Shadowing Practice: 20 Vocabulary Upgrades That Instantly Improve Your IELTS Writing - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

I'm going to show you 20 simple vocabulary upgrades that you can use immediately in your IELTS essays.

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I'm going to show you 20 simple vocabulary upgrades that you can use immediately in your IELTS essays.

And as my gift to you,

I've included all of the words from this lesson in a PDF download you can get in this video.

The first upgrade is to agree and disagree.

Instead of only saying I agree or I disagree,

you can make your writing sound more sophisticated by saying I completely or I partially agree or disagree.

Let me show you.

I agree that governments should invest more money in public transport.

That's fine, but let's improve it.

I completely agree that governments should invest more money in public transport

or I partially agree that governments should invest more money in public transport.

This simple upgrade makes your writing sound more sophisticated.

The second upgrade is to alternate between for example and for instance.

Many students use for example but they don't use for instance.

Both for example and for instance are interchangeable and both are excellent in IELTS essays.

You could write many people spend too much time on social media.

For example, some individuals check their phone hundreds of times per day.

Or many people spend too much time on social media.

For instance, some individuals check their phones hundreds of times per day.

In your IELTS essays, alternate between for example and for instance.

Use for example once, then for instance the next time,

and your writing will instantly feel more varied and sophisticated.

The third upgrade is problem to issue.

This is one of the easiest and most useful vocabulary upgrades in IELTS problem

and solution essays because these words are extremely interchangeable.

Instead of writing traffic congestion is a serious problem in large cities,

you could write traffic congestion is a serious issue in large cities.

Or instead of obesity is becoming a major problem among young people,

you could write obesity is becoming a major issue among young people.

Issue simply sounds more academic and formal,

especially in problem and solution essays.

By the way, if you want to learn how to write high scoring problem and solution essays,

check out my IELTS task two writing course.

Inside, we look at all of the different IELTS essay question types,

and I'll show you structures,

grammar, and vocabulary to help you get band seven plus in your IELTS writing.

Many of the members of English Pro Tips have already gone on to score band 7,

band 8 and even band 9 in their IELTS writing.

If you are passionate about IELTS writing and it's important to you,

I'll leave a link to my task 2 course in the description below.

Next let's look at good and beneficial.

A lot of students use the word good repeatedly throughout their essays but beneficial sounds much more academic.

For example, instead of saying exercise is good for mental health,

you could say exercise is beneficial for mental health.

Or instead of public parks are good for local communities,

you could write public parks are beneficial for local communities.

This is a very common and very safe IELTS vocabulary upgrade.

Now let's look at bad and the upgrade harmful.

One of the most common words students overuse in IELTS essays is the word bad.

Now there's nothing technically wrong with this word but it does sound very simple.

A much more natural and academic alternative is the word harmful.

For example, instead of saying air pollution is bad for human health,

you could say air pollution is harmful to human health.

This immediately sounds more formal and more precise.

Or excessive screen time can be harmful to children's development.

Notice the grammar here.

We usually say that something is harmful to something.

For example harmful to the environment,

harmful to children, harmful to people's mental health.

The next upgrade is many people think, too many people believe.

This is a small change but small upgrades repeated throughout an essay can make a big difference.

For example instead of saying many people think that university education should be free,

you could say many people believe that university education should be free.

Very natural and very easy to implement.

Now let's look at people who agree and people who disagree.

Instead of using those long phrases,

you can use the words advocates and critics.

For example, instead of saying people who agree with this idea argue that technology improves communication,

you could say advocates argue that technology improves communication.

Or instead of people who disagree believe that social media damages relationships,

you could say critics believe that social media damages relationships.

This makes your writing sound much more concise and sophisticated.

The next upgrade is a lot of to a large proportion of.

This is especially useful when discussing groups of people or social trends.

For example, instead of saying a lot of young people use social media every day,

you could say a large proportion of young people use social media every day.

Another example could be a large proportion of the population now works remotely.

This sounds much more academic than simply saying a lot of.

Now let's look at cause and result in.

This is one of the best cause and effect upgrades in IELTS writing.

For example, instead of saying long working hours can cause stress,

you could say long working hours can result in stress.

Or instead of poor diets can cause health problems,

you could write poor diets can result in serious health problems.

This instantly makes your writing sound more formal and more academic.

Next, let's look at advantages and benefits.

These are highly interchangeable in most IELTS essays.

For example, instead of saying one advantage of studying abroad is cultural exposure,

you could say one benefit of studying abroad is cultural exposure.

Another example could be the main benefit of public transport is that it reduces traffic congestion.

Very natural and very useful,

especially for advantage, disadvantage essays.

Now let's look at the word disadvantages and its partner drawbacks.

This is another excellent IELTS vocabulary upgrade.

For example, instead of saying one disadvantage of remote work is isolation,

you could say one drawback of remote work is isolation or one drawback of online learning is the lack of face-to-face interaction.

Drawback sounds more natural and academic in formal writing.

If you are serious about improving your essay writing skills,

definitely check out my Task 2 writing course.

