IELTS Writing Task 1- Prepositions and Determiners Pairwork

IELTS Writing Task One prepositions and determiners pairwork

Student A

Choose one of the sections below and read examples from it with the same word in bold missing until your partner guesses the missing word. They can only guess once per hint. If you run out of examples before they guess correctly, make up other example sentences with the same missing word, including non-IELTS ones if you can’t think of more IELTS examples. When they have guessed correctly, read out the ones that they got wrong so they can hear the correct answers, then guess your partner’s missing word in the same way. Take turns doing the same with different sections until your teacher stops you. If you haven’t used all the examples in a section, you can come back to it later if you like.

 

A

The map gives a bird’s eye view of…

Only a tiny minority of people are projected to regain their previous level of savings.

A larger percentage had a mix of good and bad experiences.

There is a noticeable increase in instability over time.

The peak will be a little under 2000 litres per second.

There is a comparatively small amount of non-recyclable rubbish.

The desire to move abroad is just a niche motivation.

 

At

The diagram at the top represents the process by which…

It then remained at the same level for the next two decades.

Humidity climbed at the same rate.

It is then expected to continue increasing, but not at the same rate.

The figures in the two places peaked at more or less the same time.

Looking at the second graph, it can be seen that…

 

By

The flowchart illustrates the process by which milk is made into cheese.

Inflation will have already reached a peak and started to decline by then.

All three figures will have overtaken their previous peaks by the end of this century.  

 

From

From the information given in the table, we can see that…

The second column from the right shows figures in the near future.

The figures related to the year 2030 are in the third row from the top.

The gift shop is across from the main entrance.

 

In

I will explain those two things in that order

I will look at those two diagrams in turn in the paragraphs below.

… and summarise the other infrastructure in the paragraph after that.

In the first half of the 1970s,…

In the near future that will change to around a quarter of the population.

In complete contrast to the data on Europe, in North America…

Off

The rate of growth was initially slow, but took off from the early 1990s.

The growth is expected to slow down and then level off.

 

Than

At that point, the figure for men will be approximately 55% higher than that for women.

It will then rebound to slightly higher than its first peak.

It then more than tripled over the next two weeks.

 

The

The line graph given includes statistics on the level of…

The pie chart on the left shows three categories of…

The other table shows…

The vertical axis shows…

The y axis represents…

Over the whole period given,…

Throughout the period shown,…

For the most part…

The most noticeable feature is…

The most obvious difference is…

The biggest change is…

 

To

It sank to a low point but quickly rebounded.

It then peaked at just under half. To be precise, the new figure was 47.5%.

The future trend is similar to the past one in that…

The second line is close to the aforementioned line at that point. 

The hotel is next to the golf course.

The beach is adjacent to the ferry port.

The outlet mall is to the East, about two kilometres from the outskirts of the town.

 

With

Starting with the top graph,…

In common with spending in Eastern Europe, in Central Europe…

It then caught up with the previous leader, overtaking it by the end of the decade.

This contrasts with the future projections, which mostly show growth.

Switch worksheets and do the same, making sure that you start with the most difficult examples this time (because they have already seen those examples).

Ask about any of your phrases or your partner’s phrases which you are not sure of the meaning of, think could have another word in the place in bold, etc.

 

Student B

Choose one of the sections below and read examples from it with the same word in bold missing until your partner guesses the missing word. They can only guess once per hint. If you run out of examples before they guess correctly, make up other example sentences with the same missing word, including non-IELTS ones if you can’t think of more IELTS examples. When they have guessed correctly, read out the ones that they got wrong so they can hear the correct answers, then guess your partner’s missing word in the same way. Take turns doing the same with different sections until your teacher stops you. If you haven’t used all the examples in a section, you can come back to it later if you like.

 

A

Job satisfaction dropped but later staged a recovery.

Costs are predicted to reach a peak two years later.

The average temperature decreased a little.

Almost a third of the people surveyed said that…

The figure was a tiny bit higher for women at that time.

The UK shows a rather different pattern, for example…

A clear similarity between those two figures is…

 

As

The second peak was not as high as the first one.

This recovery is predicted to be twice as fast as the earlier fall.

As for the upward movements, they will occur…

 

Back

It reached a peak and then fell back.

It had risen to almost a new high, but then slipped back.

The typical salary is forecast to experience a dip and then bounce back.

