The Thing and the Description
A hazard sign and a road. One names the danger; the other describes it.
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One names it. The other describes something else.
Why 'very danger' is the most common Band 5 mistake, how to fix it, and the smaller errors around it, like harmful and harmless.
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Five sentences. No spelling mistakes, no grammar mistakes — and every one is wrong.
The error almost every Band 5 script contains, plus two smaller ones hiding behind it.
✗ Pollution is very danger.
✓ Pollution is very dangerous.
If you have taken IELTS and scored Band 5, there is a good chance this exact sentence is in your script.
Why this one, out of all the possible mistakes? Because danger is a common, useful word that you learned early, and nobody ever told you it is only the thing. You cannot use it to describe something. English keeps a separate word for that job.
A hazard sign and a road. One names the danger; the other describes it.
One names it. The other describes something else.
Sixteen words, two piles. Sort by shape, not by meaning.
Sort each item into the correct category
Three decisions. The last one asks who is feeling what.
Chain 1
Sentence: Crossing this road at night is very ______.
Candidates: danger / dangerous
The words before the gap are "is very", so the slot needs:
So the answer is:
Chain 2
Sentence: The ______ of the exam surprised everyone.
Candidates: difficult / difficulty
The word before the gap is "the", so the slot needs:
So the answer is:
Chain 3
Sentence: I was completely ______ by the new timetable.
Candidates: confusing / confused
Ask who feels it: a timetable cannot feel anything, but I can, so the slot needs:
So the answer is:
Eight sentences, one wrong word each. Write the word that should be there.
Smoking is extremely harm to your lungs. → is extremely
Night driving on mountain roads is very danger. → is very
The exam was more difficulty than I expected. → more
Living in a large city can be very stress. → very
Nobody understood the complex of the new rules. → the of
The instructions were very confused and nobody could follow them. → very
The government did not understand the serious of the situation. → the of
The project was a complete fail. → a complete