Today’s post takes the form of a short mini-lesson about vocabulary for IELTS essays and opinion language in particular.
Variety
One focus is on the need to use varied language to say “I think” or “I believe”. The reason for this is quite simple, throughout the essay you are going to need to state opinions on a regular basis, therefore you will need a ready stock of different opinion phrases.
Being impersonal
The second focus is on the need for impersonal language. There are 2 separate reasons for this.
- Firstly, when you are being academic, the convention is that you do not overuse the pronoun “I”.
- The second and connected reason is that part of the academic process is to examine others’ points of view and not just state your own.
Some possible variations
Note you can drag and click the mindmap to see all the words and that it can be expanded
A practical suggestion
You should note that these variations are based around only using 3 words: “say” “argue” and “claim”. This can be a very efficient way to learn the language.
There are of course many, many other alternatives. Before you try and learn all the possible alternatives, I suggest that you get confident with a relatively limited range such as this first. Quality before quantity.
The need to practise
Language is learned through practice. Take a look at my website at opinion language for some practice ideas, an introductory video and more detail on opinion language.
Another recently updated and highly relevant page is How to learn vocabulary.
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