I. A.
TOPIC VOCABULARY Employment vocabulary and exercises
One of the key topics in IELTS is work and employment. To help
you out, here is a selection of useful words and phrases to discuss
the topic. To help you understand and practise these words, you
will also find examples of how the words are used and a series of
exercises.
Employ an exercise in word formationIf you want to learn words
well, it is important to learn different forms of them. Employ is
one of the key words and it has several different forms you need to
able to use them all if you want to write flexibly.
Job and workSometimes the trickiest words are very common words.
You definitely need to be able to use both these words. One way to
how to use them correctly is to learn phrases.
Career wordsThese words should come in useful when describing
career paths.
Companies
Money wordsThere are a variety of different words we use to
describe money and work.
Adjectives to describe jobs
Read more: Employment vocabulary and exercises | Dominic Cole's
IELTS Blog
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B. Advertising vocabulary and exercisesThis lesson helps you
with vocabulary and ideas for one of the more tricky topics
advertising. In addition to providing you with a guide to some
useful words and phrases, I also give you a series of exercises to
show you how you might use the words.
Advert, advertisement or ad?All these forms of the words are
correct but adis mostly used in spoken English only. You should
also be aware of a common pronunciation problem: advert advertise
advertisement This means that you make an iss sound when say
advertisement.This is a very common mistake and one way to avoid it
is to say and write advert.
Different forms of advertising
Adjectives to describe advertising
Other related words
Read more: Advertising vocabulary and exercises | Dominic Cole's
IELTS Blog
http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-vocabulary/advertising-vocabulary-and-exercises/#ixzz21iDBegTq
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C. Technology vocabulary and exercisesThis lesson provides you
with some useful vocabulary for technology one of the key topics in
IELTS. I have tried to do more than give you a list of words, so
you will find notes, phrases and examples: to show you which other
words these words are used with to give you ideas for speaking and
writing essays to help you use the words correctly There is also a
download of this vocabulary at the bottom of the page and exercises
to see how well you know these words.
Test yourself firstWant to know how good your technology vocab
is? Try this quick quiz.
Progress wordsWhen you write and speak about computers and
technology, very often you will be asked to say how technology has
changed or progressed.
notesProgress is an uncountable word, while advance is
countable. So you say that digital technology is an advance but you
cannot say that digital technology is a progress
Impact wordsAnother common topic is to talk about what effect
computer technology has had on our lives
notesBe careful with the difference between affect (generally a
verb) and effect (generally a noun). Just to confuse you, in
English they sound exactly the same. impact and influence are often
used with the preposition on
Technology and computer wordsIt is very easy to keep on
repeating the same word without knowing it. One way not to do this
is to change the form of the word or to use it in a different
phrase.
notesBe careful with the spelling of technology. A technophile
loves technology and a technophobe hates it. In speaking, you could
use the less formal word geek for technophile, but I would avoid it
writing. There is no great difference between ICT and IT. However,
as my example shows ICT is most frequently used as the name of an
academic subject.
Adjectives
notesIt is normal to use hyphens (-) in adjective phrases such
as state-of-the-art when they are used before nouns
(state-of-the-art technology), but you do not always need them when
they are used without a noun (this technology is state of the art).
obsolete is similar in meaning to outdated, but is a stronger word
to show that the technology is so old that it cannot be used any
longer. It is normal to write high tech rather than high
technology.
Device wordsThis is a rather confusing set of words to describe
different kinds of objects.
notesA device is often something fairly small that allows you to
complete a task. There is a strong collocation (very common
phrase): labour-saving device. Equipment is an uncountable word so
you need to say a piece of equipment. It is a very general use word
that can be used to describe almost anything mechanical. Gadget is
a word often used to describe objects that are either small or have
a less serious purpose. Appliance is typically used in the phrase
electrical appliances (eg irons and kettles) that are less advanced
technology.
Other useful wordsThis is a selection of other words that may
come in useful when discussing technology
Read more: Technology vocabulary
http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-vocabulary/technologyvocabulary/#ixzz21iEAK6Fv
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D. Crime vocabulary and exercisesOne of the core topics for
IELTS is crime and justice. It is a tricky area as there are a
number of quite technical words that need to be learnt. So what you
will find here is not so much as a list of words, but more useful
phrases that you can use in context. You will also find language
notes and exercises to help you use this language.
Types of crimeRather than learn lists of very specific words for
names of individual crimes, it is almost certainly more useful to
learn phrases that describe different categories of crime:
Key wordsAnother key word here is offence which is a close
synonym for crime. It is a slightly broader word as it includes
behaviour that is not necessarily criminal. You can also use the
phrase criminal behaviour.
Punishments
Key words/ideasThere is a common saying that the punishment
should fit the crime. If you wish to practise this vocabulary, a
standard exercise is to look at the crimes and decide what
punishment you think they should receive. In some countries, there
is still capital punishment/the death penalty, while this is banned
in other countries. An occasional IELTS essay topic is to discuss
the merits of capital punishment. What are the arguments for and
against it? Another topic you need to consider is crime prevention.
