Academic vocabulary

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Improve your academic vocabulary. Which of the following words are safe to use for your IELTS writing task 2 essay? The meaning for each word is given in brackets

  • Dissonance (discord / difference of opinion)
  • Gist (general idea / essence)
  • Latent (concealed / hidden)
  • Quack (fake / swindler)
  • Falter (hesitate)
  • Partially (not completely / to a degree)
  • Prattle (chatter)
  • Orate (make a speech)
Answers
There is only one word which cannot be used in an academic piece of writing and that is the word “quack”. This is slang and is inappropriate to use in formal writing. However, although the other words are acceptable to use, the word “prattle” is unlikely to be used but of course it does depend on the topic of the essay . Furthermore, the word “gist” can be used in formal writing, for example ” the gist of the argument was …” but be careful of other ways of using this word.
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IELTS Discussion Essay Video Lesson: Useful Language

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Learn expressions to use in your discussion essay for IELTS writing task 2 with this video lesson. It is important to use a variety of language to express both sides in your essay. Being able to have flexible language for giving other people’s opinions is a good way to increase your vocabulary band score.

Transcript

Hello in this lesson I’m going to look at some expressions that you can use for a discussion essay for IELTS writing task 2. Now when you have a discussion essay you have to support two different sides and this is not about your opinion this is about what other people think, other people’s opinion and you have to support what they think. so here are some very useful expressions to help you show other people’s thoughts and opinions.

Now there’s quite a lot of expressions you can use. I will run through each one but I will tell you now there are two expressions here that you shouldn’t use. can you see which ones? well I’ll tell you at the end of the lesson let’s have a look the first one. “Many people believe that ” this is a very common expression to use for IELTS It is not high band score but its clear and its academic so don’t worry, please use it. The next one “it is commonly believed that” this is a very nice expression because you can see here “is believed” that is the passive and it’s very good to give the examiner some passive tense in your essay. It will improve your band score and you can see this word here “commonly” that means many people so it has the same meaning as this sentence and this word we can change, we could say “it is frequently believed that” or we could say “it is often believed that”. So we could put a different adverb of frequency here. The next one “some people think that”  again it’s very simple but it is academic and its clear. “It is often thought that” here we’ve got another passive, so very nice to use. But “on the side of” or “the other side of the coin is” this is the other opinion, the other side. “It is considered by many that” this is a very nice expression is very academic. It’s very good to use for IELTS and again you have a passive here and you can change this word if you want and you could say “it is considered by some that”. The next one here “many argue that” is very nice very clear. You don’t need to say “many people”, you could say “many argue that “. Another one, “it is argued by some that”, again here we’ve got the passive and you can change this word, “it is argued by many that”. “On the one hand” and”On the other hand”, so that’s the one side of the argument, on the other hand that’s the other side of the argument. The last one “some people support the opinion that” again this is very nice, very academic.

So can you see the 2 expressions that you shouldn’t use? Well, it is these 2 here this one is not very academic, we use it more for speaking, and this one many students love to use this because it is an idiom however it is very informal and we don’t usually use that for an academic essay for IELTS so please don’t use that one in your discussion essay. But all the others are great and when you’re writing your discussion essay it’s very important that you give the simple tense and then sometimes a passive as well and you can keep changing that through your essay to show flexibility. Well that’s all for this lesson I’ll see you again in another IELTS lesson

Discussion Essay Model Answer

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Answers for Summary Reading

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Answer for yesterday’s IELTS reading lesson for the summary “The Importance of Sleep”. Before you check the answers, here is some useful vocabulary to help you:

  • adolescents = teens(not academic) = teenagers
  • promotes = helps support
  • chronic = long term – continual – unending
  • lack of sleep = sleep deficiency
  • have an impact on = can affect
  • important aspects of our lives = think, react, work, learn & get along with others

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers.

Answers
1. quality
2. growth (any order)
3. development (any order)
4. (some) chronic

All reading exercises on ieltsliz.com have been written by myself to help you prepare for your IELTS test for free.   

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IELTS Reading: Summary Exercise

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This IELTS reading practice lesson focuses on completing a summary. It is a common question type in IELTS reading. First, read the passage below and then fill in the summary.

The Importance of Sleep

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.
The way you feel while you’re awake depends in part on what happens while you’re sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.
The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.

Questions 1-4
Complete the summary below.
Choose no more than two words from the passage for each answer.

Why sleep is important

Physical and mental health is at risk without sufficient  1 ……………………….. sleep. Furthermore, for adolescents, sleep promotes  2 ………………………….. and  3 ……………………….. Lack of sleep can be the cause of  4 ………………. health problems which can also have an impact on important aspects of our lives.

