IELTS Energy 1639: How Can the Subjunctive Boost Your IELTS Grammar Scores?

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, episode 1639. How can the subjunctive boost your IELTS grammar 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.

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To increase your IELTS grammar score, you don't need to learn all of the grammar tenses. Just memorize a few useful subjunctive phrases to play strategically into your speaking answers. Find out what chunks to use and how to use them today.

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One more time, go to allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Lindsay. How are you today? I'm doing great, Aubrey. What are we getting into today in the IELTS Energy podcast?

What are we talking about? Subjunctive. But if you're intimidated by subjunctive mood in English, never fear. We have a couple of great chunks that you could learn to use this on IELTS Speaking.

No stress. So I'm excited to get into this. Let's use one of them in a question here, Lindsay. Okay. Yes. If you were to go back, what would you change if you could go back in time?

Oh, if I were able to go back in time, I would maybe work less and play more. I bet that's the answer for a lot of people, right? More fun. Travel more.

Yes. I would take more trips. I would, yeah, just be a little bit more relaxed, right, about career and that kind of thing. What about you, Aubrey? What would you do differently if you were able to go back in time?

I mean, I don't know. It's interesting. You know what? If I were to go back in time, I would go to law school. I would have gone to law school right after I finished my bachelor's degree instead of waiting because I kind of waited too long and I was like, meh.

So yeah, opposite of you. I would have played less, traveled less, and gotten more serious about my education. Play less, work more. Okay, I love it. Play less, work more.

The exact answer is perfect. But this is really interesting. We're teaching you a strategy today that is really useful, especially on part two when you have to fill two minutes. But really all over the IELTS exam, if you've answered the question and you feel like you need to share more details, you can always do this, share, what would you do differently if you were to go back in time?

If you were to change things, what would you change? Yeah, I love that idea. It's so incredibly smart because you're deploying a grammar, you know, a grammar phrase that will immediately increase your score if you do it right. Yes.

And you're adding that empty space, adding to that white space that you're trying to fill anyways. Exactly. Yeah. So we recently discussed how to do this with unreal conditionals.

Stay to the end and we'll share details if you missed that episode. This is another way to do this. And you know that you need a variety of grammar constructions. So really, if you're using simple compound and complex sentences, you're satisfying that requirement.

But if you want to challenge yourself to use the subjunctive, we're showing you today how to do this in a simple way, because subjunctive mood can be very tricky. And Especially because native speakers don't always use it. They use it incorrectly a lot.

So this is difficult. But if you learn today's chunks, you can do it. You can memorize a chunk that you can just fill in like a template that you can fill in details and do it in a simple way. That is so much better and stress-free compared to, you know, the charts that used to appear at the back of grammar textbooks.

We're not going to do that today, guys. We're not going to go through the entire subjunctive mood. We're going to give you two, essentially imagine that you're learning vocabulary, right? Two high scoring grammar chunks is what we're going to get today.

All right. So good. Yeah. So be sure to hit follow, guys. We love to give strategies that are very manageable so that you can use them on test day. So wherever you listen to podcasts, be sure to follow IELTS Energy.

Exactly. And we do want to announce the results of a poll, guys. Don't forget, if you're a listener over in Spotify, you have an option to participate in our amazing polls. And this is so fun because we can kind of get to know you, you can get to know us, and we can kind of have a bit of a conversation back and forth.

So Aubrey, what episode was this on? This was 1617, which was called How to Increase Your IELTS Score in 10 Days. We had a listener ask, what should I be doing in the final 10 days before the exam? And on Spotify, we asked, how much time do you have left before your exam?

And this was really interesting. We had answers all across the board. We actually had two people respond one day, and then quite a few people had 10 days left as well. Yeah, this was a real breakdown, right?

So what percentage had one day left? Oh my gosh, this group is really... That's surprising, right? I'm like, wow, I love that people are still listening to the podcast. When you're taking the exam tomorrow, you've got one day until your test.

Yeah. So the percentage there is 18% of you are one day away. 9% of you are 10 days away. What about 30 and 60, Aubrey? Yeah. So 36% still have 30 days.

60 days was 10% and 90 days was 27%. So quite a few people listening when they still have quite a bit of time. I love it. At the end of today's episode, we're going to get a new poll.

So get ready to answer that after you listen today, guys. Let's get into these amazing high scoring grammar chunks. Aubrey, what's the first one? Let's do it.

Okay. So the first one, they both start with if I were. So of course, on IELTS speaking, you're usually talking about yourself. So you could, you know, replace the pronoun if you're talking on part two about someone else.

If he were, if she were, you'll replace the pronoun and the verb will stay the same. And then it's followed by an infinitive. So that's to and the base verb. So this is used, of course, to describe an imaginary and unlikely possibility.

For example, if I were to do things differently, if I were to go back in time. So you see how we have if I were and then the infinitive to and the base verb.

Okay. If I were to do things differently, and then how do we complete that sentence? So for example, if on part two, you're asked to describe a favorite teacher, and of course you describe the teacher, you share why you love them, their name, describe them, and you find I still have a full minute to talk. This is a great strategy.