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Inside this course, you'll learn step-by-step how to answer any type of IELTS essay

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that you get in your exam and I'll teach you useful vocabulary

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and grammar as well as showing you lots of band nine model answers that you can learn from.

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Members of English Pro Tips have already gone on to get top marks in IELTS writing.

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If this sounds appealing to you there will be a link in the description.

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The next phrase is in my opinion and the upgrade, I would argue.

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I would argue sounds much stronger and more formal than in my opinion,

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which is good for IELTS essays.

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For example, instead of saying in my opinion,

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governments should invest more in public transport,

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you could say I would argue that governments should invest more in public transport.

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This is an excellent phrase for any type of opinion essay.

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Just don't overuse it.

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Once or twice per essay is enough.

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Now let's look at the word stop and the word prevent.

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In general, prevent means stopping something before it happens or before it becomes a bigger problem.

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This word is very common in academic and formal English,

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especially in discussions about crime,

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health, education and social issues.

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For example, instead of saying the government should stop crime,

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it sounds much more natural and precise to say the government should prevent crime.

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Another example could be schools should educate children in order to prevent bullying,

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or governments should introduce stricter laws to prevent environmental damage.

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Using prevent in these contexts makes your writing sound more formal,

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more precise, and academic.

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Next, we're going to change the word help to contribute to.

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Contribute to is extremely common in academic English because it sounds more formal and analytical.

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For example, instead of saying regular exercise helps people stay healthy,

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you could say regular exercise contributes to better physical health.

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Another example, poor diets contribute to obesity or social media use can contribute to anxiety among teenagers.

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Notice that contribute to is often used when discussing causes,

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effects and social issues which makes it especially useful in IELTS writing task 2 essays.

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Now let's discuss the words because and the phrase due to.

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This is one of the most important grammar-based vocabulary upgrades because these phrases use different structures.

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For example, you could write many people suffer from stress because they work long hours.

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However, with due to, the sentence structure changes.

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You would write many people suffer from stress due to long working hours

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or due to long working hours many people suffer from stress.

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Notice that because is followed by a full clause while due to is followed by a noun phrase.

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Understanding this difference is extremely important for IELTS grammatical range and accuracy.

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The next upgrade is the word big or large to significant.

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Significant is extremely common in academic English,

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especially when describing changes, trends or effects.

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For example, instead of saying there was a big increase in housing prices,

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you could write there was a significant increase in housing prices.

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Another example could be the government has made significant progress in reducing unemployment.

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This sounds much more natural and academic in IELTS writing.

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However, it is important to understand the context.

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Significant does not mean physically large,

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so you wouldn't normally say something like a significant house.

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So remember, significant is usually used to describe important or noticeable change rather than a difference in physical size.

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Now let's look at the words small and marginal.

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This is another context dependent upgrade because marginal does not simply mean physically small.

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Instead it usually describes something that is very slight,

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limited or not particularly significant.

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For example, instead of saying there was a small improvement in public health,

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you could write there was a marginal improvement in public health.

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Another example could be the policy only had a marginal effect on unemployment rates.

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This kind of vocabulary is very common in academic writing because it allows you to describe changes and effects more precisely.

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Next, let's look at the words money and funds.

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Now, funds is a more formal and academic alternative to money and it is especially useful in talking about government,

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healthcare, economic essays.

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For example, instead of saying the government should spend more money on education,

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you could write the government should allocate more funds to education.

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Another example could be additional funds should be invested in healthcare services.

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One really useful collocation here is allocate funds.

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This is extremely common in academic English and sounds much more natural than repeatedly saying spend money.

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Again, this is a great example of how small vocabulary upgrades can make your IELTS writing sound more sophisticated and professional.

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Finally, let's look at the word skills and some more precise alternatives like practical skills,

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soft skills, and hard skills.

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Now, these are not direct synonyms.

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Instead, Instead they are different categories of skills

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and using these more specific phrases can make your IELTS writing sound more precise and sophisticated.

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Practical skills are everyday useful abilities such as cooking,

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financial management or repairing things.

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Soft skills are personal and social abilities such as communication, teamwork, leadership.

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skills are technical abilities that can usually be taught and measured such as coding,

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engineering, or graphic design.

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So instead of writing schools should teach more skills,

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you could write schools should teach more practical skills such as financial management and cooking.

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Or instead of saying employees need good skills,

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you could say employees need soft skills such as communication

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and team You could also write many modern careers require hard skills related to technology and engineering.

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I want to mention that higher band vocabulary is not just about using more advanced word.

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It's also about using more accurate and specific language.

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So skills to soft skills.

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Before you finish, I want to give you one very important piece of advice.

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Remember in IELTS, the goal is not to use the most complicated vocabulary possible possible.

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The goal is to use vocabulary naturally, accurately, and flexibly.

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Best of luck with all of your studies and I'll see you in the next lesson.

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Bye then.

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Shadowing Practice: 20 Vocabulary Upgrades That Instantly Improve Your IELTS Writing - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Shadowing Practice: 20 Vocabulary Upgrades That Instantly Improve Your IELTS Writing - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?