• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

IELTS with Fiona

IELTS Made Easier

Members Academy
Log in

  • Home
  • Resources
  • Lessons
  • My courses
  • FAQs
  • About me
  • What’s New

IELTS Topics: Free public transport

By ieltsetc on July 1, 2018 0

IELTS Cause and Effect

Reading newspaper articles improves your writing.

Here’s a good example of an article which displays a number of features which can help you make your writing more formal (scroll down to find a list of ’cause and effect’ collocations’.

Should public transport be free?

Read about an experiment in Estonia to find out what happened when they made buses and trains free in the capital city, Tallinn.

Click here to read the full article.

There’s some great vocab here that will improve your Writing:

1. The Language of Cause and Effect (see list below)

  • It ‘fosters + noun’
  • It ‘encourages people to + verb’
  • ‘It benefits those on low incomes’
  • ‘It eases traffic’
  • ‘It reduces air pollution’
  • ‘It boosts the economy’

2. The Language of EMPHASIS

  • ‘It was walkers who got on the buses’ (compare ‘Walkers got on the buses’)

3. NOUN forms (nominalisation)

  • ‘Making it easy to move around fosters commercial activity‘. 
  • ‘car use dropped/public transport use increased’

4. ARTICLES

  • ‘the old, the young, the unemployed’ (this is more formal/academic than saying ‘old people, young people, unemployed people’

5. The language of change

  • ‘marginally decreased’
  • ‘increased dramatically’
  • ‘dropped by a staggering 40%’

6. Linking words

  • ‘While car use decreased, distance travelled went up’
  • ‘as well as those on a low income’ 

7. Present Participle (ing) linking words

‘Free public transport should encourage people to leave their cars at home, easing traffic congestion and reducing air pollution’.

8. Formal, academic language:

  • ‘However, there is no indication that employment opportunities improved as a result, according to the study‘.
Click to see the full sentences

Here are the exact phrases taken from the text:

 ‘it’s good for cities because MAKING it easy for people to move around FOSTERS commercial activity.’

‘it also ENCOURAGES higher income groups to spend money in local restaurants, cafes and shops.’

 ‘it didn’t really ENCOURAGE many people to stop driving.’

‘IT WAS walkers WHO hopped on buses, as the number of trips made on foot DROPPED by a STAGGERING 40%.’

 ‘WHILE the share of car use MARGINALLY decreased, the average distance travelled by car actually went up.’

‘Public transport use increased dramatically AMONG the old and the young, and those on a very low income, AS WELL AS those out of employment and education.

‘However, there is no indication that employment opportunities improved as a result, according to the study.’

 

The Language of Cause and Effect

I’m keeping a list of expressions/collocations that I found in newspaper articles that could help in Task 2 Writing.

Please do let me know if you find any that I can add to the list.

  • It builds/sustains/maintains (relationships)
  • It liberates/empowers (women)
  • It hinders/impedes (progress)
  • It hampers/obstructs (development)
  • It limits/restricts (freedom)
  • It reduces (habitat loss)
  • It accelerates/reverses (global warming).
  • It minimises/eliminates/eradicates (human error)
  • It eases (tension),
  • It stifles (creativity).
  • It ensures (equal opportunities).
  • It maintains (harmony).
  • It encourages/promotes (diversity)
  • It stimulates (growth/the economy)
  • It generates (income)
  • It facilitates (learning).
  • It triggers (unrest/a recession).
  • It sours (relations between countries)
  • It strengthened (food production)
  • It raises incomes (yes it was plural where I saw it! Normally it’s uncountable/singular)
  • It perpetuates the myth/stereotypes
  • It prolongs the agony.
  • It delays the inevitable/ the onset of Alzheimer’s
  • It provokes a response.
  • It instils values in children
  • (School uniforms) instil discipline, a sense of self-worth and equality ….but the evidence that they help foster equality is not so clear-cut. 
  • To address/alleviate poverty
  • To ensure sufficient food for all
IELTS cause and effect essay

In this 2-minute YouTube clip you can see me talking about another online article about the Pros and Cons of Strict Work Dress Codes which focuses on EFFECTS.

The full 10-minute video below will help you use a variety of collocations to describe the precise effects/consequences of an action.

Get all the videos and worksheets you need to improve ALL of these aspects of Academic IELTS Writing in the Members Academy .

  • How to use formal language in IELTS Task 2
  • How long will it take to increase my IELTS score?
  • How to show concession in IELTS Writing Task 2
  • How to use conditionals in IELTS Writing
  • Grammar for IELTS: How to write complex sentences

Want to know what’s new?

If you want to hear all about my new lessons, podcasts, YouTube videos, challenges and courses, get your name on my email list (oh you’ll also get my free 28-Day Planner).

Sign up for the free 28-Day Planner.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Would you like to support my website?

In order to make sure you get a fantastic experience on my website I don’t use any advertising, and all the costs are paid for out of my own pocket.

