25% of the students failed the exam. This percentage can be expressed in other ways. A quarter of the students failed the exam. Exactly a quarter of the students failed the exam. Can you think of different ways of expressing the following percentages? 49% 50% 99% 3%...

  Be careful when you are using the adverb quite. You can change the meaning of a sentence by putting the main stress on this adverb. Imagine someone has just cooked dinner for you and they ask you what you think of the food. This is your reply: It’s quite nice....

Make sure that you know the difference between analyse and analysis. Analyse is a regular verb. It means to study something in great detail. We analysed his results and found that they contained errors. Analysis is a noun. It is the results of the verb to analyse. Our...

affect vs effect Many students confuse affect and effect. Do you know the difference? Which one is a verb and which one is a noun? Affect is a regular verb. It usually means to influence or change something. The cold weather really affects my concentration. His injury...

Use new words and phrases BEFORE the IELTS exam How many times do you learn a new word or phrase and then think your work is done? How often do you look for the meaning of a word in the dictionary but never try to use the word yourself? Most of my students agree that...

When describing a graph in Writing Task 1 in the IELTS exam, use percentages creatively to show your range of language. 4% of students failed the exam. The above sentence is accurate. There are other ways to refer to 4% though. Consider the following: A tiny fraction...