YES-IELTS Glossary of Terms

YES-IELTS Glossary

Browse the glossary using this index

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W

wide range of structures

The ability to use simple, compound, complex, and compound complex sentence structures.

A simple sentence consists of a single independent clause with no dependent clauses. For example: The woman walked.

A complex sentence consists of at least one independent clause and one dependent clause. For example: The child waited for her mother.

A compound sentence consists of multiple independent clauses with no dependent clauses. These clauses are joined together using conjunctions, punctuation, or both. For example: The woman walked and the child ran.

A complex compound sentence (or compound complex sentence) consists of multiple independent clauses, at least one of which has at least one dependent clause. For example: The woman, who was the child’s mother, walked to the park while the child ran ahead.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics)

Keyword(s):

word formation

Word formation is using the correct form of the word.

For example, The children played together happily. The correct word here is an adverb happily, which modifies (describes) the verb played. If the writer had written the adjective, happy, the word formation would have been incorrect because an adjective is used to modify a noun, not a verb.

writing style

Style means choosing the right word(s) for the audience.

If you are required to write in a semi-formal / neutral style, you should avoid using too many phrasal verbs, avoid exclamation marks (!), contractions (don’t, can’t, it’s), smiley faces (J), slang (wanna, gonna), “chat” words (u instead of you, 2 instead of to) and abbreviations (info, advert, e.g.). In IELTS, it is acceptable to use the first person (I). Connotations are also an important element of style ("precise").