Can we use contractions in IELTS writing?
This is a question we received last week and we have seen it time and time again. It comes from the idea that IELTS, especially Academic IELTS, is a formal exam and should be treated us such. This is wrong.
Academic IELTS is a test of your English for academic purposes (this means for university, post grad courses and also jobs). It is NOT a test of your academic English. If you go to an English school/academy to study English, the first thing they will do is a level test with you. This is so they can put you in the right class. You may have an interview with a teacher, you may have to do a grammar test, you may have to write a letter etc. All of these are to determine what level your English is so you can be put in the right class. If you go to an English school that doesn’t do this, walk away and save your money!!
IELTS is exactly the same, but it is far more in-depth. Therefore, it isn’t a test of formal English (unless you have to write a formal letter in Task 1 of the General exam) and you don’t have to use archaic and overly complex vocabulary or grammar to get into Band 7+.
If your English is good enough across the 4 skills, then you will get the mark you need. If you are preparing for IELTS and want to see what score you will get in the IELTS writing exam, and what you need to do to get higher marks, you can do a Task 2 or a full writing exam with us.
Comments (14)
My IELTS tutor told me not to use contraction. I thought it was strange so thank you to clear this for me.
Yes, there is a lot of misinformation about IELTS. Let us know if we can help you further.
Hi Team,
I am told that we can use contractions only un Informal letters and not in other types of letters. Besides, even Task 2 shouldn’t have contractions. Plz clarify.
Also, is it true that we can’t use pronouns such as we, he, she in our essay writing? I am told that we can use only I that too in Thesis statement. How true is this?
Is the word “like” considered informal in writing module? Should it be replaced with such as or namely?
Regards,
Hello
These are good questions. The idea that we don’t use contractions in formal writing is very old fashioned. You can use contractions in formal letters in Task 1 in IELTS and in Task 2. They are a natural part of English.
As for this question, “Is it true that we can’t use pronouns such as we, he, she in our essay writing?”, who told you this? This is completely untrue. However, in your thesis statement, you probably wouldn’t need to use we/he/she. Generally, in your introduction, you only need to introduce the debate that is in the question, then add your own opinion.
“Is the word “like” considered informal” Yes, ‘like’ is an informal way of offering examples. Just use ‘for example’ or ‘such as’. ‘namely’ has a different meaning as it is very direct and specific. So, you can say “I like sports like/for example/such as football and tennis (amongst others)”. However, if you say “I like sports, namely football and tennis (nothing else)”, you can see that the meaning is different.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
The upmyielts team
I have another questions as well;
For task 1 Academics- When we write Overview, should it be written in the same para as the introduction or a separate para. As in the structure of the report :
Introduction
Overview
Body para 1
Body para 2
Is this correct?
In Task 1 Letter writing- How do we count the no of words? We omit the salutation like Dear Sir and even the sign -off- Yours sincerely or count even the salutation and sign-off?
In letter writing, how do we understand whether its formal, or semi-formal?
Example: Your landlord has written a letter to you stating that your contract has been renewed and rent would be increased. However, you would like to point out some maintenance issues in his property. so, when you write a letter, would it be formal or semi-formal?
Semi-formal- its for someone whom you know by names and cases such as writing letter to your hostel warden, librarian, ex-boss, colleague all come under semi-formal or it depends on the content on the basis of which you shall be writing a letter.
We encourage people to write the introduction and overview together as this makes a paragraph. If you don’t do this, then your introduction is one sentence and your overview another sentence when you should really write in paragraphs.
In Task 1 Letter writing- How do we count the no of words? We omit the salutation like Dear Sir and even the sign -off- Yours sincerely or count even the salutation and sign-off?
As for your question about word count, word count doesn’t mean anything any more. Years ago, people were penalised for not meeting the word count but not any more. Don’t worry about counting words as you don’t need to do this any more and, thankfully, neither do the examiners!
In letter writing, how do we understand whether its formal, or semi-formal?
As a general rule in IELTS, if the question tells you to write to a friend then it is informal. If you have to write a review, a letter to a company or your landlord, an email to your boss, then it is semi-formal. Formal English is like a different language and you do not need to use truely formal English in IELTS. If you have to write to your landlord then you may have to invent a name, say Mr Jones, but the tone still needs to be semi-formal in the same way you would write a letter starting Dear Sir/Madam.
Hi Team,
I have few questions related to IELTS Speaking:
In cue card, which mentions few cues in the form of bullet points, then does it mean we need to cover all those points while speaking? Would there be a reduction in score if we leave few points from the given ones?
What about the order? Do we speak in the order they are present or that could be spoken as the content progresses?
Hello and thnk you for the good quesiton. The cue card in Part 2 is to help you talk for 2 minutes. If you don’t cover all of them then it doesn’t matter. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for you to speak for the whole 2 minutes so the examiner can listen to the language you produce. Native speakers go through them very quickly and just talk about something else connected to the topic when they have finished. That is also fine too. If you look at the speaking criteria, there is no part that says that you are deducted marks for anything. You are marked over the whole test.
As for the order. You can talk about them in any order that you want. They are presented in logical order but you can change the order if it is easier for you.
Good Morning,
Is it ok to mention a country’s name in the example of an essay?
Is mentioning a statistical data not considered correct in essay writing such as 25% etc
Hello. Yes, it is absolutely fine to talk about a country to support your idea. If you can, using percentages in the example is good too. For example, if the essay is about education then you could say “In the UK, I read an article in the Guardian last week that suggested 30% of secondary students didn’t want to retur to school because of safety concerns about Covid 19”. This is a very detailed example that would support your idea.
Please let me know ho wro write task 2 essay
Hello Renjini
There are some posts on this website written by IELTS examiners about how to write a Task 2. It is a good idea to start here though as it talks about how to write the introduction
https://upmyielts.com/how-to-start-and-not-to-start-an-ielts-task-2-writing/
Then you can have a look at how to write body paragraphs.
https://upmyielts.com/i-cant-think-of-ideas-for-ielts-task-2/
Let us know if you have any questions.
The upmyielts team
Hi Team,
Could you plz clarify if Signpost words, discourse markers, cohesive devices mean the same?
Hello. Yes, they are basically the same thing. Signposting is just what teachers call the way we use linking words (or cohesive devices) to guide the reader so they can understand what we write more clearly.
Here is a blog post on why they are important in IELTS.
https://upmyielts.com/linking-words-and-why-they-matter-in-ielts-writing/