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Exam StrategyListeningReadingWriting Task 1Writing Task 2SpeakingVocabularyGrammar

Grammar · session 8 of 8

Open One Clause, Close It, Sweep

GoalBy the end you can decide, for any two flat sentences you have written, whether to join them and exactly where to stop — and run a four-minute sweep that catches what caps you at 6.
How this session runs
flowchart TD
  A[Write the flat sentence first] --> B[Pick one relation only]
  B --> C[Close the clause you opened]
  C --> D[Sweep four minutes in fixed order]
Think of it likeOne subordinate clause is one level of nesting: the examiner reads like a reviewer who credits a single clean nested block, rejects three stacked ternaries as unreadable no matter that they compile, and expects you to lint before you push — which is exactly what the last four minutes are.

Flat and correct is a ceiling you chose

For exampleIn Amman, Rania answered 6 Part 1 questions flatly — “I prefer coffee. I drink 3 cups daily.” Zero errors, zero range. On question 7 she used a cleft — “What I tend to do is start with coffee” — 2 seconds, the first creditable structure.
The ruleAn examiner credits only the structures you actually produce: you must attempt a range of complex grammar, and you do not always have to use it correctly (Collins Speaking for IELTS, p. 95). Flat and error-free is not safe — it is a band 6 ceiling you chose.
TrapRania saved the cleft for question 7 because she wanted to be sure of it, so questions 1 to 6 gave the examiner nothing to credit.

One subordinate clause, then a full stop

For exampleIn Dubai, Tariq wrote: “Although governments that fund transport, which is expensive, invest heavily, because cities grow, congestion rises.” Four clauses, subject lost, structure broken — band 6. Split after clause 2 and both halves survive: two correct complex sentences beat one collapsed one.
The ruleCap every sentence at one subordinate clause (Collins Writing for IELTS, p. 37). Band 6 is where the examiner finds a broken complex sentence; band 7 is a correct one carrying a surface blemish — an article, a preposition, a spelling (Improve Your IELTS Writing, pp. 86–93).
TrapTariq added the third clause to look advanced, and that is precisely the clause where his subject disappeared and a band 7 sentence became a band 6 one.
flowchart TD
  A[Two adjacent flat sentences] --> B[Pick one relation]
  B --> C[Open one subordinate clause]
  C --> D[Close it then full stop]

The four-minute sweep runs in fixed order

For exampleIn Riyadh, Hana finished Task 2 at 36 minutes and reread for 4. In fixed order she caught “Nowdays”, “wich”, “thier”, “many who is concerned” and “can be minimise” — 5 errors, not one of them a knowledge gap.
The ruleReserve the last 4 minutes of every written task for a fixed-order sweep: spelling from your own repeat-offender list, subject–verb agreement inside relative clauses, tenses against time markers, punctuation, legibility (The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, p. 131). The order is fixed so you spend no attention choosing.
TrapIf Hana sweeps in whatever order her eye lands, she reads the spelling twice and never reaches “who is” — the agreement error inside a relative clause is the band 6 signature.

Situation

Task 2 in Jeddah. 34 minutes gone, 6 left, 268 words on the page. Your conclusion reads: “Remote work saves time. Companies should support it. Employees are more productive.” Three flat, correct sentences. You can join them into one complex sentence, or spend the 6 minutes sweeping the whole essay.
Decide: Which buys the band here — one more join, or the fixed-order sweep?

Teach it back

A colleague in Cairo says: “My English is strong and I barely make mistakes, but grammar keeps coming back 6.5. What am I actually doing wrong?”

Check yourself

Answer, then see immediately whether you were right and why.

Task 2, 3 minutes left. You spot “Nowdays” written twice, and separately a plain sentence you could upgrade into a relative clause. You have time for one. What do you do?
Why A repeated misspelling means the examiner sees the same word wrong twice, and the sweep puts spelling first precisely so you do not deliberate (The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, pp. 131–132). Option b is tempting because supply really is your weak half — but a complex clause built in the last 3 minutes is the one most likely to break, and a broken complex sentence is the band 6 signature while a blemish is tolerated at 7 (Improve Your IELTS Writing, pp. 86–93).
Speaking Part 1: “Do you enjoy cooking?” You want range and you have about 15 seconds. Which answer do you give?
Why Option b answers in the question's own tense, supplies a cleft and stops at one subordinate clause (Collins Speaking for IELTS, pp. 35–36). Option a is the tempting one: fully correct, which feels safe, but the examiner can credit only structures you produce and a flat answer produces none (Collins Speaking, p. 95). Option d stacks three clauses, exactly where structure breaks (Collins Writing for IELTS, p. 37).
Task 1 process diagram, bread production. Which sentence do you write?
Why Manufacturing takes the passive, the thing is the subject, and the next stage attaches as an -ing clause (Improve Your IELTS Writing, p. 22; Collins Writing for IELTS, p. 36); an instrument takes “with”, only an agent takes “by” (25 Days to a Better English Grammar, Day 19, p. 60). Option d is the trap — it reads clean and passive, but the comma before “then” joins two full clauses, and that comma splice is marked inside Grammatical Range and Accuracy (Collins Writing, p. 92). Option c builds a Perfect Continuous passive, which does not exist (25 Days, p. 60).
90 seconds left. Your essay has one complex sentence whose subject disappeared halfway through, and 4 missing articles elsewhere. You can fix one thing.
Why A grade 7 examiner comment still reads “minor grammatical errors are frequent”, which proves frequent surface slips do not by themselves block 7 — faulty structure does (Improve Your IELTS Writing, p. 88). Option a is genuinely tempting because articles really are the top Task 2 error type (Collins Writing for IELTS, key p. 141), but they are exactly the blemish band 7 tolerates, while the collapsed clause is the sentence the examiner will call faulty.
Speaking Part 3. You begin “If governments will invest in public transport…” and hear the error mid-sentence. What do you do?
Why After “if” and after time conjunctions such as when, until and as soon as, the future is not used — the present is (25 Days to a Better English Grammar, Day 15, p. 48). Option a is tempting because self-correction feels like hesitation, but the criterion also asks you to make few mistakes with more basic grammar, so a one-word repair costs less than a basic error left standing (Collins Speaking for IELTS, p. 95). Option c repeats the same error, since “when” as a conjunction takes the present too.
Final 60 seconds of Task 2. Your essay contains “there are many families who is affected”, and “goverment” appears 3 times. Only one fix fits.
Why Subject–verb agreement inside a relative clause is the band 6 signature: it breaks the very complex sentence you were being credited for (The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, key p. 383). Option a is tempting and the sweep does scan spelling first (p. 131), but that order is for scanning, not for triage when one fix fits — a repeated misspelling stays a surface error at band 7 while faulty structure does not (Improve Your IELTS Writing, p. 88). Option d trades a broken structure for no structure, which is the same ceiling you started with.
Not started
In one sentence, now that you've seen itOpen one subordinate clause, close it before you open another, and spend the last four minutes proving in fixed order that you closed it.

25 Days to a Better English Grammar (Makarova & Parkhamovich) — Day 4 p. 14, Day 5 p. 17, Day 13 p. 42, Day 15 p. 48, Day 19 p. 60, Day 21 p. 66, Day 25 p. 78. The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS — p. 92, pp. 130–132, p. 138, key p. 383. Collins Writing for IELTS — pp. 36–37, p. 92, key p. 141. Collins Speaking for IELTS — pp. 35–36, p. 95. Improve Your IELTS Writing — p. 22, pp. 86–93.