Students' questions

Is it best to use "was" or "were" with "majority" and "proportion"?

It is normal in English to say "the majority of people were" but "the proportion of people was".

If the question was about an old friend and I spoke about an elderly friend, will I lose marks?

Hopefully the examiner won't penalise you for this mistake. The confusion is understandable.

For questions about where I live, should I talk about my hometown or where I live now?

It doesn't matter. You can talk about either.

If the question asks us to explain “problems (or causes) and solutions”, how many problems and solutions should we mention?

I'd go for two or three problems (or causes) and two or three suggested solutions.

The ebook talks about “consumer culture”. What does this mean?

It's a phrase that is often used to criticise societies in which people are encouraged to buy more and more things. Click here to read more.

If I want a band 7 in writing, is it true that 50% of the sentences in my essays need to be error-free?

The examiner will not calculate the percentage of sentences that contain mistakes, but the mark scheme does say that you need to "produce frequent error-free sentences" in order to get a band 7 for grammar.

Can I use the terms “x-axis” and “y-axis” for graphs in writing task 1?

Yes, but I tend not to bother with that.

Can I invent statistics in writing task 2 (e.g. 80% of children watch violent films)?

You can, but I tend not to. I'd just write something like: "a growing number of children watch violent films". Instead of inventing a statistic, you can probably find a better way to express the idea.

Comments

[eric]

dear Simon,
should there be blank line between each paragraph in the real exam? thanks

[J J]

Hi Simon,
Could you PLease add an essay about Art in your website or ebook.
Thankyou.

[Ram]

Hi simon,

I have a doubt in writing task I.Can i say reason for remarkable changes. For eg: in your writing task I example about increasing number for car users- Globalaization would be a reason for this issue.My teacher told me to guess and write about cause for the changes in summary. Is it correct?Shall i do it in my exam?
Please guide me
Thanks

[Qizhi Huang]

Thanks, Simon, for answering my question about hometown and current city.

I am currently practising writing an essay of the importance of trational music and international music. I find myself quite stuck in this essay. Could you please give me some hints?

Many thanks again.

[Md. Kamal Hossain]

The best practice is the use minutely the grammar and mistake archive of the site. You can take note and then analyze the fact.

However, the true practice of Grammar is in the use it in the sentence. Without using you you can make yourself a better performer.

Besides, what you have understood you may write your comments in the site. It makes you a good writer. To be a good writer you have to write every day, every moments.

Best of Luck.

Kamal

[HIBA]

thank you Kamal.

[Wietske]

Hi simon,

Could you please advise me on the difference between "a reason to " and " a reason for".
My gut feeling tells me that "a reason for" has something to do with cause and effect, but how tot explane "a reason to".

Regards Wietske

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

I no longer have time to answer everyone's questions individually. However, I do read them all, and I'll try to answer some of them in a lesson each Saturday.

[Sasha]

Hi Simon.

Could you please answer the following questions.

When I practice for speaking part 2 I have problem with choosing what to describe. For example, when I had to describe a festival I could not remember any festival and decided to describe Victory day Parade. Or when I had to describe my first day at a job or course I talked about the day I was introduced to my research supervisor. Is it all right? Will l lose scores for this on the exam?

Thank you.

Sasha