UNIT 1 - Present - Present Continuous
UNIT 1 - Present - Present Continuous
UNIT 1 - Present - Present Continuous
UNIT 1
Ø Subject-Verb Agreement
The verb must agree with the noun. If you use a plural noun, you must use a plural verb and
vice versa.
Practice:
1. The anguish of the students have been a source of pleasure to the test.
2. Each of the streets were painted green.
singular subjects: each, every, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, everybody, someone,
somebody, anyone, anybody, & nobody
• Speaking – For instance, in Part 1 you have to answer questions about yourself.
• Writing - The IELTS writing test marking scheme is divided into four parts:
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy
• Task Achievement
• Lexical Resource
• Coherence and Cohesion
Grammar therefore accounts for 25% of the marks in your writing test.
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You are assessed on two things:
1. Your ability to produce grammatically accurate sentences;
2. Your ability to use a wide range of grammar structures.
Present simple
Present continuous
Ø To talk about things that happen more often than expected, often to show envy or to criticise
with words like always, constantly, continually, forever.
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State /stative verbs
The present continuous is not normally used with state verbs because the meaning of the verb itself is a
general truth rather than something temporary. These verbs describe thoughts, feelings, senses,
possession and description.
Ø Thoughts: agree, assume, believe, disagree, forget, hope, know, regret, remember, suppose,
think, understand.
I assume you’re too busy to play computer games.
Ø Feelings: adore, despise, dislike, enjoy, feel, hate, like, love, mind, prefer, want.
Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I love music.
Ø Description: appear, contain, look, look like, mean, resemble, seem, smell, sound, taste, weigh.
You look like your mother.
Some state/stative verbs can be used in the continuous form when the meaning is temporary.
Compare:
What are you thinking about?
I think you should tell her exactly what happened.
I’m tasting the sauce to see if it needs any more salt.
The sauce tastes delicious.
A. Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
1. This workshop _________________________ (take place) in the Art Gallery every Wednesday from
10am-12pm.
2. The whole team _________________________ (perform) well at the moment. I believe they will win.
3. In the UK students _________________________ (enter) law undergraduate degree programmes
immediately after high school.
4. Natural gas spot prices _________________________ (fall) as a result of relatively warm weather in
much of the U.S.
5. Green plants _________________________ (consume) carbon dioxide
and _________________________ (release) oxygen under the influence of light.
6. What _________________________ (you/do)? I _________________________ (try) to write an essay.
7. Please be quiet! I _________________________ (want) to watch the game.
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8. The company _________________________ (operate) a wide range of cultural sightseeing every year.
B. Present continuous exercises – use the correct form of the present continous OR present simple to
complete the sentences and questions below.
Tip: When you complete these present continuous exercises remember to watch out for static verbs
(they do not take the continuous form!)
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C. Look at the following extracts. There are six incorrect verbs. Find and correct them.
It is important to understand subject verb agreement for IELTS. If you are making errors with this in
your writing or speaking, it will be very noticable as it is a very basic error.
Some people argue that leaving people in prison for a long time mean that they will
mix with other criminals and so their character will not improve. The alternative are
community service. This gives an offender the opportunity to give something positive
back to society, and so it may improves their character. Also, the government
could focus its resources on the causes of crime, which would leads to less crime
in the future.
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The Basic Rules
1) For a singular third person (he / she / it) in the present tense, the verb must have an -s ending:
2) Different formations are used for the irregular verb 'to be', but an -s is still used for the third person
singular
When you use there is and there are, 'there' is never the subject. The subject is the word that comes
after the verb.
Therefore, you need to look at that word to decide if the verb is singular or plural.
There are several reasons why we must tackle the problem of global warming.
There is one main reason we must tackle global warming.
In each of these examples, you just need to look at the first noun to decide if the subject is singular or
plural - you can ignore the ones after this.
Separated Subjects
Another common mistake is when the subject is separated from the verb by a prepositional phrase,
relative clause, or reduced relative clause.
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Expressions of Quantity
When a quantity word is followed by a prepositional phrase, it can follow the rules above i.e. the verb
agrees with the subject (the quantity):
However, for some quantity phrases you do need to refer to the noun in the prepositional phrase to
decide if the verb is singular or plural:
Singular Plural
A lot of... A lot of the meat is fresh. A lot of the vegetables are organic
All of the... All of the meat is fresh. All of the vegetables are organic
Some of
Some of the meat is fresh. Some of the vegetables are organic
the...
One-half
One-third of the cars on the
(third etc) One-half of the room is empty
road use unleaded fuel.
of...
1. With fractions, percentages and indefinite quantifiers (e.g., all, few, many, much, some), the
verb agrees with the preceding noun or clause:
With a singular or non-count noun or clause, use a singular verb:
One-third of this article is taken up with statistical analysis.
Much of the book seems relevant to this study.
Half of what he writes is undocumented.
Fifty percent of the job is routine.
