⏳ Tenses & Sentence Accuracy
Tense choice, subject–verb agreement, run-on sentences and fragments. These four faults are the cheapest marks to win back in Grammatical Range & Accuracy – and the fastest way to move a Band 4.5–5.5 script to 6.0.
iWhy sentence accuracy is worth more than “big” words
One of the four Writing criteria is Grammatical Range & Accuracy, and it is worth 25% of your Writing score. Examiners do not count how impressive your vocabulary is here; they count how many of your sentences are error-free. A script full of ambitious ideas but broken sentences usually scores around Band 5 on this criterion, while a script of accurate simple sentences with a few correct complex ones can reach Band 6.
iiWhich tense does the task need?
Most tense mistakes are not “grammar” mistakes at all – they are reading mistakes. Look at the dates on the chart, or at what the essay question asks, and the tense chooses itself.
| Situation | Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Task 1 – describing what the visual itself does | Present simple | The line graph shows / the table compares… |
| Task 1 – a period that has finished (e.g. 2005–2019) | Past simple | Car ownership rose sharply between 2005 and 2010. |
| Task 1 – a period running up to today (since 2019 → now) | Present perfect | Since 2019 the figure has remained stable. |
| Task 1 – projected or future years (2030, 2040) | Future forms | The figure is expected to reach 40% by 2040. |
| Task 1 – a process diagram (no dates at all) | Present simple passive | The beans are dried and then roasted. |
| Task 2 – general truths, opinions, arguments | Present simple | Public transport reduces congestion. |
| Task 2 – a finished example or piece of evidence | Past simple | In 2016 the city introduced a congestion charge. |
iiiThe three sentence faults – and the four repairs
1 · Subject–verb agreement. The verb must match the real subject of the clause, not the noun standing next to it.
| Tricky subject | Singular or plural? | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| an institution / company / university | singular (keep it singular in IELTS) | The Riverton Institute shows… show |
| The number of + plural noun | singular | The number of students has risen. |
| A number of + plural noun | plural | A number of students have applied. |
| information, research, advice, equipment | singular (uncountable) | The information confirms… |
| each of / neither of / one of + plural | singular | Each of the four countries shows… |
| A and B | plural | The bar chart and the pie chart cover… |
2 · Run-on (comma splice). Two complete sentences joined with only a comma – or with nothing at all.
There are exactly four legal repairs. Learn them once and every run-on becomes easy:
| Repair | Result |
|---|---|
| ① Use a full stop | …rose in 2010. It reached a peak in 2015. |
| ② Use a semicolon | …rose in 2010; it reached a peak in 2015. |
| ③ Comma + and / but / so / yet | …rose in 2010, and it reached a peak in 2015. |
| ④ Add a subordinator (although, while, because, after, before) | After the figure rose in 2010, it reached a peak in 2015. |
3 · Fragment (an incomplete sentence). A group of words punctuated as a sentence but missing a subject, missing a finite verb, or left hanging as a subordinate clause.
| Fragment | Why it fails | Repaired |
|---|---|---|
| Because many students prefer to study at home. | subordinate clause with no main clause | Because many students prefer to study at home, enrolment in online courses has grown. |
| Which explains why the figure fell after 2012. | relative clause standing alone | This explains why the figure fell after 2012. |
| For example, the high cost of childcare. | no verb at all | For example, the cost of childcare is very high. |
Bonus fault · two finite verbs in one clause. Very common when writing about figures:
→ Canada has the largest number of students, at 5,000. · → Canada has the largest number of students, with 5,000. · → The number of students in Canada is the largest, at 5,000.
1Drill A – Subject–verb agreement auto-graded
Choose the verb that agrees with the real subject. Watch for the words that sit between the subject and the verb – they are there to distract you.
2Drill B – The right tense for the task auto-graded
Read the grey context line first – it tells you the period. Then type the correct form of the verb in brackets. Type the verb only (one or two words), not the whole sentence.
3Drill C – Diagnose the fault auto-graded
Name the problem in each sentence. Some sentences are already correct – do not “fix” them. Naming the fault is what you will do to your own writing in the last two minutes of the exam.
4Drill D – Choose the repair auto-graded
Each sentence below contains one of the faults from sections ii–iii. Choose the version that is fully correct – several options fix part of the problem but leave another error behind.
5Now proofread a whole paragraph
This Task 1 paragraph contains five errors: one subject–verb agreement, one run-on, one fragment, one clause with two finite verbs, and one wrong tense. Rewrite the whole paragraph correctly in the box, then compare it with the model.
✅ Model answer
“The bar chart shows the number of international students at three universities in 2019. Northgate University had the most students, at 12,000, and was followed by Lakeside with 8,000. Because Hillcrest is a much smaller campus, the number of students there was only 3,000 in that year.”
| # | Error | Fault | Correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The bar chart show | subject–verb agreement | The bar chart shows |
| 2 | had the most students are 12,000 | two finite verbs in one clause | had the most students, at 12,000 |
| 3 | …12,000, it was followed by… | run-on (comma splice) | …, and was followed by… (or “; it was followed by”) |
| 4 | Because Hillcrest is a much smaller campus. | fragment | Because Hillcrest is a much smaller campus, the number… |
| 5 | the number of students there is only 3,000 | wrong tense (2019 is finished) | …there was only 3,000 |
Note 1: “The number of students was” – singular, because the subject is the number, not students.
Note 2: “The bar chart shows” stays in the present (that is what the visual does), and “Because Hillcrest is a much smaller campus” stays in the present (a permanent fact), but every figure for 2019 is in the past. Mixing these three correctly is exactly what Band 6+ looks like.
🧹 Your 2-minute proofread checklist (do this before you hand in)
| Pass | Look only for this |
|---|---|
| 1 | Verbs. Point at the subject of every sentence, then at its verb. Do they match? Is the tense right for the period? |
| 2 | Commas. At every comma ask: is there a complete sentence on both sides? If yes, you need a full stop, a semicolon, or and / but / so. |
| 3 | Full stops. Read each sentence alone. Does it have a subject and a finite verb, and does it make sense by itself? If it starts with Because / Although / Which / For example, check it is joined to a main clause. |
| 4 | Plurals and articles. students, countries, the number, a number. Then spelling of your most-repeated words. |
📋 What Grammatical Range & Accuracy rewards (the criterion this page trains)
| ≈ Band 5 | ≈ Band 6 | ≈ Band 7 |
|---|---|---|
| mainly simple sentences; frequent errors in verb forms, agreement and punctuation that can make meaning unclear | a mix of simple and complex sentences; errors occur but they rarely stop the reader understanding | a variety of complex structures; frequent error-free sentences; only occasional slips |