Incorrect word choices in IELTS Writing Task 1
In her recent book, The Key to IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic, Pauline Cullen discussed a critical issue worth writing about. Since many IELTS candidates might be unwilling to read the book, I present her ideas here. On page 71 of her book, Pauline lists verbs often used incorrectly in task 1.
Display = to place things in a place where they can easily be seen
Demonstrate = to show how something is done (e.g., How to use a machine: prove something to be true (e.g., in a study)
Indicate = to show that something is true (used to draw a conclusion about data)
Provide = to give; supply
Present = to give (e.g., to present someone with a trophy)
Reflect = to be a sign of something, to act like a mirror
Represent = to stand in the place of (i.e., is a symbol of)
Reveal = to make people aware of something that was hidden
Tell = to give information (INB. This verb needs an object - "to tell someone something")
Illustrate = to add an image to a text (INB. The verb “illustrate” can be used like this: The graph illustrates how X changed over time.)
Pauline suggests that the verb ‘show’ is enough for all Task 1 reports, even for band 9. She even uses this verb in almost all her reports, and I agree. I also agree that we need not change every word in the task for a successful paraphrase. All we have to do is to avoid copying large parts of the test material. For instance, instead of “between 1990 and 2004,” we can write “from 1990 to 2004,” or instead of “a European country,” we can write “a country in Europe.”