All the information is current
With a collective noun, use either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether you want to
emphasize the single group or its individual members:
Half of my family lives/live in Canada.
All of the class is/are here.
Ten percent of the population is/are bilingual.
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2. The words majority and minority are used in a variety of ways:
When majority/minority mean an unspecified number more or less than 50%, use a singular verb:
The majority holds no strong views.
A small minority indicates it supports the proposal.
When majority/minority mean a specific percentage, you may use either a singular or a plural
verb:
A 75% majority have/has voted against the measure.
A 10% minority are/is opposed to the measure.
4. Adjectives preceded by the and used as plural nouns take a plural verb:
The rich get richer.
The poor face many hardships.
5. Expressions using the phrase number of depend on the meaning of the phrase:
They take a singular verb when referring to a single quantity:
The number of students registered in the class is 20.
They take plural verbs when they are used as indefinite quantifiers (see rule 1 above):
A number of students were late.
With these phrases, the verb must agree with the noun that is closest to the verb:
Neither the child nor her parents are at the school.
Neither the parents nor their child is at the school.
Either my brother or my sisters usually help me.
Either my sisters or my brother usually helps me.
Exercises
B. Complete the sentences below by placing the correct form of the verb in each gap
1. There ____________________ (be) too much oil and gas being used around the world.
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2. There ____________________ (be) many solutions to the problem.
3. The tourists who arrived by bus ____________________ (be) very tired as they did not sleep much.
4. The constant robbery of tourists ____________________ (upset) many local people.
5. One of the cars ____________________ (belong) to my father.
1. The number of women involved (was / were) greater than the number of men.
2. In the table, the figure refers to the females and (is / are) larger than the figure for males.
3. The people who (is / are) at risk (is/are) (that/those) in the group that (lives/live) locally.
4. The proportion of cars which (use/uses) unleaded petrol (is/are) smaller than that of all other cars.
IELTS Vocabulary
Why is it important?
Of all the skills and techniques you need to do well in the IELTS test, vocabulary is definitely one of the
most important.
It makes up 25% of your total mark in the Writing and Speaking tests. Not only this, but did you know
that the Listening and Reading tests are really vocabulary tests too?
The worst way to learn new words is to either learn long lists of academic words or to simply read the
dictionary. Why? You are not learning the words in context. That means that you are not learning the
words within a sentence and paragraph and you will not know how they are supposed to be used
properly.
1. Pick a book, TV show, radio show, podcast or magazine you are interested in. Don’t pick something
boring because you will not stick to the plan and you will easily get distracted. People learn more
effectively when they enjoy what they are doing.
2. Buy a special notebook. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just something that you can write in every
day.
3. Read or listen to whatever you have chosen and pick out 15 words you don’t understand. Listen or
read and try to guess what they mean from the context. (This step is very important because it will
help you remember them.) Note the 15 new words down in your notebook.
4. Look up the new words in a dictionary. You can do this online. Beside each word note the meaning,
an example sentence or two, collocations, synonyms, antonyms and pronunciation. You can also
draw pictures; whatever will help you remember the word.
5. Review the new words after one week, two weeks and then one month. Also, practice using the new
words in a sentence.
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Below are a few of my favourite websites for reading online and all of them are connected to the most
common topics:
1. National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com
2. New Scientist: www.newscientist.com
3. The Economist: www.economist.com
4. History Today: www.historytoday.com
5. Time: time.com
6. Cosmopolitan: www.cosmopolitan.com
7. Wired: www.wired.com
8. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/us
You can also keep up to date with current events by reading the news every day. The news always has
very relevant vocabulary.
BBC WORLD NEWS
VOCABULARY
One of the topics you are most likely to be asked about in part 1 speaking is your home town. This
lesson gives you some vocabulary and ideas to help you along.
Town/city: Describing cities, road/street directions, describing changes in a city, location, architecture
Features in a city: statue, junction, square, traffic lights, park, block
Accommodation: tenant, to give notice, lease, amenities, studio apartment, broker, doorman
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Health problems are generally associated with poor housing and home
conditions, flooding, poor sanitation and water pollution.
public spaces areas in a town or city that are open to the public, e.g. a square, a park
Plans include affordable housing, public spaces and a cultural centre with an
auditorium, art gallery, and museum.
public transport public vehicles such as buses and trains that operate at regular times on fixed
system routes
If the public transport system improved, less people would use their own cars to
commute.
residential area an area where people live
Beautiful houses in residential areas are being replaced by high-rises.
run down buildings that are old and of a poor standard
...one of the most run-down areas in Scotland.
...a run-down block of flats.
The government is cynically running down the welfare system.
shopping malls A shopping mall is a large enclosed shopping center.
sprawling city a city that has grown over time and which covers a wide area
Beyond the suburbs, many towns and cities have a green belt to stop urban
sprawl.
tourist attraction a place of interest to tourists
The city's excellent beaches are a popular tourist attraction.
traffic heavy traffic making it difficult to move around a town or city
jam/congestion The average traffic jam was six miles long.
upmarket shops expensive fashionable shops
The firm’s image has gone upmarket.
