This is the IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1533, Three Time Prepositions for IELTS Writing Task 1.
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.
What is the difference between a band six student and a band seven student?
Sometimes it's related to the time phrases you use in your task one essay.
Learn more in today's episode.
Do people ever ask you to repeat yourself in English even though you know you're saying it right?
You've mastered grammar and vocabulary, but your ideas don't always sound as strong as they are.
It's not your English knowledge, it's your sound system.
In Global English Pronunciation available next week, you'll uncover the hidden rhythm and patterns that make English sound natural and effortless, no matter your accent.
And this brand new course will be available next week at a special price.
Speak with clarity, confidence, and impact.
Go right now to allearsenglish.com slash pronunciation to get on the early interest list.
And you'll be the first to know when the course goes live next week.
Allearsenglishcom slash pronunciation.
Hello Aubrey.
How are you?
I'm great.
How are you doing?
Doing good, Aubrey.
So let's talk a little bit today about time prepositions.
Do you find time prepositions difficult in the languages that you've learned, like French?
I know you're fluent in French.
Yes.
Do you find that hard?
But these were during, from, between.
They work differently in French and sometimes Spanish.
Yeah.
So it is confusing.
I can understand why.
You know, I make mistakes in French with these.
This is difficult and you need to be able to use these on IELTS.
Yeah, sometimes a lot of the mistakes come from trying to translate directly from your native language into that language.
And that just leads to a big mess, right?
Yes, exactly.
Prepositions work differently across languages.
This is one of the major reasons that you can't translate directly.
Yes.
And then, of course, we want to turn this into a high score on IELTS.
So that's why the stakes get even higher.
So guys hit the follow button right here on the podcast so you don't miss a second single episode of the show we publish twice a week right here on IELTS Energy.
All right.
Yes, exactly.
So we're especially talking about IELTS writing, task one today where, if you have change over time questions, you are going to have to use these prepositions of time.
So we'll give some good examples here.
But even if you're not taking academic IELTS.
These will be very useful for out speaking questions to talk about when things happened.
And also task two, this could come up as well.
Okay, so this is all around going to be a useful episode.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, good.
Where do we start today, Aubrey?
So you have to be ready to use time prepositions in English to describe those charts and graphs that you're going to see on IELTS Writing, Task 1.
So often what we'll see.
Students will make mistakes with during, from to, with dates and between episodes and on task one, yeah.
So today we're going to give you tips on using these correctly.
We'll talk about what a change over time essay is and give you lots of examples so you can use these correctly.
Yeah, and aubrey over your career here.
I mean, you've been doing ielts for more than five years.
You have seen tons of task one essays, So you could say this with confidence that these are the mistakes that you've seen right.
Exactly.
I see this mistake a lot where students will write.
For example, during 2012 to 2024, produce sales rose from 2000 to 4000 right.
This is a big, very common mistake.
It's easy to do, especially if you're translating directly from your first language.
It sounds like a translation from Spanish, I think.
Yes, absolutely.
Potentially or French.
Or French.
Yeah, we don't want to do that.
So, okay, how can we fix this mistake then?
So let's first just make sure we're clear about what this is, a change over time essay.
So there are different types of essays, charts and graphs that you'll get on Academic Tax One.
One of them we call change over time because it shows multiple months or years and how information changed over that period of time.
Static is the other type of essay where it shows one snapshot in time.
It doesn't show how that information changed over time.
So the vocabulary that you use, the way you describe this information will be different.
Yeah.
So the two types of essays, just to recap, are change over time and static.
Are those the only two types of task one essays that we're going to see?
There are also process diagrams.
So those work a little differently.
But when it comes to pie charts, bar charts, graphs. they will either be change over time or static.
Okay, that's really important to know.
We've got to get the basics down here first, right?
Absolutely.
Make sure we've got that.
So tell us about the phrases we might use to talk about time.
Yeah.
So for change over time, you have to describe how that information changed over time.
You can't just say this increased, this decreased.
It has to be vocabulary that shows that you can analyze what changed over a period of time.
So we're going to share these three prepositions of time that you'll need. and how to use them.
So let's start with during.
When would we use this word, Lindsay?
So when there's one point in time after another point, or let's see.
So let's give some examples.
And then we use one point in time after this, right?
We can't use it when we're sharing a starting and an ending point.
This is the mistake we see the most often. during and then a start date and an end date.
It can't be used that way.
Right.
So for example, we could say laptop purchases decreased during 2022.
Right. or during the year 2022, right?
Yeah, right.
During April, it's going to be one set moment in time after during.
It's not showing a range of time when we use the word during.
Very important.
Or the price of soda increased during the summer of 2012.
Maybe it was a really hot summer.
Exactly.
A lot of soda being imbibed.
Or during the first part of the year, produce sales skyrocketed.
Exactly.