You could say, if I were to go back in time, I'd show more gratitude to my teachers. And then think of how much more you could say about what you wish you could do differently. Wow. Right.

Maybe how you fell short in terms of showing gratitude just opens up a whole other realm of expression, right? It takes us out of kind of the present tense, the past tense, moves us into a whole nother world and shows that flexibility. And that's a great example of a question that might be hard to fill with two minutes if you can't think of a story, especially like there's only so much you can say about a favorite teacher, especially if it's been a while since you were in school. Right.

But think of how much when you just answer the question, and then you can share anything related. Absolutely use an unreal conditional or the subjunctive mood to share what you would do differently if you were to go back in time. Perfect. All right.

So that is our first grammar chunk right there, right? And then the second one, right? It starts the same. If I were, but the difference is then this is followed instead of by that infinitive, by a noun or an adjective.

So doing the same thing, describing something hypothetical. For example, if you're asked about high school, you could say, if I were a teenager again, I'd worry less. So we have that, if I were, and then the noun. a teenager.

If I were young again, I would study more. Okay. Or this could be a part one question could come up about work, right? You might say, if I were more confident, I would speak up more in meetings.

That adjective, right? If I were more confident, if I were less shy, what would I do differently? Or on part two, you might be asked to describe something you wish were different about modern society. And maybe you'd say, if I were in charge, it would be illegal for kids to have a cell phone before age 16.

This is true for me. I totally agree with that. I completely agree. I was telling Lindsay, my kids are 12, my twins, and a lot of their friends are being given phones.

And so it's hard for me because now my kids think they should have one and I don't want them to have one this young. And maybe when they drive, maybe 16, that still seems young for me, but it's hard when all of their friends have phones.

I mean, it's just like, let's have more time being a kid, right? He's just, I don't know. Just even around my five-month-old, I try to keep the phone down when I'm around him as much as I can, just because he's going to have his whole life to have other people not looking at him, but looking at their phone instead. So it's like, oh, God.

It's crazy now if you look around a restaurant and you just see all these people on their phones. phones. I wonder if everyone else has that experience too. Or if people are, if you're waiting in line for coffee, no one's looking around at anyone else.

Everyone's on their phone. Like it's just really removed a lot of the human connection. We have to try so much harder now to like start a conversation. Yeah.

We are totally on the same page there, Aubrey. I'm thinking 24 for my kid. No, I mean, there you go. I love it. All right. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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All right, Aubrey. So shall we do some examples? What should we do here? Yeah, let's do it. So we're going to do a couple of part one questions here. Lindsay, let me ask you one first.

Ready? And then try to use the subjunctive mood here. And just before we do this, let me just make sure our listeners know and I know, how long should I speak in this part one answer? Is it just one phrase you're looking for?

Are we looking for three, five sentences? What are we talking about? Yeah. So give us a complete part one answer, which would be like three to five sentences.

Part one answers are the shortest, but you still don't want to give like a one word answer, a one sentence. You still want to show your fluency. So that's why you could even use this on part one. If it's a question where like you feel like...

I don't really have all that much I could say. This is a great strategy to add an additional sentence. What would you change? Okay. Love it. Let's do it.

Okay. Here's your part one question. Is there anything you would like to change about your hometown? Oh, 100%. If I were in charge in my hometown, I'd reverse the recent decision that was made by my hometown to eliminate competition among scooter providers.

Last year, they got rid of the two companies that were providing scooters and bikes. And if I were in a I would bring both of those companies back so there's more competition. So in that case, there would be more competition.

And I would have more options for how to get home when I'm walking around Denver and I need a scooter. Oh, great answer. Yeah, that's crazy. I hate when competition is removed.

Then it's like always the service goes down because you can get away with anything when you've got a monopoly. Exactly what's happened, Aubrey. It makes me crazy. I got stuck in pouring rain last night trying to get home from Orange Theory and I needed a scooter and all the scooters, the battery was dead.

Why? Because this one company has no competition. It made me crazy. Yeah. Yeah. If we were in charge. That's my beef. That's my beef. Yeah. So good. All right.

How'd I do? Awesome. Yes. That's perfect. Right. And this is interesting. This kind of question really lends toward this construction because I'm asking like, what would you change?

So it's already, you're like, this is a layup for that, right? If I were in charge, I'd change this. Yeah. But even another, if you're just like, what's your favorite restaurant?

You know, and you'd be like, well, it's probably this one, you know, Grimaldi's around the corner. But if I were in charge, I'd change their lasagna recipe, whatever it is, right? It'd be really easy to use for any question.

Love that. Love that. Let's move on then to part two, Aubrey. And we know part two is a little bit longer, right? Yes. So I'm going to give a part two answer here.

These are two minutes. So Lindsay, if you have a timer handy, time me for two minutes. And normally, remember, this is a question where you have a minute to think before you answer. You can take notes, think of some good phrases, think of a story that you could tell, think of some linking phrases, jot that down, you can refer to those notes.

