IELTS Writing Task 1: comparing numbers

Fill the gaps in the following text using the words below it. If you find any of the gaps difficult, miss them and come back to them after doing the easier ones.

Emigration from the UK

The number of people leaving the UK for 12 months or more ______ ______ record ______ in 2008, ______ an estimated 427,000 people emigrating. This ______ ______ from 341,000 in 2007.

There has been a large ______ ______ the number of people emigrating for work related reasons, particularly those with a definite job to go to. In 2008 an estimated 136,000 people emigrated from the UK to take up a definite job, ______ ______ 100,000 in 2007.

- in
- high
- increase
- up
- reached
- with (x2)
- a
- compared
- was

Comments

[Smile]

Hi Simon ,
I found it difficult to understand this business letter.will you please simplify and rephrase it to me?
I recently was petitioned to consummate an assessment of m supervisor.He registered very prominently in several of the domains on the assessment .
He competently imparts intent and instructions,gives acknowledgment for a pursuit commendably completed,and exemplifies enterprise in dilemma analysis.He is adaptable and has an immense sense of comicality

[Joe]

Hi Simon,

Sorry to ask but why you don't include Letter exercises for GT exam candidates ?

[Maya]

-reached
-a
-high
-with
-was
-up
-increase
-in
-compared
-with

[Dang Vu]

Hi Simon,

This is my answer:
1. with
2. a
3. high
4. reached
5. was
6. up
7. increase
8. in
9. compared
10. with

Also, I find it is difficult between the using of "compare to" and "compare with". Could you tell me more?

Thank a lot

[Roka]

Hi simon
This is my answer:
1. reached
2. a
3. high
4. with
5. was
6. up
7. increase
8. in
9. compared
10. with

[Marya Qulta]

Hi Simon,
I am really very delighted to return back to your useful site.
I am still struggling with the IELTS,My last test result was overall 7.I got 7 in writing and speaking.8 in listening.Thank you for your highly beneficial lessons which I took in Manchester,but unfortunately. I moved to South Wales with my family.My weakness point is in reading.I got only 6 in my last test. I need your help in this part.I know well how to go through the reading passage and I know the strategy for answering the questions,However I am still doing silly mistakes. I need to get 7 as well.Please,can you help me?

I put my answers for this difficult paragraphs:
1-reached
2-a
3-high
4-with
5-was
6-up
7-increase
8-in
9-compared
10-with
Thank you
Marya

[Marya Qulta]

I think I did mistakes in my answers.
No 3 should be up
No.6 should be high
Thank you

[Sunny]

1.reached
2.a
3.high
4.with
5.was
6.up
7.increase
8.in
9.compared
10.with

[Nafiseh]

Hi dear Simon,
These are my answers:

1-reached a
2-high
3-with
4-up was
5-increase in
6-compared with

[Aika]

Hi Simon,

My answers:
1)reached a
2)high
3)with
4)was up
5)increase in
6)compared with

[Kai]

reached
-a
-high
-with
-was
-up
-increase
-in
-compared
-with

[light]

reached
a
high
with
was
up
incerase
in
compared
with

[Mir G]

Hello Simon
1-reached
2-a
3-high
4-with
5-was
6-up
7-increase
8-in
9-compared
10-with

[moni]

hi Simon!!
I have a question related with answering , yes, no, not given, true, false question in the reading part.

can I answer only T,F, NG , Y, N,NG or is it better to write the full word?

thank you very much for all your lessons!!

[Firas Bashee]

Hi Simon
My answer is:
1. reached
2. a
3. high
4. with
5. was
6. up
7. increase
8. in
9. compared
10. with

[Lilly]

Hi Simon,
My answer is
reached a
high
with
was up
increase in
compared with

[anita]

hi simon,

just let me know whether this sentence is correct or not pls...

parents who are away from the children and some family matters may be the reasons for narrowing children towards the drug addiction..

thanks a lot

[jawairia]

Hi Simon,
My answer is given below:

reached
a
High
with
was
up
increase
in
compared
with

Many thanks,

[Kai]

It is quiet interesting to see you used compared with, I only used compared to. I tried to google but found it confusing.

[Joe]

Hi anita,

Check this out.

Children who live away from their parents due to some family matters are vulnerbale to drug addiction.

Explanation: Children is the main entity here that you want to talk about so start with it, sound more authoritative. Alway think cause/effect.

To be able to start evaluating your writing, try to compare it against sentences and paragraphs you read from an article on the economist.com website. And ask yourself these questions:

Does my sentence sounds as good as the one I read on this site. What should I do to improve it, what other band 7 words can I use to express the same idea.

First train yourself to write clean sentences. Then when master that, start writing clean paragraphs by mastering how to connect and sequence these phrases. After that, move to write a complete essay!

Hope this motivates you,

Joseph.

Hope this helps,

Joseph

[sarah]

hi joseph..
i found your advise really good..i hv to get 7 each n my only weak link is writing..c u plz advise me wat sud i do..i hv gvn before as well but failed in writing..plz advise me..
thanx
sarah.
p.s i m going for academic one.