So it can be, you'll see there's a lot of different vocabulary options here during 2022.
Yeah, during the summer of 2012, during July, during the first part of the year.
A lot of options, but none of those show a range of time that provides a starting and ending point.
Yeah.
So anytime we're seeing during, we're using during, there should not be two points.
It's just one, right?
Exactly.
Okay.
That's pretty clear.
How about number two?
Yeah, so to is when you are sharing a starting and ending point.
We can say from the first, the starting point, to and the ending point.
For example, the price of wheat increased from June to September.
Good.
Okay.
Excellent.
Or from 2013 to 2016, student enrollment plunged to 300.
Yeah.
Or starting in June, sales jumped from 1.5 million euros to to 3 million euros.
So you can see how flexible this is.
It's not just about two time periods.
It could be two amounts, right?
It's showing from one to the next.
That's important to point that out.
Absolutely.
You're filling out an application for a new job and it asks about your level of English.
What do you say?
Do you know your true English fluency level?
Maybe you've taken a test and were told that you had B2 English or upper intermediate.
But when you get into a spontaneous conversation with a native speaker, you still feel like a beginner.
Take our free quiz and find out your true English fluency level right away and get specialized tips to reach the next level.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.
That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E.
Okay, Aubrey, and then the last one is between and and.
Tell us about that.
Exactly.
So here you're going to have a starting and ending point as well.
It works very similarly to from to, but the words are between and.
So it's good to have all of these so you can switch it up.
You don't want to repeat prepositions, just like you don't want to repeat any vocabulary.
Yes, totally.
So here's some examples.
Between May and February, the price of soda dove from $3.12 to $1.50 per can.
Oh, wouldn't that be nice?
Wouldn't that be nice?
Yeah.
Or smartwatch purchases plunged from 1,000 to 500 between 2012 and 2020.
So you can see it could be an amount that we're changing between and.
It could be a date.
Just like from two, it's a little flexible that way.
But when you use this language, you are sharing a starting point and an ending point.
And an important side point here, not what today's about, but it's important to know we're not just always saying increase decrease, went up, went down.
That's very robotic and band six, isn't it, Aubrey?
Exactly.
Yes.
Notice the language here.
Plunged, jumped, skyrocketed.
We're using this band 9 vocabulary to describe these numbers.
It's not that easy to pull in a lot of high scoring vocabulary when you're describing charts and numbers.
This is the way you do it, to use more interesting and less common words.
Words to describe how much the numbers changed.
I love it.
But how do we practice this?
I mean, how?
Because these are scenarios we don't necessarily come across every day.
We have to go seek out some content, don't we?
Exactly.
Right.
So look at a newspaper and look for those graphs, tables and charts when data is shown.
And every time you see one, write a sentence about it using these prepositions and make sure to keep these rules in mind.
If you're saying during, it's going to be one point in time from to between, and you'll have a starting point and an ending point.
Love that.
I love that.
So just kind of looking for content.
And it's more interesting too if you're using real life content that you're seeing in the newspaper, right?
Instead of just working through practice books for IELTS.
Exactly.
You also want to look at the descriptions in the business and finance sections of any data.
And when you spot a sentence that's describing how information changed over time, Write that down.
Analyze the vocabulary that was used.
Is this something you could use?
Could you improve upon it?
And then when you spot an accurate sentence that's describing change over time, graphs and charts, we want to write it down.
Right.
Whether we see that I don't know on IELTS practice essay or where would we see that just sort of in the business or finance sections?
Anytime you see. data analyzed, discussed, right?
Polls that are reported.
You're going to see these types of sentences where it shows how information changes over time.
So good.
Aubrey, are we going to put something on the blog that our listeners should check out?
Yes, you want to come and check out the blog, allersenglish.com.
We are going to post a chart that compares sales of different trees over like a 30-year period.
We want you to practice.
Write a task, one essay, using today's prepositions, to describe this information and how it changed over time.
Good.
So if you're having a hard time finding data, we have something on the blog just to use that right away to get started with practicing.
If you're feeling motivated after today's episode, that's the place to go.
Absolutely.
It's not enough to know about these prepositions.
You have to write your own task one essays.
You have to work with them so that on test day you're very comfortable and confident describing the data from these charts and graphs.
Yeah.
And I think that's the takeaway.
We want to be ready to describe change over time, charts and graphs when it comes to academic task one, Aubrey right.
Exactly.
Practice with today's prepositions so that you are ready for test day.
Awesome.
Good stuff today, guys.
Hit the follow button on IELTS Energy if you love our show.
All right.
Great stuff.
See you next time, Lindsay.
All right.
Take care, Aubrey.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
Hit subscribe now, and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglishcom.
Slash my score.
Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way.
So fast.
Or like a month.
With OfferWatch.
So, want to drive?
CarMax.
Pickup not available everywhere.
Restrictions and fee may apply.
