments and all the best with your IELTS preparation take care