The Ten Grammar Errors That Keep IELTS Writing at Band 6

Grammatical Range and Accuracy is one of the four criteria your IELTS writing is judged on. It asks two questions at once: how varied your sentence structures are, and how often you make mistakes.

Many candidates work only on the first half. They add conditionals and relative clauses, and their score does not move, because the same ten small errors keep appearing in every paragraph. Below is each pattern, shown wrong, then corrected, with the rule in one line.

1. Missing articles before singular countable nouns

Wrong: Government should build new hospital in every city. Right: The government should build a new hospital in every city.

A singular countable noun almost never stands alone. It needs a, an, the, this, my, or a similar word in front of it.

If your first language has no article system, this will be your most frequent error by a wide margin. The fastest habit to build is checking every singular noun as you reread, and asking whether the reader already knows which one you mean.

2. Wrong article with general statements

Wrong: The children learn languages faster than the adults. Right: Children learn languages faster than adults.

To talk about a group in general, use the plural with no article. Use the only when you mean a specific group the reader can identify: "the children in this study".

3. Subject and verb do not agree

Wrong: The number of students who study abroad have increased. Right: The number of students who study abroad has increased.

The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, not with the nearest noun. The head noun here is number, which is singular.

This error hides inside long subjects. When you write a subject longer than four words, find its head noun before choosing the verb.

4. Third person s dropped in the present tense

Wrong: This policy affect the poorest families most. Right: This policy affects the poorest families most.

He, she, it, and any singular noun take an s on the present simple verb. Nothing else does.

This is a small error with a large effect, because it appears many times in an essay that discusses general truths, and general truths are exactly what Task 2 asks for.

5. Uncountable nouns made plural

Wrong: The government should provide more informations and equipments. Right: The government should provide more information and equipment.

Some nouns have no plural form: information, advice, research, equipment, knowledge, traffic, homework, furniture, money, progress.

To count them, add a phrase: a piece of advice, two items of equipment.

6. Tense changes for no reason

Wrong: The chart shows that sales rose in 2010 and then it falls sharply. Right: The chart shows that sales rose in 2010 and then fell sharply.

Choose the time frame, then stay in it. In Task 1, past data takes the past simple. In Task 2, general arguments take the present simple.

Mixed tenses inside one sentence are one of the clearest markers separating band 6 from band 7 writing, because they make the reader stop and work out when something happened.

7. Run on sentences joined by commas

Wrong: Many people work from home now, this reduces traffic in city centres. Right: Many people work from home now, which reduces traffic in city centres. Also right: Many people work from home now. This reduces traffic in city centres.

A comma cannot join two complete sentences. Use a full stop, a semicolon, a linking word such as and, but, so, or a relative pronoun such as which.

8. Sentence fragments after linking words

Wrong: Although the cost of university has risen. More students are applying than ever. Right: Although the cost of university has risen, more students are applying than ever.

Although, because, while, since, if and when begin a dependent clause. A dependent clause on its own is not a sentence. It needs a main clause attached with a comma.

This error often appears in exactly the sentences a candidate wrote to show complex grammar, which is why it is so expensive. The attempt at range creates an accuracy error instead.

9. Prepositions after common verbs and nouns

Wrong: This leads to people become isolated, and it has a bad effect for their health. Right: This leads to people becoming isolated, and it has a bad effect on their health.

Some combinations are fixed and simply have to be learned.

Note lead to and result in are followed by a noun or an ing form, never by a plain verb.

10. Word class confusion

Wrong: The success of this policy depends on the govern of the country and their politic decisions. Right: The success of this policy depends on the government of the country and their political decisions.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs from the same root are not interchangeable. Learn words in families: politics, political, politically, politician. Using the adjective where the noun belongs is counted as a grammar error, not a vocabulary one, and it is common in the middle of an otherwise strong sentence.

Using this list without slowing yourself down

You cannot check ten things in five minutes. Choose the two that are yours.

1. Take an essay you have already written. Mark every error you can find against this list.
2. Count which numbers appear most. Almost everyone has two dominant patterns rather than ten equal ones.
3. For the next month, reread every piece of writing looking only for those two. Ignore the rest.

Targeted rereading works because these errors are habits, not gaps in knowledge. Most candidates can correct their own sentence once someone points at it. The skill to build is noticing without being pointed at.

Here is a paragraph with four of the errors above. Find them before reading the corrected version.

Nowadays, the technology have changed how student learn. Many researches shows that online course have a positive effect for motivation. Although this is true for adult learners. Younger students often need more support.

And corrected.

Nowadays, technology has changed how students learn. Much research shows that online courses have a positive effect on motivation. Although this is true for adult learners, younger students often need more support.

Five corrections, and none of them required a bigger vocabulary or a more advanced structure. That is what accuracy work looks like.

When you want to see which of these patterns is holding your own writing back, Bandly returns an estimated band for each of the four criteria along with the reasoning behind it, including the grammar points it noticed. The bands are estimates produced by a language model rather than a marked script from a qualified examiner, so treat them as a way to prioritise your next practice session.