Complex Grammatical Structures in IELTS Academic Writing and Speaking Band 8.0

Good day, IELTS candidates and scholarship hunters! We are going to talk about complex grammatical structures which are usually present in IELTS high-scoring essays and speaking tasks.

To score higher in our IELTS speaking and writing, we need to activate Academic English and employ language features which reflect a high level of English proficiency, such as complex grammatical structures.

In the tutoring sessions of Planet English, candidates will have an activity of deconstructing real IELTS essays and speaking performance which score band 7.0, 7.5 and 8.0, including the essays produced by examiners (equal to band 8.5 or band 9.0). Here are the complex grammatical structures which are utilised by successful candidates:

1. Various Tenses

Simple tenses and active voice are fundamentals of English grammar. To score well in IELTS, candidates can use advanced tenses such as: Present Continuous Tense, Present Perfect Tense, Past Continuous Tense, Past Perfect Tense, etc.

Remember that in IELTS, it is better to show an attempt at making use of advanced tenses than using simple tenses all the time.  

Candidates achieving IELTS Speaking Band 9.0 used at least 3 advanced tenses in their performance.

2. Passive Voice

Passive Voice is categorised as an advanced English structure which is applicable to all tenses. The use of Passive Voice can also remove unnecessary or undesired subjects. For example:

Passive Voice: A government enquiry has been launched.

Active Voice: (Someone) has launched a government enquiry.

3. Two Clauses with Advanced Connectors

Combining two clauses or sentences is common in our daily communication. However, we need to use more advanced connectors for IELTS Writing and Speaking.

Everyday Connectors (no scores): and, or, but, yet, so.

Advanced Connectors (higher scores): if, while, when, not only – but also, etc.

For example:

If the weather is good, people can have a party in the garden. 

4. Reduced Clauses

English clauses might appear in complete or reduced forms.

Complete form: Indonesian executives love to read the articles WHICH APPEAR on the Jakarta Post.

Reduced form: Indonesian executives love to read the articles APPEARING on the Jakarta Post.

You can find more explanation about these complex grammatical structures in advanced English grammar books. Remember that our knowledge of English grammar is not tested independently in IELTS – it is integrated in the assessment of speaking and writing.

Good luck for your IELTS!

Writer and Editor: Norma Sholikah

Supported by: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/