IELTS Writing

British Council 2011

www.chinaielts.org
Teachers notes

Aim: Encourage candidates to consider the most appropriate use of prepositions, important part of achieving grammatical accuracy
and range

Instructions
1. Put Ps in pairs to review the typical usage of prepositions. Encourage questions if any.
2. Look at the graph, first ask P what significant trend is immediately visible (ie the increase in the number of people employed)
this is the habit students need to get into when first looking at any IELTS Task 1 question.
3. Look at the paragraph below, highlight that the first sentence actually refers to the overview.
4. Then, in same pairs, go through the gap fill using the prepositions supplied in the boxes
5. Elicit answers to check, showing correct answers on board or screen if possible


Exercise can be repeated regularly using different writing samples.



Answers
(capital letters used purely for highlighting purposes)

There was an overall increase (1) IN the number of people employed in education, health and social services (2) BETWEEN 2000 and 2006.
Between 2000 and 2001, the number rose (3) TO 70,000, but there was a slight drop (4) OF 5,000 the following year. Numbers rose again in
2003 (5) TO 78,000 (6) IN 2004, the workforce increased (7) BY 5,000 and then dropped slightly (8) FROM 83,000 (9) TO 80,000 in 2005.
The period ended with a slight increase in the number of public sector employees in 2006a social



IELTS Writing

British Council 2011
www.chinaielts.org

Associated prepositions worksheet 1




verbs amount/how much? level when?

fell by 20% to 16% in 2006
rose by 120 to 370 from 2008 to 2009
increased/decreased by 5.5 from 12.7 to 13.2 between January and March

nouns
an increase/rise of 20% to 81,000
a drop/fall in the number/amount from 65 to 31








IELTS Writing

British Council 2011
www.chinaielts.org

Associated prepositions worksheet 2



85000
Graph showing public sector employment 2000-2006

80000


75000


70000


65000

Fill in the gaps in the text using the prepositions in the box below.
60 000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006


There was an overall increase (1) . the number of people employed in education, health and social services (2) . 2000 and 2006.
Between 2000 and 2001, the number rose (3) .. 70,000, but there was a slight drop (4) . 5,000 the following year. Numbers rose again
in 2003 (5) . 78,000 (6) . 2004, the workforce increased (7) . 5,000 and then dropped slightly (8) . 83,000 (9) . 80,000 in 2005.
The period ended with a slight increase in the number of public sector employees in 2006a social

to from to of by to in between in