Click to see: Answers and vocabulary

Passage taken and adapted from here.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

IELTS Reading Practice: Multiple Choice
IELTS Reading Practice: Sentence Completion
IELTS Reading Practice: Matching Paragraph Information

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IELTS Speaking Part 3: What makes a good painting?

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Question

What makes a good painting?

Ideas and Vocab

  • the composition of all the parts
  • the painter has a good eye (to know when something is good)
  • perspective and symmetry (sizing and balance of all parts)
  • using a particular style or an unusual technique (skill)
  • the subject (person / landscape / animal etc)
  • the balance of colours and contrasts
  • to bring about an emotional response – it touches people
  • to evoke a memory or idea
  • impact – something you can’t take your eyes off
  • historical background or relevance

Model Answer

From my perspective, I suppose a good painting is one you can’t take your eyes off. For me, it’s either due to the colours and images or because of the emotional reaction I might have to the painting. But I know that for other people, they think a good painting is usually because of the skill involved in painting it or because of the unique creativity of the artist. I guess that a good painting means something different to everybody.

Video Watch

This video shows an art dealer talking about what makes a good painting. It is not a video made for language learners so the English is advanced but hopefully you can still learn a lot from it.

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IELTS Video: Listening practice with numbers

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It is common in IELTS to be asked to listen for a number. The most common numbers that IELTS use are the numbers 15 / 50. Many students have a problem with hearing the difference between these numbers.

Watch this lesson to test yourself on listening for these difficult numbers and also review the pronunciation.

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IELTS Listening: List Selection

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IELTS listening practice for list selection which is a type of multiple choice.

A Museum Visit

Questions 1-3: Choose three letters, A-G.

What three things are not allowed to be brought into the museum?

A. camera
B. bags
C. food and drink
D. phone
E. pens
F. notebooks
G. coats

 

Answers

Click below to reveal answers:

Answers

A, C, D (any order). You must have all 3 correct for one point.

  1. A = ‘… won’t be able to take your camera into the museum…’
    2. D = ‘…that goes for phones too’. This means that the same rule for cameras also applies to phones, both are forbidden.
    3. C = ‘If you’re in need of refreshments, you’ll have to make your way to our cafe as you can’t bring your own inside’. Refreshments = food and drink (paraphrase)

The answer can’t be B because you are able to choose if you want to leave your bag in the locker room or not. This means it is not forbidden.

Transcript
There are a few things which you will need to know before you come to the museum. You won’t be able to take your camera into the museum as photos are forbidden which means that that goes for phones too. If you want pictures of the exhibitions can you’ll have to buy the museum guide book which has information as well as pictures of most of our famous exhibits. If you have a bag and you don’t want to carry it round with you, then you can store it in the locker room on the ground floor near the entrance. You’re welcome to walk around with your notebooks to sketch or make notes on our displays. If you’re in need of refreshments, you’ll have to make your way to our cafe as you can’t bring your own inside. Well, that’s the list of does and don’ts. Hope you enjoy your visit.

 

IELTS Multiple Choice Tips

This video offers more listening practice and tips for this type of listening in IELTS.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 Model

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In some parts of the world it is becoming popular to research the history of one’s own family. Why might people want to do this? Is it a positive or negative development?

Exploring one’s family background and history is becoming increasingly popular in numerous countries around the world. In my opinion, through research and knowing more about one’s family, people can see common trends passed through generations and useful information which can only be seen as beneficial for people’s future.

Firstly, some people look into their family history in order to discover any common trends with family members of a previous generation. This can be especially so with people who have particular skills, gifts or interests in uncommon fields. In other words, as some gifts and skills are hereditary, it can be interesting for people to learn how many others in their family shared these talents from previous generations.

Another reason for the popularity of finding out about one’s family history is often due to general curiosity of one’s geographical origins. That is to say, some families moved abroad, away from their own country, generations ago which resulted in them losing their original culture and adopting the culture of the country they moved to. Therefore, through research, people can learn more about their country of origin and understand more about the culture that their family originally came from.

Finally, the trend of researching family history is certainly beneficial and can help people find their place in the world. Some people feel a lack of direction in life or are dislocated from others but by learning more about their past family history, it can help them relate to the world and feel more comfortable about who they are. Take, for example, a person who feels nervous about making a certain choice in life, they may feel comforted by knowing that others in their family made the same choice many generations ago.

In conclusion, it can be advantageous for people to learn more about the family’s background and origins. It would be useful for children to learn about their own family history, if this was incorporated into the school curriculum.

Comments

There are two questions to this essay. Make sure you answer each question clearly and explain your ideas sufficiently if you want to get band score 6 or above.

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