IELTS Structure And Emphasis: Stop Burying Your Main Point
Every sentence here is already correct. This course is about which of two correct sentences puts your reader's attention where you want it. Benchmarked to IELTS Band 7 to 8, useful whether or not you take the test.
Where The Reader Looks
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 · Start here
Where The Reader Looks
Where the reader's attention falls by default, before you try to move it. Everything in the later chapters overrides what this one describes.
Sprint 1
The Last Words Are The Loud Ones
Put the information you want noticed at the end of the sentence, and say what each of two correct versions stresses.
Sprint 2
Old First, New Last
Start each sentence with something the last one already said, so a paragraph reads like a chain, not a list.
Sprint 3
The Heavy Part Goes Last
Move the long, heavy part of a sentence to the end, so the verb isn't stuck behind it.
Sprint 4
Choosing The Subject
Choose who or what becomes the subject of the sentence, and keep that choice steady across a paragraph.
Sprint 5
Two Sentences That Should Change Places
Swap two neighbouring sentences so the claim comes before its evidence and the cause before its effect, without changing a word.
Sprint 6
The Paragraph As A Chain
Write a five-sentence paragraph where each sentence starts from where the last one ended, and point at every link.
Sprint 7
Fix The Word Order, No Hints
Fix a paragraph where every sentence is correct but the order is wrong, with nothing marking which one.
Moving The Emphasis
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 · Start here
Moving The Emphasis
Move the emphasis with it-was and what-sentences, or by putting something first, and learn when not to.
Sprint 8
It Was X That
Build an it-was-X-that sentence to single out one thing, and use it only to contrast or correct.
Sprint 9
What Matters Is
Use a what-sentence to hold your point back until the end, and see how it differs from it-was-X-that.
Sprint 10
Putting It First
Put an object or description first for contrast, and see that it links back rather than adding emphasis on its own.
Sprint 11
Not Only, Rarely, Under No Circumstances
Form sentences like not only… but also and rarely have I correctly, and use one at most once in a piece of writing.
Sprint 12
Choosing Not To
Write a paragraph with at most one emphasis device, and say what each device you didn't use would have cost.
Sprint 13
Two Devices, One Paragraph
Combine one emphasis device with the word-order rules from earlier in the course, so they work together instead of competing.
Sprint 14
Fix The Emphasis, No Hints
Fix one paragraph that overuses emphasis and one that underuses it, without being told which is which.
Turning Actions Into Things
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 · Start here
Turning Actions Into Things
Turn a verb into a noun to package a whole idea, use it to start the next sentence, and stop when it hides who did what.
Sprint 15
The Verb Becomes A Noun
Turn a verb into its noun form and rebuild the sentence around it.
Sprint 16
Packaging An Idea So It Can Be The Subject
Package one sentence's idea into a noun phrase and use it to start the next sentence, the strongest link in academic writing.
Sprint 17
What The Package Hides
Notice when turning a verb into a noun has hidden something the argument needed, usually who did it, and put it back.
Sprint 18
The Sentence That Is All Nouns
Unpack a sentence stuffed with three or more of these nouns back into verbs, and stop assuming noun-heavy writing sounds more academic.
Sprint 19
Register — When The Nouns Are Right
Use more of these nouns in claims and analysis, and fewer in examples and stories.
Sprint 20
Nominalisation As A Link
Start a sentence with a packaged idea so it links back and moves forward at the same time.
Sprint 21
Packing And Unpacking
Fix one paragraph that is over-packed with nouns and one that is under-packed, without being told which is which.
The Passive As A Choice
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 · Start here
The Passive As A Choice
Use the passive to choose what the sentence is about, name or leave out who did it on purpose, and stop thinking the passive is wrong or just formal.
Sprint 22
What The Passive Actually Does
See what the passive really changes, the subject, not the formality, and switch between active and passive without changing the facts.
Sprint 23
Keeping The Subject Across A Paragraph
Use the passive to keep the same subject across several sentences, the main reason academic writing uses it.
Sprint 24
Naming The Agent, Or Not
Include by… when who did it matters to your point, leave it out when it doesn't, and spot the passive used to avoid blame.
Sprint 25
The Passive That Should Have Been Active
Switch back to the active where the passive does nothing, and say why it stays where it does.
Sprint 26
It Is Argued That
Use it is argued that and similar phrases to report a view without naming a source, and know what that costs your argument.
Sprint 27
A Paragraph Without Actors
Check a paragraph for who is doing things, and put the people back where your argument needs them.
Sprint 28
Fix The Passive, No Hints
Fix one paragraph that overuses the passive and one that needed it and didn't use it.
How Sure You Sound
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 · Start here
How Sure You Sound
Say exactly how sure you are, no more and no less, with verb forms and words like may, might and will.
Sprint 29
Simple Or Continuous
Choose the simple form for something generally true and the continuous for a change that is happening, and see that each makes a different claim.
Sprint 30
The Perfect And Why It Matters Now
Use the present perfect to connect a past event to your argument now, and the past simple to close it off.
Sprint 31
How Sure Are You
Choose a word from may to will that matches how strong your evidence is.
Sprint 32
Hedging Without Disappearing
Hedge a claim once, not three times, so the sentence still says something.
Sprint 33
The Stance You Did Not Mean
Notice where a verb form or a may or will has made you sound more or less sure than you are, and fix it.
Sprint 34
One Stance Across A Paragraph
Keep one level of certainty across a paragraph, and change it only where your argument changes.
Sprint 35
Course Review — One Paragraph, Every Choice
Write one essay paragraph and get a report across the whole course, written as choices, not mistakes.