Is it more effective to send someone to prison or to prevent the
crime in the first place? Linked into this idea is whether prison
sentences act as a deterrent to criminals.
The justice processThe details of this will vary from the
country to country, but here are some of the main ideas:
Useful phrases
Read more: Crime vocabulary and exercises | Dominic Cole's IELTS
Blog
http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-vocabulary/crime-vocabulary-and-exercises/#ixzz21iFSsdbb
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E. Vocabulary and ideas to discuss the environmentThis lesson
helps you out with some vocabulary and ideas to discuss one of the
key IELTS topics: the environment. The best way to learn vocabulary
is in context, so in addition to useful lists of words I have
recorded 4 sample part 3 speaking answers using some of this
vocabulary. This way you can understand how to use it in practice.
You will also find the vocabulary to download and some exercises to
practise it at the bottom of the page.
The vocabularyEnvironmental problems
The natural world
Pollution
Energy
Useful verbs
The ideasIn this section, you will find 4 sample part 3
speakings (slightly long) to listen and read. I have highlighted
the environmental vocabulary.
Our effect on the natural worldWhen were the discussing the
environment, its important not to forget that our actions have an
impact not only on us but on the natural world and other species.
So, for example, certain species are now endangered because of our
actions. its not just because of hunting, but because we have
destroyed their natural habitats: they do not enough food or
anywhere to live. If we carry on in this way, the biodiversity of
the planet is under threat.
PollutionI would have said that one of the most serious
environmental problems today is of course pollution. Its a very
pressing green issue and if you travel to any of the large cities
in China, for example, youll find that there is very bad air
pollution and there is a layer of smog hanging over the cities. Its
just air pollution, there is also water pollution. in many parts of
the world, the quality of the water is not good because rivers have
been contaminated by all sorts of industrial waste, by chemicals
and fertilisers. And what we need to do is to recycle our waste and
take care of the planet and try use renewable resources where we
possibly can.
EnergyAnother extremely important green issue is of course
energy. There are two points to be made here. The first point is
that the way we use energy is causing harm to the environment. Most
of us get energy in the form of electricity. This electricity is
produced by power stations. These power stations emit all sorts of
dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide up into the atmosphere. And
these gases cause acid rain which does harm to our ecosystem and
environment. the second point to make about energy is we need to
make sure that we are using energy in a sustainable way. There is a
limit to the Earths natural resources and there is a danger that we
use so much energy the Earth is no longer going to be able to
provide us with sufficient coal and fossil fuels. What we need to
do is look for more renewable sources of energy such as wind or
perhaps solar energy from the sun.
Global warmingWhats the greatest threat to the Earth today? Id
have to say its probably a combination of global warming and the
greenhouse effect. I dont understand all the science behind it, but
I understand its to do with the build up of gases such as carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, which means that the planet is slowly
but steadily getting warmer. and one of the results of this is that
the polar icecap is melting and the levels of the oceans are
rising. And its caused I understand by deforestation, particularly
of rainforests and particularly in the Amazonian Basin. And what
this means is that we may be doing irreparable harm to the planet
and the future of the planet for our children and our childrens
children looks really rather bleak.
Read more: Environment vocabulary and ideas for IELTS speaking
and writing
http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-vocabulary/vocabulary-and-ideas-to-discuss-theenvironment/#ixzz21iGFkRDo
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F. Hometown vocabulary and ideastest yourselfatmosphere catchy
strong chorus composersconcertinstrumentliverhythmscene
symphonytraditional venue
For me, Beethoven was one of the greatest classical whole .
. Though, I do find it difficult to sit through a
It's been some time since Ive gone to a One of my favourite
songs is Back it Up - it's got a really There's an extremely lively
music and clubs. My mother always wanted me to learn to play an
keep to the beat. The largest musical Sad to say, a lot of
. I find I just don't have the time nowadays. tune and a great .
music in local pubs
in my home town and you can often see some
, but sadly I had no sense of
and so couldn't
in my country is probably the O2 Arena. There's a great
there.
and folk music is dying out in my country. It's probably the
influence of MTV. tune and interesting lyrics.
What makes for a great song? Well, I guess that you need a
SCORE:
G. Hometown vocabulary and ideasOne of the topics you are most
likely to be asked about in part 1 speaking is your hometown. This
lesson gives you some vocabulary and ideas to help you along. You
will also find a download version of this vocabulary and a quiz to
test yourself. You can find some speaking practice questions to
talk abut your hometown here.
Talking about quality of lifeThese ideas should help you discuss
what you enjoy/dislike about your home town. Remember to try and
give examples/reasons to extend your answers.
notesthe rat race is a nice idiom for the fast pace of modern
city life where no one has the time to sit back and enjoy life
Areas of a cityIf you are asked where you live, you should try
and be precise.
notesthe inner city is normally (in English) associated with
poverty although this will obviously vary from city to city the
outskirts are the outer parts of a city/town
Means of transport
AdjectivesYou will of course need some adjectives too. You
should note how I use fairly really and quite to qualify these
adjectives