IELTS Task 1 Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Understanding Grammatical Range and Accuracy

GRAMMATICAL RANGE AND ACCURACY (GRA)

Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA) evaluates your ability to use a variety of grammatical structures correctly and appropriately in IELTS Academic Task 1. This criterion assesses how well you construct sentences, use complex structures, and maintain accuracy in grammar and punctuation.

What Examiners Look for in Grammatical Range and Accuracy

To achieve a high score for GRA, your response must:

• Demonstrate Grammatical Variety: Use a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences.

• Ensure Grammatical Accuracy: Minimize errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, word order, and punctuation.

• Use Passive Voice Correctly: Apply passive constructions appropriately, especially for process descriptions.

• Maintain Sentence Clarity: Ensure that all sentences are clear and logically structured.

What to Avoid:

• Frequent grammatical errors that impede understanding.

• Overuse of simple sentences.

• Incorrect use of tenses or verb forms.

• Misplaced modifiers or unclear sentence structures.

Key Grammatical Structures for Task 1

Sentence Types:

• Simple Sentences: “The percentage of students increased in 2020.”

• Compound Sentences: “The percentage of students increased, but the number of teachers remained constant.”

• Complex Sentences: “Although the percentage of students increased, the overall enrolment figures remained stable.”

Tenses:

• Present Simple: Use for general truths or static descriptions.

  • Example: “The chart illustrates the percentage of energy consumed.”

• Past Simple: Use for data from a completed time period.

  • Example: “In 2010, the figure rose sharply.”

• Future Forms: Use for predictions (rare but relevant in some tasks).

  • Example: “The trend is expected to stabilise in the coming years.”

Passive Voice:

• Essential for process tasks:

  • Example: “The materials are transported to the factory.”

Comparative and Superlative Structures:

• Comparatives: “The rate in Country A was higher than in Country B.”

• Superlatives: “Country A experienced the highest growth.”

Prepositions:

• Commonly used with trends:

  • “An increase in sales.”

  • “A decline of 10%.”

Conditional Clauses:

• Example: “If the trend continues, the figures will double by 2030.”

Strategies for Improving Grammatical Range and Accuracy

• Practice Sentence Variation: Combine simple, compound, and complex sentences in your responses.

• Use Passive Voice Appropriately: Apply it correctly for describing processes and when the focus is on the action.

• Review Common Errors: Focus on eliminating errors such as incorrect tenses, subject-verb agreement, and word order.

• Check Punctuation: Ensure commas, full stops, and other marks are used correctly.

• Analyse Model Essays: Study the grammatical structures used in high-scoring responses.

Good vs. Bad Examples

Bad Example:
“The chart shows students increased. The teachers stayed the same. In 2010, students go up.”

• Why it’s bad: Overuse of simple sentences, grammatical errors in tense, and lack of variety.

Good Example:
“Overall, the chart illustrates that while the number of students increased significantly, the number of teachers remained unchanged. Between 2000 and 2010, the student population rose steadily, demonstrating a clear upward trend.”

• Why it’s good: Uses complex sentence structures, correct tense, and avoids repetition.

Strategies to Enhance Grammatical Range and Accuracy

1. Use a Variety of Sentence Structures

   • Simple Sentences: Present single pieces of information clearly.
     Example: “The percentage of students increased in 2020.”

   • Compound Sentences: Connect related ideas using conjunctions like “and,” “but,” or “so.”
     Example: “The percentage of students increased, but the number of teachers remained constant.”

   • Complex Sentences: Show relationships between ideas with subordinating conjunctions like “although,” “while,” and “because.”
     Example: “Although the percentage of students increased, the overall enrolment figures remained stable.”

2. Use the Passive Voice When Appropriate

   • Essential for process tasks and when the focus is on the action rather than the subject.
     Example: “The materials are transported to the factory.”

3. Apply the Correct Tense

   • Present Simple: For general truths or static descriptions.
     Example: “The chart illustrates the percentage of energy consumed.”

   • Past Simple: For data from a completed time period.
     Example: “In 2010, the figure rose sharply.”

   • Future Forms: For predictions (rare but relevant).
     Example: “The trend is expected to stabilise in the coming years.”

4. Use Comparative and Superlative Forms

   • Compare data effectively with comparatives (e.g., “higher than,” “lower than”).
     Example: “The rate in Country A was higher than in Country B.”

   • Highlight extremes with superlatives (e.g., “the highest,” “the lowest”).
     Example: “Country A experienced the highest growth.”

5. Include Conditional Clauses

   • Use conditionals to describe hypothetical scenarios or predictions.
     Example: “If the trend continues, the figures will double by 2030.”

6. Avoid Common Grammatical Errors

   • Ensure subject-verb agreement:
     Incorrect: “The data show a trend.”
     Correct: “The data shows a trend.”

   • Use correct article usage (e.g., “a,” “an,” “the”).

   • Avoid misplaced modifiers or unclear sentences.

7. Use Punctuation Correctly

   • Use commas to separate clauses in complex sentences:
     Example: “While sales increased in 2010, profits remained stable.”

   • Use full stops appropriately to avoid run-on sentences.

8. Vary Sentence Beginnings

   • Avoid starting every sentence with the same subject or structure.
     Example: Instead of always beginning with “The chart shows,” alternate with phrases like “Overall, the data indicates” or “As illustrated by the graph.”

9. Review Grammar Rules

   • Brush up on fundamental grammar, including prepositions, articles, and sentence structures, to ensure accuracy.

10. Practice Regularly

    • Write responses to different types of visual data, focusing on using a mix of grammatical structures.

    • Analyse model essays for examples of complex and varied sentence structures.

By mastering a range of sentence types, ensuring grammatical accuracy, and practicing regularly, you can improve your Grammatical Range and Accuracy and significantly boost your IELTS Writing Task 1 score.A