Here's the thing: most IELTS test takers lose 2 to 4 band points on Task 1 alone because of grammar mistakes they never catch. You'll write a solid letter or report, but then slip in a subject-verb disagreement or misplaced modifier, and the examiner marks you down on Grammatical Range & Accuracy. That's one of the four scoring criteria, and it matters.
The good news? You don't need to wait for test day to find these errors. A focused grammar check right now, using the same patterns examiners look for, can push you from Band 6 to Band 7. An IELTS writing checker helps, but knowing what to look for yourself is even more powerful. Let's walk through the most common sentence structure and grammar mistakes that show up in Task 1, and I'll show you exactly how to fix them.
IELTS examiners aren't looking to be harsh. They're checking whether you can use a variety of sentence structures correctly, without errors that confuse the reader. That's Grammatical Range & Accuracy, and it's 25% of your writing score.
Band 7 writers use complex sentences with confidence. They embed clauses, vary their tenses on purpose, and rarely make errors that derail meaning. Band 5 writers stick to simple sentences and stumble when they try to get ambitious with structure.
The real difference between Band 6 and Band 7 on grammar? Band 7 has occasional errors that don't affect meaning. Band 6 has errors that pop up regularly, even if they're small. Your job is to catch and fix as many as you can before test day.
This error hides in plain sight. You write it. You read it. Your brain skips right over it. But the examiner catches it every time.
The problem usually happens when your subject is separated from your verb by extra information, or when your subject is plural but sounds singular (or vice versa).
Weak: "The number of people who applies for this position are increasing every year."
"The number" is singular, not "people." The verb should be "is," not "are."
Good: "The number of people who apply for this position is increasing every year."
Here's another one that trips people up:
Weak: "The committee have decided to implement the new policy."
In American English, "committee" is a collective noun and takes a singular verb. IELTS examiners expect consistency here.
Good: "The committee has decided to implement the new policy."
Quick fix: When you check for subject-verb agreement, cross out everything between your subject and verb. What's left should match. "The number of people who apply is increasing" becomes "number is," which sounds right.
Task 1 letters and reports describe processes, current situations, or past events. Pick a tense and stick with it unless the meaning forces you to shift.
This is where most students derail. You start in present tense, slip into past, then wander into future. The examiner sees that as a loss of control.
Weak: "I am writing to request a refund for the damaged goods I purchased last week. The item arrives in poor condition, and I will be unhappy with the quality."
That sentence bounces between present continuous, past, present, and future. It's jarring to read.
Good: "I am writing to request a refund for the damaged goods I purchased last week. The item arrived in poor condition, and I'm unhappy with the quality."
Now it's clear. You're writing (present) about something that happened (past). The "will be" adds nothing and muddies the timeline.
Quick fix: Read your letter out loud and mark every verb with its tense. If you see three different tenses in two sentences, you've found a problem. Ask yourself: when did this actually happen?
A misplaced modifier is a phrase that doesn't clearly attach to the word it's supposed to describe. Dangling modifiers are worse. They describe a word that isn't even there. These errors directly lower your Grammatical Range & Accuracy score because they confuse the reader and show a lack of sentence control.
Weak: "Having reviewed your proposal, the decision was made to reject it."
Who reviewed the proposal? The sentence doesn't say. The phrase "having reviewed" is dangling because there's no person as the subject.
Good: "Having reviewed your proposal, we decided to reject it."
Now "we" clearly does the action in the opening phrase.
Here's another common one:
Weak: "Looking at the chart, the sales figures appear confusing."
This implies the sales figures are looking at the chart, which makes no sense.
Good: "Looking at the chart, I notice the sales figures are confusing."
Or simply: "The sales figures in the chart are confusing."
Prepositions trip up non-native speakers constantly. You use "on" when it should be "in," or "for" when the context calls for "during." These are small mistakes, but they add up fast.
The Task 1 verbs you'll use most often have specific preposition partners:
Quick fix: Keep a preposition list for verbs you use in Task 1 (apologize, complain, inquire, request, demand, thank). Check your draft against it before you move on.
A run-on sentence jams two independent clauses together without a conjunction or proper punctuation. A fragment is an incomplete sentence pretending to be complete. Both are common IELTS task 1 sentence structure errors.
Weak: "I received the package yesterday the quality is not acceptable I want a refund immediately."
That's three independent clauses spliced together with nothing but spaces. It reads frantically and looks sloppy.
Good: "I received the package yesterday, but the quality is not acceptable. I want a refund immediately."
Now you have two proper sentences: one compound (connected with "but"), one simple.
Fragments are equally problematic:
Weak: "I am writing regarding the course I registered for. Which starts next month. Despite having paid the full fee."
"Which starts next month" and "Despite having paid the full fee" aren't complete sentences. They need to be joined to the main clause.
Good: "I am writing regarding the course I registered for, which starts next month. Despite having paid the full fee, I have not received confirmation."
Quick fix: Read each sentence in isolation. If it has no verb, or the verb has no clear subject, it's a fragment. Fix it by joining it to the sentence before or after, or add the missing piece.
Articles seem simple but cause major issues in Task 1. You need to know when to use "the," when to use "a" or "an," and when to skip articles altogether.
The basic rules:
Weak: "I am writing to complain about a service I used. Service was poor, and I would like the refund."
In the second sentence, "service" reappears but loses its article. It should be "the service." Also, "a full refund" sounds more natural than "the refund" here.
Good: "I am writing to complain about a service I used. The service was poor, and I would like a full refund."
Don't rely on just reading your work once. Use this checklist to catch errors systematically. You've got 20 minutes for Task 1, so spend about 2-3 minutes at the end on grammar review.
Go through one item at a time. Don't try to fix everything at once. If you find more than 4 errors in a sentence, rewrite the whole thing. If you find 1-2, fix them and move on.
When you're working on overall Task 1 letter structure, grammar is just one piece. But it's the piece that examiners notice immediately, so don't skip it. Using an essay checker can help you spot what you might miss on your own.
Use an IELTS writing checker to catch grammar mistakes before the examiner does. Get instant feedback on every sentence.
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