Name: IELTSとTOEFLのライティング。5つのよくある間違い (IELTS & TOEFL Writing: 5 Common Mistakes)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:54:13.000Z
Duration: 17 min 36 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

現在進行形

Hi. Welcome again to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson, we're looking at IELTS and TOEFL,

最上級形容詞

the writing section, and we're going to look at the five most common mistakes that

I see when I'm checking students' essays. Okay? Now, as usual, for the IELTS and TOEFL

lesson, I will speak a little bit more natural speed, a little bit faster than usual. If

you're a beginner, don't worry. Watch the video, listen, practice your listening. Get

It's all... It's good for everybody, but just a little bit harder. Okay?

So, now, where do I begin? I check a lot of essays. Okay? People send me their essays,

I check them, I edit them, I tell them what they're doing wrong, and I've come to the

realization that there are certain mistakes that many, many people make. So, I want to

tell you five of these common mistakes so that you can avoid making them. Okay?

And the first one-and this is the most common mistake that I see-is that you are trying

too hard. Now, what does this mean? Trying hard is a good thing, right? Yes, it is. But

you're trying too hard to sound impressive. Okay? You're trying to impress the graders

of these... Of these exams, IELTS and TOEFL, you think that by using big words or lots

of idioms, or very, very long sentences that are very complex and have many clauses that

you're getting a higher score. In fact, most of the times, you're actually hurting yourselves.

Why? Because you're using words incorrectly, you're using them inappropriately, meaning

in the wrong context or the wrong usage or in the wrong parts of speech; you're using

a verb when you should use a noun, etc. When you write very, very long sentences, quite

often, you have run-on sentences, mean... Meaning you have two independent clauses in

one sentence, and no punctuation, and no conjunctions, and then the whole sentence falls apart and

means nothing. And also, a lot of people use idioms because... Yeah, idioms will get you

extra points, but they're using them incorrectly or in the wrong context. Again, make sure

you know the words you're using, make sure you know the idioms you're using, and shorter

sentences can actually be better. Simple is often better than complex. If you think about...

As an analogy, if you think about cooking, the more spices you put into the dish, the

less you taste the actual meat or the actual core of the dish. Simple is best.

Let me give you an example. Here are two sentences. Okay? Let me read them to you.

"The CEO", Chief Executive Officer, like the head of the company... "The CEO's tenure at the company

was abbreviated due to his reluctance to integrate more females into upper managerial posts,

thereby drawing the ire of the Board who consequently relieved him of his duties."

Now, this sentence is perfectly okay. It's grammatically correct, all the words are being used correctly, but

if you can write a sentence like this the way that I wrote it here, then you don't need

to worry about the IELTS or the TOEFL; your English is obviously very high level. If you

can do this, then this test will be very easy for you.

However, a lot of people, a lot of test-takers try to write this sentence, and then they

end up making many, many mistakes. They don't use this word correctly: "abbreviated", they

say: "abbreviation". Okay? That's the more common thing of it. "Abbreviated" means made

shorter. Okay? "Reluctance", hesitance, like not really wanting to. This word: "ire". I

write all the time, I write for a living. I never use this word "ire", because it's

so old-fashioned. And also, it's a small word. Right? So you don't need many syllables, you

don't need very rare words. You need to be simple, you need to get your message across.

The most important part of the test is: Answer the question. They give you a task, answer

it. Answer it clearly, concisely. Means: Use fewer words, not more words. If you can say

the same thing in fewer words, get the message across, make it clear, make the reader interested,

then you'll get higher points than if you write something like this. Okay?

"The CEO's time was cut short because he wouldn't promote

women to top positions, which angered the Board who then fired him."

Okay, look at the two sentences. This sentence means exactly the same thing as this sentence.

Much shorter, much simpler words, much more direct delivery of the message. Now, "tenure", "time", same

thing. Tenure's a nice word, but if you're not going to use it correctly, then you're

going to lose points; not gain points. Better to write "time", and get the message across,

than to write "tenure" and use a word incorrectly, which means you don't actually know it, and

you make the whole sentence confusing to the reader. So you're actually doing two bad things.

We call this a "double-whammy", in case you need extra expressions.

you're hurting yourself twice. Okay? So don't do that.

"Ire", just say "angered". Now, if you can use the word "angered", this is a high-end word.

Now, you're thinking: "Angry? 'Angry' is not a high-end word." Yes, but I didn't

say "angry". I said "angered". If you could show the graders that you know this word so

well that you know how to use it as a verb... Because most people don't. Most people only

know "angry" or "anger", the noun. Very few people use this word as a verb. Use this word

as a verb, and you have your high-end vocabulary, you get your extra points. Use "ire" incorrectly

and you're actually losing points. Okay? Same idea, fewer words, simple words, the message

Now, for some reason people love this idiom:

"a double-edged sword". Everything is a double-edged sword.

The problem with a double-edged sword is that there's two sides to it, and most

people don't realize that. Right? If you're going to use an idiom, make sure you're using

it correctly. So, this idiom, "a double-edged sword" means that something, or a situation,

or an action has both a positive side and a negative side. So if you're going to use

this idiom, you better explain to the reader: What is the positive, what is the negative?

Okay? So, this sentence is a double-edged sword. If you can write it like this, then

yeah, you're getting a bonus point. But on the other side of it, if you write... If you

make any mistakes in it, you're losing points. So be very careful with vocabulary, extra

Now, another thing: Long, complicated sentences. They don't need to be. Remember I said they're

run-on sentences? Now, another thing you have to worry about is redundancy. This is a big

word, but I'll write it here. If something is redundant, it means it's unnecessary.

"The CEO's tenure at the company", now, here you noticed I put "at the company". Here... Here,

I didn't put "the company". Why? A CEO is a head of a company, it's understood that

the time at the company. I don't actually need to say it. If you can use three words

to say something, don't use five. If you can use five, don't use 10. Less is more, just

like when you're putting on makeup. Another analogy, there, for you. Okay? So, this is

the most common mistake. Let's look at a few more.

Okay, so now we're a little bit busy, here, but I'll squeeze everything into one shot

so it's much easier for you. What I'm going to do, I'm going to begin by looking at a

very classic task, either IELTS or TOEFL will give it to you. "Parents make the best teachers."

Do you agree or disagree? Okay. You had your introduction, we're talking about parents,

we're talking about education, we're talking about children. Some people believe that parents

are the best, some people believe teachers are the best. I think that... I agree that

parents are the best teachers. Okay, your introduction's done.

Let's get into the first body paragraph. So, first, I'm going to read this to you. This

is not a complete paragraph, but you'll get the idea.

"Firstly, parents know their child best, including what he likes and doesn't like, such as books he likes to read, or favourite

science topics. Parents can also talk to the child's teachers and find out from them how

to help him at home. They can also monitor how much TV he watches, and cutting down on