If you’d like to help me keep these materials free for everyone, you are more than welcome to buy me a coffee! Many many thanks in advance.

Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

RSS My latest podcasts

  • IELTS Reading/Writing: Driverless Cars 🚘 January 11, 2021
  • IELTS Reading: Motivational Factors and the hospitality industry 👩‍🍳🧑‍🍳 December 29, 2020
  • IELTS Writing: How to hedge in Task 2 🌳🌳 December 20, 2020

Categories

  • Academic Writing Task 1
  • Grammar
  • GT Writing Task 1
  • IELTS Advice
  • IELTS General Training
  • IELTS Listening
  • IELTS Reading
  • IELTS Speaking
  • IELTS Vocabulary
  • IELTS Writing Task 2

Tags

Academic Reading P1 Academic Reading P2 Academic Reading P3 Agriculture Animals Buildings choosing from list Civilisation Crime education Finance gap-fill listening gap fill reading Gap Fill with answers grammar GT letters GT Reading GT Task 1 Health History ielts tips informal writing Inventions labelling a diagram Matching Headings matching people Matching Statements multiple choice listening multiple choice reading Nature pronunciation Research Speaking Tables Technology TFNG The Arts The environment The Future Transport travel Water work writing task 2 YNNG

What my students are saying:

IELTS with Fiona reviews Charmian

Charmian

From 6.6 to 8!!! Can you believe it? Thanks for everything!

Members Academy student

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T09:09:01+00:00

Members Academy student

IELTS with Fiona reviews Charmian
From 6.6 to 8!!! Can you believe it? Thanks for everything!
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/charmian/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Shreyas

Shreyas

I was overwhelmed to receive my IELTS results. I got overall of 7.5 in my IELTS exam. Thank you once...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T09:06:30+00:00

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona reviews Shreyas
I was overwhelmed to receive my IELTS results. I got overall of 7.5 in my IELTS exam. Thank you once again for all resources.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/shreyas/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Sancia

Sancia

I was stuck in writing with 6.5 and with just 2 weeks of preparation from your notes I scored 7.5....

General Training 28-Day Challenge student

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T08:43:00+00:00

General Training 28-Day Challenge student

IELTS with Fiona reviews Sancia
I was stuck in writing with 6.5 and with just 2 weeks of preparation from your notes I scored 7.5. I don't have enough words to thank you.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/sancia/

Ipek

I’ve got a very busy life and IELTS Academy was time-saving for me that it involves everything about IELTS in...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2019-12-03T18:16:09+00:00

Academy Member

I’ve got a very busy life and IELTS Academy was time-saving for me that it involves everything about IELTS in one place. Fiona is an excellent teacher with passion and kindness to all of her students. She helped me a lot with IELTS and I improved my scores significantly in a very short time. Some days I had no spare time for studying and I listened her podcasts when I was driving to work and it also helped me a lot! I strongly recommend this course to all IELTS candidates.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/ipek/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Ipek

Lily S

The Academy gave me clear guidelines, study materials and methods to lead me into a high IELTS performance. As I...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2019-12-03T18:12:42+00:00

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona reviews Ipek
The Academy gave me clear guidelines, study materials and methods to lead me into a high IELTS performance. As I have a super busy career and family life, my study time is very limited. When I first decided to take an IELTS test, I even didn't know where to start. After studying with Fiona for a while, in the first IELTS test, I got Band 8! Thank you so much for your hard work and your professionalism, Fiona!!!
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/lily-s/
5
IELTS with Fiona

Work out your current score

IELTS Band Score Calculator

Popular Posts

  • How to use formal language in IELTS Task 2
  • How long will it take to increase my IELTS score?
  • How to show concession in IELTS Writing Task 2
  • How to use conditionals in IELTS Writing
  • Grammar for IELTS: How to write complex sentences

Recent posts

  • How to write an email to someone you don’t know
  • How to use ‘rise’ and ‘raise’
  • How to use have/get something done
  • What is ‘hedging’ in academic writing?
  • Words ending in -able or -ible

Come and see what’s going on

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Products

  • IELTS Speaking Mock Test Speaking Mock Test $45.00
  • IELTS Writing Feedback IELTS Writing and Speaking Assessment $99.00
  • Get 8 IELTS Writing Feedback Videos $200.00
  • IELTS Speaking Course syllabus Speaking Course and Mock Test $99.00
  • IELTS WRITING FEEDBACK IELTS Writing Assessment and Feedback Task 1 and Task 2 $50.00

Looking for something specific?

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube
  • About me
  • Contact me
  • IELTS Band Score Calculator
  • IELTS Test 28-Day planner
  • Resources
  • My IELTS 10-minute lessons

Copyright © 2021 — IELTS Exam Training Courses • Privacy Policy • Disclaimer • All rights reserved

This site uses cookies: Find out more.