JOHN LEWIS, an upmarket department store, has a special place in the
minds of Britain's consumers.
Aspects of life
Living Example sentences
cost of living The cost of living is fairly reasonable.
pace of life There’s a fairly slow pace of life where I come from.
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the rat race I moved out to avoid the rat race.
“the rat race” is a nice idiom for the fast pace of modern city
life where no one has the time to sit back and enjoy life
atmosphere It’s got a really relaxed atmosphere.
pollution The air quality is terrible because of the pollution.
overcrowding Like most places, it suffers from overcrowding.
poverty You can see poverty everywhere.
amenities One of the best points is that it has excellent amenities.
notes
“the rat race” is a nice idiom for the fast pace of modern city life where no one has the time to sit back
and enjoy life
Areas of a city
If you are asked where you live, you should try and be precise.
Areas Example sentences
industrial zone Forunately, the industrial zones are outside the city limits so the pollution
isn’t too bad.
outskirts Most of the superstores are some way from the city centre on the outskirts
of the city.
inner city It’s quite a safe place but some of the inner-city areas can be dangerous
late at night.
heart of the city I suppose the heart of the city is the main square in the city centre.
neighbourhood The neighbourhood I live in is, I guess, quite affluent.
Transport vocabulary
Transport Example sentences
congestion Where I come from the congestion is terrible.
traffic jams Like most places, we get traffic jams in the rush hour.
rush hour There isn’t really a rush hour - it’s too quiet for that.
bus route Fortunately, I live near a convenient bus route.
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underground There are lots of means of transport - even a subway system.
system/subway
commute Some people choose to live in the country and commute in to work.
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Home town vocabulary exercises
1. There's a real problem with air _______________________ and the _______________________ of pollution
in some of the industrial areas of the city are extremely high.
2. I suppose you could say the _______________________ are pretty good. For example, there are several
sports centres and you're never very far from a bank.
3. The _______________________ hour starts at about 7 o'clock and it's particularly bad on weekdays as
many people choose to commute in to work by car. There are days when the _______________________
is so bad that the city comes to a standstill.
4. Being a capital city, it's got quite a cosmopolitan _______________________. You can hear all sorts of
languages spoken on the streets.
5. It's not the most expensive place to live, I guess but the _______________________ goes up every year
and many people struggle to pay their rent.
6. As it's a university city, there are lots of students around and the nightlife is great with lots of clubs
and bars. It's a very _______________________ place to live.
7. I live in the suburbs on the _______________________ the city. It's not exactly exciting there as the
_______________________ of life is fairly slow, but it isn't completely _______________________ either as
there's always something to do.
8. There's a real _______________________ in the area where I live. Everyone knows each other and it is
the sort of _______________________ that is completely safe.
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READING
Read the passage. Which of the good and bad aspects are mentioned?
Match the words and phrases in italics in this table with the words and phrases in italics in the passage.
Complete the table choosing ONE word from the passage for each answer.
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Vocabulary: road/street directions
Giving directions
In real life, this is a crucial survival skill. In the IELTS test, you need to
understand it when someone shows you the way around a place or the way to
get somewhere.
• We can give directions with distance or time; say how near or far the place is:
“It’s about five minutes from here.”
Keep going for about twenty minutes till you reach the intersection
Keep going for about a mile and a half
• Provide a reference:
“It’s about two streets from here.”
• Mention any landmarks for easy identification; features on roads and buildings when we give
directions.
“When you come to the museum, turn right.”
“The city hall is past Memorial Park.”
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Go down West 80th Street one block east till you get to the lights at the corner of West 80th and
West End Avenue turn north over the junction with Cathedral Parkway through Morningside
Heights
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LISTENING
Listening
A. Listen to a conversation and label the map with the places shown in the box (Questions 1-7).
British Museum
Hyde Park
Globe Theatre
Houses of Parliament
Kensington Market
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A. Listen again and complete the notes with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Exercises
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B. Complete the sentences using accommodation and homes vocabulary.
In the IELTS Speaking test, it is highly likely that IELTS examiner will ask you to talk about the place
you live or would like to live. In today’s post, I will group a great number of phrases and collocations
about accommodation into one single post with a view to helping you find it much easier when it comes
to speaking about home and renting a home.
Benefits
• Your privacy would be protected
Example: Owning a home can allow owner to protect their privacy. For instance, if you live with a
roommate who always makes noise, you will find it difficult to focus on your work.
Drawbacks
• You have to be responsible for maintenance costs
Example: When you live in your home, you will have to be responsible for maintenance costs.
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Source: Improve Your IELTS Listening and Speaking
Author: Barry Cusack & Sam McCarter
Published in: Oxford, England
Publisher: Macmillan Education, Macmillan Publishers Limited
Date of Publication: September 2007
Pages: 45
Adapted by: Marcela Chavez
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