IELTS Grammar: The 8 Most Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA) is 25% of your Writing score. Examiners look for a mix of simple and complex sentences with few errors. These eight mistakes appear most often.

1. Article errors (a/an/the) Use 'a/an' for first mention or non-specific nouns. Use 'the' for second mention or specific nouns. 'A study was published. The study showed…'

2. Subject-verb agreement 'The number of students is increasing.' (not 'are'). 'A range of factors affects this.' (not 'affect').

3. Wrong tense Use past tense for graphs with a defined time period that has ended: 'Sales rose in 2015'. Use present tense for general truths: 'Exercise improves mental health.'

4. Countable/uncountable nouns Information, advice, research, evidence, knowledge, furniture — these are uncountable. Never write 'informations', 'advices', 'researches'.

5. Dangling modifiers Wrong: 'Being a student, the exam was hard.' (The exam is not a student.) Right: 'Being a student, I found the exam hard.'

6. Run-on sentences Wrong: 'The population is growing, cities are getting more crowded.' Right: 'The population is growing; as a result, cities are getting more crowded.'

7. Incorrect use of 'which' and 'that' 'That' defines (restrictive): 'The report that was published last year…' 'Which' adds information (non-restrictive): 'The report, which was published last year, showed…'

8. Parallelism errors Wrong: 'She enjoys swimming, running, and to cycle.' Right: 'She enjoys swimming, running, and cycling.'