[Christina]

Hi Simon,
I have some questions regarding article 'the'
1. 'The graph below shows UK acid rain emissions, measured in millions of tonnes, from four different sectors between 1990 and 2007.'
This is a graph title taken from one of ur posts. i'm so confused as to why article'the' is not put before UK. Likewise, I saw another sentence'The chart below shows average hours and minutes spent by UK males and females on different daily activities.' and 'the' is dropped as well

2. Should you say 'young and old' or 'the young and the old'in this sentence 'a game show can encourage some friendly competition amongst both young and old'

3.'It is noticeable that levels of poverty were higher for single people than for couples' Should you put 'the' before levels? and what are the rules governing the use of article'the' before 'nouns+preposition'?

4.'While acid rain gases from the domestic sector and other industries fell gradually, the transport sector saw a small increase in emissions.'
Should you put 'the' before emissions as you are talking about specific emissions here.

5.In one of your pie charts writing,
'The third compound shown in the charts is fat.Fat constitues exactly _one fifth of both the average diet and the healthy diet, but the figure drops to only 15% for the healthy sports diet.'
I dont understand why the word compound is used here. should constituent or component be more appropriate as compound means a combination of two or more things?

6. 'The proportion of spending on leisure and education was also highest in Turkey, at 4.35%, while expenditure on clothing and footwear was significantly higher in Italy, at 9%, than in any of the other countries.'

Is it ok to put 'the' before higher in Italy

Thanx and sorry about the same questions in your other posts. just disregard them.

[deniz]

Hi Simon,
I just have started to working for ielts. I hope your advice will be benefical for me.
my answers:
reached
high
up
with
was
compared
increase
in
was
with

[Han]

Hello Simon,
My answer is:

1. with
2. a
3. up
4. was
5. reached
6. high
7. increase
8. in
9. compared
10.with

Thank you very much for your useful site

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

- REACHED A record HIGH... WITH

- This WAS UP from

- a large INCREASE IN

- COMPARED WITH

...

I'll answer other questions later today - a bit busy at the moment!

[anita]

hi joe,

thanks a lot for your kind help.its motivates me lot...

anita

[UT]

Hi Simon,

Could we use "compared to" instead of "compared with" in this exercise?

Thank you in advance.

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

Sorry about the delay! Here are some answers to other questions on this page:

...

Hi Smile,

I think you should forget about that letter - it won't help you with IELTS, and I don't know any English speakers who would write like that!

...

Hi Joe,

I don't teach any GT students here in Manchester, so I haven't ever needed to produce materials for the letter task. I just stick to what I know best here on the site, so it's all for the academic test I'm afraid.

...

Hi Marya,

I think you know my advice about techniques, so there's not much I can add. All you can really do is keep practising, and make sure you analyse all of your mistakes carefully - maybe learning from your mistakes will be the key to help you improve. Good luck!

...

Hi Moni,

Personally, I'd write the full words, but apparently it's acceptable to write T,F,NG.

...

Hi Anita,

We don't use 'narrowing' in that way.

Joseph's advice is really good.

...

Hi Kai and UT,

'Compared with' and 'compared to' are the same - you can use either.

...

Great advice Joe. Thanks again for your help!

...

Hi Christina,

Those are really useful questions. I find it difficult to teach articles because there are so many different rules and uses. However, your questions can form the basis of a good lesson.

If you don't mind, I'd like to share your questions and my answers with other students by making a full lesson about them. I'll post the lesson next weekend as an "IELTS grammar" lesson here on the blog.

Thanks!

[iman]

Hi dear Simon
could you kindly tell me your opinion on the first paragraph of the body below, i am not sure whether i should use number OF or number FOR.

In 1951, nearly 400000 people got married, whereas the number for first marriages was just under 350000. The figure for remarriages was around 80000.
I would really appreciate your help

[Simon]

Hi Iman,

In that sentence 'number of' and 'number for' are both possible. However, I'd stick to 'number of' and just use 'for' when you use 'figure'.

[TheIELTSSolution]

Hi,

I'm really glad that I've come again into your blog, and as usual I was expressed and delighted with this new exercise. It was strange and confusing and its not that easy as well. But then again, this one helps in improving our skill set in IELTS writing. TheIELTSSolution.com

Thank you.

[elaheh]

Dear Simon,
I'd like to know this grammatical structure could be correct or not?
"people bought house more expensively by 2% in Madrid and around 3% in Frankfurt in 1990 and 1995 than in 1989."
Regards,
Elaheh

[Simon]

Hi Elaheh,

I'm afraid you can't use "bought house more expensively by..." so you need to change that structure completely.

[elaheh]

Dear Simon,
Thanks a lot for your response,
Regards,
Elaheh

[UT]

Hi Simon,

Could i use "at an estimated 427,000 people emigrating" instead of "with an estimated 427,000 people emigrating"?

Thank you in advance.

[Simon]

Hi UT,

"at" is ok, but we prefer "with" in this case. I'd use "at" if I only wrote "..., at around 427,000 people" (without "emigrating").

[afsheen]

hi simon
plz reply me how to make idea abt this exercise

where i should use that at,in .increase etc

[afsheen]

simon
i wanna improve my listening and grammer as well plz advise me how can i improve i m searching wayout i m doing practices for 2 years,but useless still hangon yar plzzzzzzzzzzzz pull me out from that troublesome situation

[Simon]

Hi Afsheen,

You need to put the words in the correct spaces in the text.

Here are the correct answers:

- REACHED A record HIGH... WITH

- This WAS UP from

- a large INCREASE IN

- COMPARED WITH

...

Here's my advice about the resources you need to improve your score:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2010/08/ielts-advice-the-best-resources.html