{"id":244,"date":"2016-04-12T17:43:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T00:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?p=244"},"modified":"2018-10-15T19:51:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T02:51:02","slug":"why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>In both the IELTS Writing and Speaking exams you will be assessed on your range of grammar and accuracy; this marking criteria actually makes up 25% of your overall score. Too often students focus only on fixing grammatical mistakes, but it is also important to use a variety of sentence structures (i.e. range) to get top marks.\u00a0 <\/span>One of the easiest ways to increase your range is to transform your simple sentences into complex sentences using conjunctions. Not surprisingly, using conjunctions in IELTS also helps your coherence and cohesion<\/a> – another 25% of the marking criteria.\u00a0Let’s take a look at the basics and some examples.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is a Simple Sentence?<\/span><\/h2>\n

A simple sentence has just one independent clause. The number of clauses in a sentence is equal to the number of finite verbs in it. (Note that to-infinitives and \u2013ing forms are not finite verbs.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Example:\u00a0 <\/span>Government investment in the arts is a waste of money.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are Complex Sentences?<\/span><\/h2>\n

A complex sentence contains an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence and makes a complete thought and a dependent clause can not stand alone, even though it has a subject and a verb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Example: Although I love art galleries (dependent clause), I believe government investment in the arts is a waste of money. (independent clause).<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Use Conjunctions to Make Complex Sentences.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The IELTS examiner expects a candidate to use a variety of these structures in their writing and speaking.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>One way to transform your simple sentences into complex sentences is to use co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conjunctions are words that link two parts of a sentence or separate phrases within a sentence together. Co-ordinating conjunctions, such as \u2018and\u2019, \u2018but\u2019, and \u2018or\u2019, are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal.\u00a0 <\/span>The two parts may be single words or clauses. Co-ordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.<\/span><\/p>\n

Example: I like art galleries, but I don\u2019t think they should be government funded. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a dependent clause to an independent clause.\u00a0 <\/span>They are the essential ingredient in a complex sentence. Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause. Below are some common subordinate conjunctions:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Types of Conjunctions<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Conjunctions<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>
Conjunctions of Purpose and Conditional Conjunctions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Incorporating conjunctions into your speaking and writing will help you speak more like a natural native English speaker AND get you higher marks on your IELTS exam.<\/p>\n

 
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In both the IELTS Writing and Speaking exams you will be assessed on your range of grammar and accuracy; this marking criteria actually makes up 25% of your overall score. Too often students focus only on fixing grammatical mistakes, but it is also important to use a variety of sentence structures (i.e. range) to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3995],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[5086],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ielts-resources"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS - Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-16T02:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-12-at-7.53.24-AM-1024x1014.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gwendolyn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gwendolyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gwendolyn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/5be1f638eca6dac09932ee2ab36408d3\"},\"headline\":\"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\"},\"wordCount\":438,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"IELTS Resources\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\",\"name\":\"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS - Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam\",\"description\":\"Everything you need to know about the IELTS\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Magoosh\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2020\/04\/site-title_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2020\/04\/site-title_logo.png\",\"width\":144,\"height\":37,\"caption\":\"Magoosh\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/5be1f638eca6dac09932ee2ab36408d3\",\"name\":\"Gwendolyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/eb7cd2f5b504a792343b64c3049561fe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c93c32172eb230a52db70374b34ab7889a779ad19d5b56731094cdc3e3c82fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c93c32172eb230a52db70374b34ab7889a779ad19d5b56731094cdc3e3c82fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gwendolyn\"},\"description\":\"Gwendolyn is our expert blogger on IELTS. She has experience in preparing students for the IELTS exam and is currently in South Korea teaching English as a Second Language. When not blogging, you are most likely to find her on an airplane, striving to obtain membership in the Traveler\u2019s Century Club, something she\u2019s just about as passionate about as helping students achieve their life dreams.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"IELTS\",\"ESL teaching\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Magoosh\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/author\/gwendolyn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS - Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam","description":"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS","og_description":"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam","article_published_time":"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-16T02:51:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-12-at-7.53.24-AM-1024x1014.png"}],"author":"Gwendolyn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gwendolyn","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/"},"author":{"name":"Gwendolyn","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/5be1f638eca6dac09932ee2ab36408d3"},"headline":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS","datePublished":"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/"},"wordCount":438,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization"},"articleSection":["IELTS Resources"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/","name":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS - Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-13T00:43:19+00:00","description":"Using conjunctions in IELTS will increase your grammatical range, which is 25% of your marking in the speaking and writing exams. Learn how to do this now.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/why-you-must-use-conjunctions-in-ielts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why You Must Use Conjunctions in IELTS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam","description":"Everything you need to know about the IELTS","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization","name":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2020\/04\/site-title_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2020\/04\/site-title_logo.png","width":144,"height":37,"caption":"Magoosh"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/5be1f638eca6dac09932ee2ab36408d3","name":"Gwendolyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/eb7cd2f5b504a792343b64c3049561fe","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c93c32172eb230a52db70374b34ab7889a779ad19d5b56731094cdc3e3c82fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c93c32172eb230a52db70374b34ab7889a779ad19d5b56731094cdc3e3c82fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gwendolyn"},"description":"Gwendolyn is our expert blogger on IELTS. She has experience in preparing students for the IELTS exam and is currently in South Korea teaching English as a Second Language. When not blogging, you are most likely to find her on an airplane, striving to obtain membership in the Traveler\u2019s Century Club, something she\u2019s just about as passionate about as helping students achieve their life dreams.","knowsAbout":["IELTS","ESL teaching"],"jobTitle":"Writer","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/author\/gwendolyn\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":5086,"user_id":170,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gwendolyn","display_name":"Gwendolyn","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c93c32172eb230a52db70374b34ab7889a779ad19d5b56731094cdc3e3c82fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"De Silva","first_name":"Gwendolyn","description":"Gwendolyn is our expert blogger on IELTS. She has experience in preparing students for the IELTS exam and is currently in South Korea teaching English as a Second Language. When not blogging, you are most likely to find her on an airplane, striving to obtain membership in the Traveler\u2019s Century Club, something she\u2019s just about as passionate about as helping students achieve their life dreams."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}