People often worry about using words from the question in their essays.
While it's important to show that you can paraphrase the question and explain your ideas in a variety of ways, I believe that you should use words from the question somewhere in your essays. But why? Here are 3 reasons:
- The first reason is easy: some words/phrases are difficult to paraphrase. For example, in my essay about 'living alone' I found it difficult to avoid using the phrase 'live alone'. Almost every sentence refers to this topic, and nobody expects you to find ten or more different synonyms.
- The second reason is more interesting: repeating certain key words or phrases helps to hold your essay together. The reader cannot miss the connection between ideas (whereas he/she might miss the connection if you use too many synonyms). Politicians often use this technique in their speeches e.g. Barack Obama's famous "Yes we can" speech.
- The third reason is equally important: repeating words from the question helps to keep you "on topic". Refer to the question to show the examiner that you are answering it. This can help your 'task response' score.
Idea:
Take one of my sample essays, or a sample essay from an IELTS book. Underline key words in the question, then highlight those words in the essay. If the writer used words from the question, it was probably for one of the 3 reasons above. A good essay is likely to have a nice balance between words that are taken from the question and the use of synonyms or paraphrasing.
Hi Simon,
I have a question about vocabulary. Is there a contradiction between simple natural language and less common vocabulary?
Thank you very much!
Posted by: James Z. | December 30, 2015 at 09:38
about ParaPhrase from topic is it easy to transformed the keywords and rewrite that words or means again but in somewhere we would like to explain the vocabulary even give the definition for examiner however he or she (examer)aleady Know that，
dear simon I am very confused while writing an essay pls help
Thanks in advanced
Posted by: Jackie | December 30, 2015 at 14:05
Hi Simon,
I started studying for IELTS recently, I need 6.5 in AC, but I can not upgrade my reading score from 5, I need your advice.
Thank you.
Posted by: Sahar | December 31, 2015 at 00:45
Simon, Thanks.
a quite nice idea, clear my former confusions.
Posted by: Kedidie Z. | December 31, 2015 at 07:15
James
Not at all. 'Simple' really means 'clear', and 'natural' means what a native would use. Natives don't usually use a lot of 'complex' or 'complicated' vocabulary, because this may make the meaning less clear.
Think of 'less common' as 'specific', or 'topic related'. When you describe something, if you are a bit more specific you will naturally use 'less common' words.
My boss at IELTS likes to remind us that IELTS is NOT academic writing (despite the name of the academic test) and that it is easily possible to to achieve a 9 in writing without using any 'formal' or 'academic' structures or language.
Posted by: sjm | December 31, 2015 at 07:36
Thank you sjm. Happy New Year!
Posted by: James Z. | December 31, 2015 at 13:26
Great advice sjm. Thanks again for your help.
Happy New Year!
Posted by: Simon | December 31, 2015 at 14:10