IELTS Energy 1590: Don’t Let Tiny Words Ruin Your IELTS Score

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast episode 1590. Don't let tiny words ruin your IELTS score. Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams.

Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. Are prepositions a thorn in your side? We've been hearing some preposition mistakes lately. Let's clear them up before test day and learn how to avoid them on the exams.

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Get started now at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. That's allearsenglish.com slash M Y S C O R E. Hey there, Aubrey. What's going on today? I am great.

How are you, Lindsay? I'm good. But Aubrey, I know that you speak very well in French. You also speak Spanish. But as you were learning those languages, or even now, do you struggle with prepositions in French and Spanish?

Absolutely. Prepositions are so difficult. They're so tricky. They're different in every language. If ever I try to translate directly from English, I make mistakes.

Wow. And there are some things that just make no sense for anyone out there who speaks French. Beaucoup de, and never do. What is that? It's so strange.

There are strange rules in every language when it comes to prepositions. It doesn't feel intuitive, right? And we kind of just have to know them. But these are common mistakes that we are hearing on IELTS speaking answers, right?

In our community. So we want to... Stamp these out right away. Yeah, right. These are tiny words that unfortunately can greatly throw you off, can affect your scores on both IELTS speaking and writing.

We see these mistakes on both of these exams. So yeah, this is one of the most common mistakes made on the IELTS exam. And we want to make sure that you can avoid them. We are going to share the most common errors to avoid and also strategies that will help you avoid mistakes with prepositions.

Yeah. Perfect. I mean, these things can pull down our grammar score on IELTS, right, Aubrey? I mean, we need to be careful here. So what are some of the big mistakes that we've been noticing lately?

Okay. So number one is interested about. So it's very common. Instead, the correct thing to say is interested in. So for example, if you're asked what subjects

interested you at school, you might say, I was particularly interested in biology because I loved learning about how the human body works. I even considered studying medicine at university. And you'd want to be careful not to say I was interested about biology. Interested in biology.

Yes. So interested in, let's get that in our heads here. Or maybe the preposition doesn't show up in the question, it shows up in your answer only. What do you think is one of the biggest benefits of travel, Aubrey?

Yeah. Maybe you might say, hands down, it's learning about other cultures. I'm really interested in the food traditions and way of life around the world. I definitely think visiting new places helps people become more open-minded.

So yeah, often. And it's also tricky with prepositions because sometimes a different preposition is used with a different verb depending on the context. So you can't always trust and parrot back the preposition used in a question.

It's interesting how this first question was, what subjects interested you at school? If you hear at, you might say like, oh, I was interested at something, something. No, you have to know. We say interested in.

Okay. Good point. Good point. That's why it's important to answer these yourself. So I would recommend guys, as you're listening today, actually pause the audio when we ask these questions and answer them yourself with the correct version of the preposition, right?

Exactly. What are you interested in? Practice answering a few of these questions. And depend of is another mistake we're seeing a lot. What's wrong with this, Aubrey?

It doesn't work. It doesn't work. No, it should be depend on. And this is especially tricky because there are two very common meanings. We'll go over both of them here.

So this means like dependent on, contingent on something, this first meaning. So maybe on part three, Lindsay, if you're asked, how do people choose where to travel on vacation? What might be part of your answer? I think it mostly depends on their budget and how much time they have off of work.

Some people prefer luxury trips while others travel on a tight budget. Exactly. So you hear this depends. It depends on their budget. There are a lot of other prepositions you could use.

This one's collocated with depends on. Yeah. It does mean something else though too, right? It also means trust someone. I depend on my parents or parents depend on their kids.

Kids depend on their parents, right? For... Shelter and food, that kind of thing. Exactly, right. Part two, you might be asked to describe a person you are able to rely on or depend on.

I might say, I've always been able to depend on my sister, whether it's giving me advice, providing emotional support, even financial assistance if I fell on hard times. I know that no matter what, she would be there for me. Yes. Love it.

And then the next mistake we're hearing is capable to, which feels like nails on a chalkboard to me. This is an interesting one. I think this mistake is likely caused by the synonym able to. Oh, sure.

How sneaky of English to have able to mean the same as capable of. That makes total sense why people are making that mistake. It might be translating from a first language, but also because of synonym interchangeable phrases in English that use different prepositions. Exactly.

So the right answer here is capable of something, right? So let's give an example. And again, guys, pause the podcast and answer this for yourself with the correct preposition. What skills are important for success in the workplace?

employees need to be capable of solving problems quickly and working well in a team. Those skills are absolutely essential in most modern workplaces. So yes, answer this yourself and use this chunk capable of. Yeah.

Anytime we personalize the use of something, we're going to remember it better, right? Absolutely. So how about another one? Do you think young people can change society?

Oh, yes. I think young people are definitely capable of creating change, especially when they organize around social or environmental issues. So yes, again, capable of and then the thing that they would do.

Yes. All right. And any other caveats here? Anything else we need to know operating? Yeah. The fourth thing we want to mention is there are so many words in English that have a noun and a verb form.

And this is often what we see creating these errors with prepositions. So a really good example is the verb lack, and then the noun lack, and that, the noun, we would say a lack of, a lack of something. But the verb, we would not. We would never say a lack of if we're using a verb.

