Grammar in the IELTS Speaking—Improving Your Range

One of the ways to improve your IELTS score is to increase the range of complex grammatical forms, especially if you want to get above a 6. Here are some grammatical structures in bold you can use in example speaking answers. For each section, there is also a question for your to practice.

1. Present perfect

The government has tried many solutions, but the one that has been most successful is the education policy.

Many fashions have changed over the years, for example, trousers have become more and more popular amongst young women.

I’ve never thought about that before but it’s a very interesting change in our generation.

Question: How has school learning changed as a result of the internet?

2. Conditionals

If you asked me, I’d say that education is the most important thing.

I think that if we don’t address the problem soon, what will happen is the gap between rich and poor will just get bigger.

If people paid more attention to their mental health, we would have less problems in families and at work.

Question: What do you think will happen to our health in future generations?

3. Passives

It is often believed that exercise and diet are the two pillars of health.

The problem could be solved easily, in a few different ways.

Question: How can climate change be solved?

4. Relative clauses (who, which, when)

I read about a really interesting idea, which was a support system for working parents.

I think that the government should do more for people who have disabilities.

There is a second reason, which is related to schools.

Question: Why are more and more people working from home?

5. Advanced comparatives

Nowadays, education is far worse than it used to be.

I think that studying online is miles better than learning face-to-face.

It’s so true today that people are considerably less healthy than in the past, in rural society.

Question: Which is better, shopping online or in the shops?

6. Cleft sentences

What I really admire in people is the ability to work hard and never give up.

What is one of the biggest changes is that we no longer spend so much time as a family.

What I really hope for the future is that we find a way to reduce people’s need for crime, by lowering poverty levels.

Question: What will happen to crime levels in the future?

7. Inversion (not only,)

Not only are individuals responsible for small changes, like recycling and consuming less, but also governments need large-scale policies such as a carbon tax.

Only when people control their amount of time on social media, will we really improve our mental health.

Question: Who is responsible for bullying, schools or parents?

8. Concession (although, despite)

Although many changes have taken place in our natural world, the most devastating is the extinction of wild animals.

Despite our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, we have not managed to stop relying on cars and air travel so extensively.

Question: How has young people’s health changed in your country?