Active and passive voice In well-structured academic writings, a balance of both active and passive voices can be tracked. While “passive
voice” is practical in formal writing, the unnecessary passive voice will be penalized.
For example The garden was trimmed by me before they arrived. (unnecessary passive voice)
I had trimmed the garden before they arrived. (appropriate active voice)
The painting is done by an anonymous local artist. (appropriate passive voice.)
An anonymous local artist has painted it . (appropriate active voice)
Subject-verb agreement A common area of grammatical mistakes is around subjects and their following verbs. Subjects and verbs should
always agree in terms of being “singular” or “plural.” A singular subject takes a singular verb, whereas a plural
subject takes a plural verb. Note that uncountable nouns and singular indefinite pronouns, such as “everyone,”
someone,” “anyone,” “somebody,” “something,” “anything,” “nothing,” etc., take singular verbs.
For example Chemistry is a fun subject to study. (singular subject and singular verb)
Firstly, glass is collected from recycling sites. (uncountable noun and singular verb)
Some countries are developing their tourism industry. (plural subject and plural verb)
Parents do their best to raise their children. (plural subject and plural verb)
Nobody is home. Everyone is out on a picnic. (Singular indefinite pronouns and singular verbs)
Many people travel these days. (Plural indefinite pronoun and plural verb)
Conditionals Conditionals are great examples of complex structures that are essential in writing task 2. They are preferably used
as a part of an explanation or an example in body paragraphs. Depending on the situation, zero conditionals,
conditional types I, II, or III could clarify an idea in a body paragraph. Using conditionals, more advanced
alternatives such as, unless, otherwise, provided that, etc., should also be considered.