Yeah. Can you ask me a question, Aubrey? I'll give an answer that demonstrates this. Yeah. I'll give you a part three question. How does living in an urban area compare to a rural area?

Well, many small towns lack public transportation, which makes it difficult for residents to commute to work. In contrast, a lack of affordable housing has become a serious problem in many major cities. Yeah. So you see at first she uses the verb, many towns lack public transportation.

That's a verb there. It means they don't have enough of it. But then she uses it as a noun, a lack of affordable housing. In contrast, a lack of affordable housing has become a serious problem.

Yeah. So this kind of complicates the preposition situation a little bit more, right? Because we have to know in some cases, are we using this as a noun or a verb?

And where do we need the preposition of after. Exactly. Prepositions are so tricky. There's so much to know. Stay after the break. We're going to give you some tips for learning prepositions so that you can avoid these errors on IELTS.

All right. Perfect. Sometimes English learners think their problem is vocabulary, but often the issue is something deeper. It's hesitation. You pause to translate.

You pause to check grammar. You pause to search for the perfect word. Those small pauses add up and interrupt the natural flow of conversation. You can respond with ease without constantly analyzing every sentence.

Our free two-minute fluency quiz will show you your current level and what skills you need to improve. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.

All right, Aubrey, we are back from break. So what are those tips that our listeners are just waiting for here? Yeah. So first of all, learn prepositions in context, in chunks, right?

Instead of memorizing lists, which is not going to help you, learn how they fit into phrases. For example, the ones that we taught today and interested in, frightened of these, you want these to sound natural going together. Like Lindsay said, you want it to sound like nails on a chalkboard if you say them or hear them incorrectly. Yeah.

You should have that reaction, right? For yourself, not just your teacher. Next one is pay attention. I think this is a really, this is an unsung hero.

We taught the phrase unsung hero over on All Airs English. Just paying attention to the language can go a really long way when you're consuming media like books, podcasts, movies. Even if you happen to live in an English speaking country already, you're listening, right? On the train, maybe.

Yeah. Exactly. Yes. It's not enough just to listen for content, right? You are also listening, you're being observant of the prepositions use, right? Whenever you are listening to a podcast, listening to others' conversations, so that you hear them correct in these chunks.

You hear words and the prepositions that go with them. And it's nice to do this because it's where you give yourself a chance to observe, consume, like a child learns a language when you're not immediately under pressure to produce that exact correct preposition in that moment. You're just consuming. So this is a really key piece of language learning in general.

Exactly. Your brain is absorbing all of those chunks so they start sounding correct to you. But especially if you are observant, if you're just kind of listening to find out what happened around the world, you might miss all of those collocations of the prepositions that you could be observing. Right.

And then the last piece is avoid direct translation. I mean, we have to keep saying it. We keep doing it, but we try to avoid it, right, as much as we can, because this is where we really get into trouble. I know sometimes I still directly translate from English into Spanish, but I know I shouldn't.

Yeah. Same. We're all guilty of this, right? So we've mentioned this earlier in the podcast. This is absolutely vital that on IELTS, you don't just first think, how would I say this in my first language?

And then parrot that because the prepositions will be wrong almost all of the time. So don't translate from your native language. Practice answering IELTS speaking questions directly from English using the prepositions that you've been observing as you take in English. observing.

That is the key. I went to a Spanish meetup last night, like kind of an advanced Spanish group. And just really part of the learning, part of the exercise was, yes, I love speaking. I want to speak, speak, speak.

But a big part of it was also sitting back and listening to these advanced Spanish speakers. There were a couple of native speakers and then a couple of just really high level Americans speaking Spanish. And just sitting back and listening to prepositions. What prepositions are used after each verb or noun?

And that's learning too. It doesn't always have to be that you're speaking. That's really important, I think, Aubrey. Exactly. It's so true. It's a little counterintuitive.

Even as you are preparing for the speaking exam, a lot of your preposition is about listening and observing to language so that you can create it correctly. Yeah, exactly. We have to know what preparation really is. And it's not always that speak and get corrected, right?

It's not always that. Guys, go to IELTS Energy 1584. Don't fumble an easy pass. How to avoid the three biggest speaking part one mistakes. Find out what those are so you don't make them.

Okay. Yes. If you missed that episode, scroll up, check it out. Definitely hit follow. You might be missing amazing episodes with great strategies for the IELTS exam.

Any other final takeaways, Aubrey, today on prepositions? This is so big, right? This is one of the most common errors that are pulling down IELTS grammar scores, both speaking and writing. So you want to be very proactive about avoiding these errors.

You're not the only one out there, right? There is solidarity. This is very common. A lot of students making this mistake. Now that you're aware of it, there's so much you can do to practice and prepare to avoid these errors on test day.

Yeah. I'm glad we covered this one today, Aubrey, because it's really a thorn in our side, as we say, right? But there are ways to get around this and still get that target score you need for your dream life post IELTS. All right.

Absolutely. Yes. Awesome. So excited for you to practice these prepositions today and start being more observant of prepositions as you are listening in English.

All right. Sounds good, Aubrey. We'll talk soon. Take care. Awesome. See you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.