The yen then fell back against the dollar.

The income of the middle class will subsequently slip back against that of the top bracket.

 

For

Before that it had fallen to a new low for a period of several years.

As for the trend in developing countries, the table shows that…

 

In

In total, the three groups combined include…

The shopping centre is in the Northeast, near to the city centre.

Approximately one in three people have experienced verbal abuse.

They have two things in common, namely…

In contrast to the situation in Northern Europe,…

 

Of

The system consists of three parts.

… and after that write a description of the downward movements.

It then fell back near the end of the 1990s.

The second location is in the vicinity of the station.

On

The table on the right-hand side lists the percentage of…

The symbols on the map represent…

I will look at the past and then move on to the future.

I will summarise the data related to European countries, then focus on nations in Asia.

Moving on to the pie chart,…

 

Out

What stands out is…

It will have flattened out by 2075.

The drop will slow down and then the rate will bottom out at a level of 3%.

 

The

The first thing that you notice looking at the graph is…

I will describe the pie chart and then turn my attention to the table.

I will explain the similarities between the two locations, before turning to the differences.

I will write a summary of the facilities for tourists in the next paragraph and...

The surrounding area mainly consists of parkland, but…

The vast majority of CO2 comes from fossil fuels.

It then stayed the same for a short period, before…

The most striking similarity between the two lines is…

The final figure given (for 1989) is exactly the same.

 

To

I will explain the similarities between the two locations, before turning to the differences.

I will summarise the data related to Northern European countries, then…

According to the pie chart,…

The flow chart shows how to make cement out of…

Sales are expected to pick up by…

Turning our attention to the table at the bottom,…

 

Up

The process is made up of twelve steps.

It then shot up, reaching a peak of…

It only crept up after that, but rose to 100,000 by the end of the period given.

Supply then picked up, overtaking demand within six months.

It then went up and down, with larger and larger fluctuations over time.

It is predicted that it will catch up with the other two in the middle of the next century.

 

Switch worksheets and do the same, making sure that you start with the most difficult examples this time (because they have already seen those examples).

Ask about any of your phrases or your partner’s phrases which you are not sure of the meaning of, think could have another word in the place in bold, etc.

 

Uses of prepositions and determiners presentation 

Try to find prepositions and determiners above which have these meanings/ these uses. Some things above have more than one of these meanings/ uses, and some have none.

____________ + a deadline/ a time limit

____________ + a larger space or length of time (than spaces and times with “at”)

____________ + an exact position or time

____________ + how/ in what way

____________ + the final position

____________ = eventually/ in the end

____________ = one/ we don’t care or know which one

____________ = rising

____________ = the only one/ we know which one

____________ = the opposite of “to”

____________ = to or towards its original position

Check as a class or below to fold.

 

--------------------------------cover, fold or cut--------------------------------------

 

Suggested answers

_____by_______ + a deadline/ a time limit

______in______ + a larger space or length of time (than spaces and times with “at”)

______at______ + an exact position or time

_______by_____ + how/ in what way

______to______ + the final position

______out/ off__ = eventually/ in the end

______a/ an____ = one/ we don’t care or know which one

______up______ = rising

_______the____ = the only one/ we know which one

_____from_____ = the opposite of “to”

______back____ = to or towards its original position

 

Brainstorming stage

First with no help, write at least two suitable sentences in each section below.

Rephrasing the question/ A very brief description of the charts etc given

 

 

 

 

 

(Optional) information on the components of what is given/ summary sentence/ description of what you notice straightaway

 

 

 

 

 

Sentence describing the structure/ organisation/ plan

 

 

 

 

 

Starting the first body paragraph

 

 

 

 

 

Starting any body paragraph

 

 

 

 

 

Starting the second (or third) body paragraph

 

 

 

 

 

(Suitable) verb forms for describing future information

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving vague data and times

 

 

 

 

 

Proportions (in pie charts, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

Giving exact data and times

 

 

 

 

 

Comparing and contrasting

 

 

 

 

 

Describing positions

 

 

 

 

 

Describing times

 

 

 

 

 

Describing trends/ changes over time (line graphs, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

Look above for examples, brainstorm more, then compare as a class or with lists.

Play a similar guessing prepositions and determiners game, but this time say the heading of one of the finished brainstorming sections above and read all the phrases with that function with different words missing for your partner to complete.