And remember, we've mentioned this before in the podcast, but you're going to be given three like bullet points here. You don't have to cover those. You can ignore those entirely and just tell a story. All that matters is that you actually answer the question, that you actually describe what you're being asked to describe.

So important to prepare for IELTS so we know we can ignore those bullet points, right? We have to know the insider strategy. And I'm just glad our listeners are here on the show with us today. So Aubrey, I'm going to get you started with your time.

Are you ready? Here's the question. Describe a time you moved to a new place. Oh, when I finished my bachelor's degree, I moved to New York City, the Big Apple.

And at first, it was fantastic. I had my two young children. But lucky for me, my husband was the stay at home dad. And so he had to deal with all of the difficulties of having toddlers in the city.

I had it easy. I was going to school, completing my master's degree. And I was teaching in the Bronx. which sounds difficult, but compared to taking care of a brand new baby and a two-year-old, it was a piece of cake, walk in the park.

But for him, it was really a struggle. So if I were to go back in time... I'd help him more. I think about this sometimes. I don't remember cooking much.

I don't remember doing laundry, hardly ever. I think I was busy studying. I was busy preparing lessons. And I really left it to him to do everything else.

And now... I'm home and I really appreciate how much he pitches in. He's still helping with cooking and laundry and we really share a lot of those responsibilities equally. And I think back to when we lived in New York and I'm like, oh man, I think I really took advantage of it.

of being the one working full time, like, I'm too tired, I don't have time to help with the housework with all of these responsibilities. But yeah, if I were to go back, if I were to live in New York, again, I would do that differently. I would or if really, if I were the one working full time, and my partner were the one who's home,

I would be more careful to be thoughtful about helping with household chores, with laundry, dishes, all of those things, cooking, meal prep, all of the things that I sort of was considering like, this isn't my responsibility. This is the job for the person who's home all day and has time. Thank you. Thank you.

Great answer. I saw that you kind of went back around again when maybe it was the time going a little slower than you thought. Yeah, I was like, I don't have anything else to say. I'm going to say it.

Let's go back. If I were there again, what would I do? You went back around again with the hypothetical again, but great job adding more details, right? Going back with another subjunctive phrase and then just adding more details on how it felt.

I loved it. Great answer, Aubrey. Interesting. I intentionally threw in a couple of idioms when I first said that I had moved to New York. I was like, oh, I could throw in, you know, the big apple or whatever I said.

So it's interesting. The more you practice, the more you're going to be flexible with some of the idiomatic language that you're learning, that they'll come to you and be like, oh, I can throw these in to get a higher vocabulary score as well. Yeah, really good. So guys, take these sample answers.

Listen again. Take these two chunks. I mean, this is kind of the key takeaway for today, right? We're not learning all about the subjunctive tense. We're not going to go into all the details.

Just take these chunks. Exactly. And make them work for your score. Often with verb tenses like this or, you know, subjunctive mood, it can be extremely complicated and you might actually pull down your grammar score if you're trying to use it, trying to fit it in when it's difficult.

But if you learn these chunks that are really easy to squeeze into any answer, learn them word for word, right? If I were, and then what am I going to finish that sentence with? Then you can boost your grammar scores.

Love it. So good. All right. What's the poll for today, Aubrey? Shall we go ahead and get our listeners polling? Yes. Come to Spotify and fill out this poll.

If you were able to go back in time, which would you do? We've got a few options. Travel more, start studying English earlier. We've heard that from a lot of students.

Try to make more money. Or would you change nothing? Hopefully it's I would change nothing, right? That's what we hope for. Yeah, that's in a perfect world.

Yeah, in a perfect world. Guys, if you want to keep listening to our show, your next destination will be IELTS Energy 1629. Boost your IELTS grammar score with these conditionals. Go and check that out.

Really good one to continue with this theme of using conditionals using subjunctive to just increase that score. These are two grammar forms that you can do that. You can share what would you do differently if you could go back, if you could change something, which is such a great strategy to add more details to answers if ever you're running out of things to say. Yes, I love it.

Any final takeaway for today, Aubrey, that we want to leave our listeners with? Strategies like this are so important. If you go on test day, like I'm good, I'm fluent, you never know when you're going to get a question where you're like, I just don't have that much to say. And sometimes it's hard to just make stuff up on the fly.

So use strategies like today's, be ready with these chunks, these phrases that you can just fill in the details depending on the question. Yeah. And keep in mind that does happen to native speakers as well. Oh, absolutely.

They walk in feeling fluent, not knowing anything about the exam, not knowing anything about what the examiner wants, and they end up scoring like a six. How embarrassing, right? I know.

So that's why you're here listening. We also have our course, Three Keys Isles. If many students need to go further, they need a more organized study plan and a roadmap, and you need all the strategies organized for you in a clear step-by-step process. That's over at Three Keys Isles.

Aubrey, where can we get that course? Yeah, go to allearsenglish.com slash keys, K-E-Y-S, for every strategy you need to be ready on test day. All right. Sounds good.

Thanks for being on the mic together, Aubrey. Talk to you soon. See you next time. Bye. All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash my score.