Author: IELTS Research

Percentage Of Poverty-1 # Bar Graph

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The graph below shows the percentage of households, grouped by poverty, on the basis of access to refrigerator, electricity and water in Ghana for the year 1991/1992 to 1998/1999.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.

Percentage Of Poverty

Bar Graph

 

 

The graph illustrates the level of poverty amongst households in Ghana over a period of seven years i.e. from 1991/92 to 1998/99, grouped according to the access of refrigerator, electricity and water.

Initially, most of the houses having access to electricity and water were non-poor with the percentage being 73% and 76% respectively whereas refrigerator did not have much effect on financial condition of household with only 24% of households being non-poor. In addition, 11%, 57% and 69% of households living under poor conditions had access to refrigerator, electricity and water respectively.  However, 48% of households with availability of electricity were in very poor situations while 3% and 55% with refrigerator and water found themselves categorized as very poor.

Over a period of seven years, the number of households categorized as non-poor accessing refrigerator, electricity and water substantially increased to 37%, 85% and 80% respectively. Although the percentage of very poor remained constant in case of refrigerator, it declined to 34% in case of electricity and showed a minor increment with regards to water. Similar observations were seen in case of poor households.

Overall, the availability of electricity and water remained major factors in determining the financial status of households, however access to refrigerator did not make any major impact.

EXPLANATION

The answer provided is of band 6 and there are reasons for it.

  1. There is no clarity in the answer. After reading it, one cannot make out what the graph is about and what are the major issues. This is the major flaw. When answering a question of graph, it is expected that on reading it, you can get a clear summary of graph.
  2.  In the second paragraph, the use of initially is not correct. It is expected that you mention the year clearly.
  3. Repetition of words has been observed in many cases, this is not a good idea.

So, how to answer such graphs.

Rather than going from one point to another again and again, it is better you take a point and explain it better. All the trends observed in that particular point.
Be more clear about the year and it is better if you don’t use words such as initially or later on.
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More Punctuation # Grammar For IELTS

THE SEMICOLON
Semicolon represents a pause of greater importance as compared to comma.

  1. Used to separate the clauses of compound statements when they contain comma.
    For example-: he was intelligent, strong; and we all loved him.
  2. Used to separate a loosely connected clauses.
    For example-: Today we love what tomorrow we hate; today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear.
COLON
Colon marks a more complete pause when compared to semi colon. It is used after dash sometimes.

  1. Colon is used to introduce quotation.
    For example-: she says:-“ reading is a good habit”.
  2. Colon is used after enumerations, examples, etc;
    For example-: the principal parts of verb are : the present tense, the past tense and the past participle.
  3. Colon is also used within sentences which are closely connected but are independent.
    For example-: study to acquire a habit of thinking: no study is more important.
QUESTION MARK
Question mark is used after a direct question,
For example-: Where have you been?
EXCLAMATION MARK
Exclamation mark is used after interjection or phrases or sentences showing sudden emotions.
For example-: what a terrible day this is!
INVERTED COMMAS
Inverted commas are used to enclose the exact words of a person.
For example-: Rama said,” You must work hard.”
DASH
  1. Dash is used to indicate an abrupt stop or change of thought.
    For example-: I wish we were together- but why lament the past?
  2. Dash is also used to resume a scattered subject.
    For example-: teachers, friends and enemies- all present here.
THE HYPHEN
Hyphen is a shorter line than dash and is used to connect parts of compound words.
For example-: man-of-war, jack-of-all-trades
PARENTHESES
Parentheses is used to put a particular phrase that may not grammatically fit in the sentence but is added because it adds more information.
For example-: She got the admissions( it was all she wished) in Harvard business school.
APOSTROPHE
  1. It is used to show the omission of letters,
    For example-: don’t  do not
  2. It is used to form the plurals of letters and figures.
    For example-: they make sure you dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

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Pull Strings # Idioms For IELTS

There is so much corruption in world, owing to the fact that so many government officials pull string these days.

PULL STRINGS
SENTENCE-: Most of the officials of government know how to pull strings.
MEANING-: to make use of your influence and contacts to gain an advantage officially.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
SENTENCE-: Why do you always want to have the forbidden fruit?
MEANING-: a thing that is desired more because it has been restricted.
HAVE SQUARE EYES
SENTENCE-: These days most people have square eyes.
MEANING-: habit of watching television excessively
PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER
SENTENCE-: He is not a clever detective, he simply just puts two and two together.
MEANING-: to draw and obvious statement from the given facts
CARRY THE CAN
SENTENCE-: It is easy to commit a crime but difficult to carry the can.
MEANING-: take responsibility for something wrong that you have done.
APPLAUD SOMEONE TO THE ECHO
SENTENCE-: I like her because she applauds people to the echo.
MEANING-: to applaud someone very enthusiastically
A FLY ON THE WALL
SENTENCE-: Just speak carefully, you never know if there is a fly on the wall.
MEANING-: an unnoticed observer of a particular situation
THANK YOU LUCKY STARS
SENTENCE-: We no hard work, he can only thank his lucky stars for the success he got.
MEANING-: be grateful for your good fortune
PLAY YOUR ACE
SENTENCE-: This the final battle and I have to play my aces.
MEANING-: use your best resources
KNOW THE SCORE
SENTENCE-: Hey, do you know the score?
MEANING-: be aware of what is going on

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Punctuation # Grammar For IELTS

Punctuation often neglected are the most important part of writing task in IELTS. It is very important that you have the punctuation marked correctly.
Punctuation means to use the points and stops in writing correctly. The principal stops are-:

  1. Full stop (.)
  2. Comma (,)
  3. Semicolon (;)
  4. Colon (:)
  5. Question mark (?)
  6. Exclamation mark (!)

There are some other marks as well, that are commonly used.

  1. Dash (-)
  2. Parentheses ()
  3. Inverted commas or quotation marks (‘ ’)
FULL STOP
Full stop represent the longest pause.

  1. It marks the end of an imperative or declarative sentence.
    For example-: Bombay is a big city.
  2. It is used after abbreviations and initials.
    For example-: M.A , Mr. A.S. Rathore
    However, in modern English, they are often omitted.
COMMA
Comma represents the shortest pause. It is used in various cases.

  1. It is used to separate a series of words of the same construction.
    For example-: It was long, exciting and lovely day.
    I bought a pen, paper, pencil and sharpener from him.
    NOTE-: comma is not used before the word and.
  2. It is used to separate words connected by and.
    For instance-: pen and paper, high and low, rich and poor, are all in your mind.
  3. Comma is not used after a nominative absolute.
    For example-: This done, she came back to house.
    The weather being favorable, Alexander sailed further.
  4. Comma is used to mark off a noun or phrase in apposition ( the use of noun phrase immediately after another noun phrase that refers to the same person or thing).
    For example-: Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, died soon after independence.
    Milton, the great English poet, was blind.
  5. Comma is also used to mark off words used in addressing people. For example-:
    How are you, Anmol?
    Come in the room, Paris.
  6. Comma is used to separate an adverbial clause from its parent clause.
    For example-: when she was the president, she made sure that everything in office is in order.
    Although this comma is omitted if the principal clause comes first.
    For example-: she made sure that everything is in order when she was the president.
  7. They are often used to mark off the direct quotation from the rest of the sentence.
    For example-: “I want the work done”, said the teacher.
  8. Comma is used to avoid repetition of words.
    For example-: Anmol is a kumaoni; Arthur, a Christian.
  9. Comma is used to separate short coordinate clauses of a compound sentence.
    For example-: I came, I saw, I conquered.

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