The pesky "it": a common writing mistake ?

You know I love good mistakes (= mistakes you can learn from). Here is one from today's IELTS writing class. Can you spot it?

"Regarding paper, it can be seen that it experienced a steady growth from 4 million tonnes in 1980 to 12 million tonnes in 2000."

The mistake is: "it" is used in two different meanings.

1️⃣ In "it can be seen," "it" is the dummy subject in a passive structure.

2️⃣ In "it experienced," "it" means "paper."

But the reader's brain will perceive the first "it" as "paper," so the sentence will read: "Regarding paper, it = the paper can be seen ..." This is confusing.
All "it"s in one sentence must refer to the same noun. ?****

The fix? Simply delete "it can be seen" - this phrase is absolutely empty anyway. It contributes nothing but confusion. I'd also say "paper production" rather than just "paper."

Did you spot this mistake? Do you use phrases like "it can be seen"? ❓

Coherence and cohesion - the cornerstone of any IELTS essay ?

Flaws in CC can be hard to notice.

To help my students practice this skill, I sometimes create the following exercise for them: I take a good paragraph I wrote, disrupt CC in it, ask students to identify the flaws, and, finally, invite them to rewrite the paragraph.

Try walking in my students' shoes.

? Topic: "In many countries, people are now living longer than ever before. Some people say an ageing population creates problems for governments. Other people think there are benefits if society has more elderly people. To what extent do the advantages of having an ageing population outweigh the disadvantages?"

Body paragraph 1: the flawed version

"It cannot be denied that large elderly populations put a strain on different state institutions, for example, the pension fund. Thus, younger populations have to experience a significant burden as taxes are raised for them. On top of this drawback is another one – the pension fund might have to be replenished by using the money allocated to other purposes. Yet another downside is the healthcare system as budget allocations and personnel have to be supported additionally. Aging populations thus exert a burden on those in other age groups, albeit indirectly."

Body paragraph 1: the original, with CC in place

"It cannot be denied that large elderly populations put a strain on different state institutions. One such institution is the pension fund, which has to be replenished either by using the money allocated to other purposes or by raising taxes for the younger populations. Another is the healthcare system as it has to be provided additional support both in terms of budget allocation and personnel. Aging populations thus exert a burden on those in other age groups, albeit indirectly."

Did you notice all the flaws? Was it easy?

#IELTS #ieltswriting

? IELTS General Training Task 1 ?

The town council has announced the plan for a new cinema (movie theater) in your town. They have called for opinions on this. Write a letter to your town council. In your letter,

- Suggest a location for the cinema
- Suggest what kind of movie the cinema should show
- Explain what effect a new cinema will have on the town.

*Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Irina Lutsenko, and I am writing in response to the call to share opinions on the plan to build a new movie theater in New Haven.

Regarding the location, I believe the best one would be right in the center, near New Haven Commons. This location would make getting to the movie theater convenient for everyone. Additionally, there is now an empty building which used to be a store and which closed down during the pandemic. Placing a movie theater there would be a good idea as the building would finally be put to good use.

Given that New Haven is a university town, with Yale and the University of New Haven located in it and NorthEastern within a ten-minute drive, I think the movie theater should offer a range of art-house and independent movies. Students tend to dislike Hollywood blockbusters, giving preference to content that gives food for thought.

Finally, I am convinced that a new movie theater will give the town a new, much-needed life. Barely out of the pandemic, people – and students in particular – are eager to go out. If they have a place to do so, the town will get its vibrant, lively atmosphere back, one it used to be famous for.

Thank you for considering my opinion.

Yours faithfully,
Irina Lutsenko*

8.5+

#Irina_writes_IELTS
#ieltswriting

It. One tiny word, one giant source of confusion. ?

All the sentences below (written by students) contain the same mistake: "it" is used in different meanings and/or to refer to different nouns inside one sentence. Don't do that. And offer your rewrites in the comments.

1️⃣ "The development of such infrastructure is, however, of paramount importance as without it it might be challenging for individuals to have an active lifestyle."

2️⃣ "ChatGPT might make some jobs obsolete. Even more worrisome is the effect it can have on students' understanding of the topics, making it shallow and insufficient."

3️⃣ "Some believe that it is the government’s responsibility to address this crisis as it has the power to influence people’s behavior by introducing new laws and regulations." *

* The last sentence also contains an "implied antecedent**" mistake. Find out more here: https://t.me/irinalutsenko/317

#IELTS #ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask2

Writing your own bio is not as easy as it sounds. ?

Since I am a regular speaker at different ELT events, I already have a whole host of bios of different lengths and with different foci. This is why I could afford to have some fun writing my bios in today’s “Writing Incubator” workshop.

Here are two:

1️⃣ Irina Lutsenko is a dynamic and practice-oriented English teacher with 20 years of experience under her belt … who shudders when she hears “linguo-didactic methods.”

2️⃣ Irina Lutsenko is a self-employed writing teacher who – surprisingly – doesn’t share her breakfast pictures on her socials. A passionate writer, she skips breakfast because morning is her sacred time for writing IELTS answers.

On a more serious note, writing a bio can be hard not only because there is typically a strict word count limit (from 30 to 100 words), but also because you need to tailor it to each specific purpose.

3️⃣ Here is my serious bio for my talks about writing at the MISIS university conference in May:

"Irina Lutsenko is a dynamic English teacher with 20 years of experience under her belt. An alumna of three American exchange programs, Irina is also an avid test taker, boasting IELTS 9 (twice) and CPE A (twice). Irina's passion is writing – she writes tirelessly and inspires others to follow suit. On her mission to empower as many people to write as possible, she designs her own authentic writing courses. Her students write – from essays to novels."

See how each of my bios, fun and serious, focuses on a different aspect.

What’s your bio? Share in the comments (a fun or a serious one). Word limit: 50 words.

? Reducing the word count ?

There is little I love more about writing than reducing the word count on my own texts.

Yesterday, I submitted three speaker proposals for TESOL 2025 in California ??. The word limit on one proposal is 300 words. The first reduction – from 380 words to 320 – is easy. But when it comes to the final edit, you have to fight for every word.

Here are some examples of my fights:

1️⃣
Original:
I give students a piece of text and ask them what potential writing tools they notice.

Reduced:
I give students a paragraph and ask them what potential writing tools they notice.

2️⃣
Original:
While the examples come from my work based on articles from “The Guardian” and “New Scientist,” the fundamental principles behind the activities are the same for any kind of reading.

Reduced:
While the examples come from my work based on articles from “The Guardian” and “New Scientist”, the fundamental principles are universal.

3️⃣
Original:
While I use these activities in my creative writing club, they can be used in different writing classes (except academic writing).

Reduced:
While I use these activities in my creative writing club, they can be used for different purposes.

Your turn. Reduce the word count of this piece:

“I give students a task that requires them to write a full coherent text. The task itself can be different and depends on the course requirements. For example, in this specific case, I asked students to write a letter to the editor with a response to the article we read.”

Humor is certainly not my strong suit. If it isn’t yours either, join this workshop by the wonderful Evgenia Karabatova!

Evgenia thinks that humor is far from being a mystery - it has a structure, a formula.

In this workshop, we will demystify humor writing while:

- Looking at the value of humor and the whys of using it.
- Checking different types of humor and exploring where to find humorous ideas.
- Learning about the rules and techniques to create a funny joke for your run-of-the-mill article, blog post, and whatnot.
- Taking notes on culture-specific humor and the slippery slope of topical jokes.

? 21 April, Sunday, 11:00 am MSK, Zoom

? The workshop is free. To join, write a comment on this post on what kinds of writing humor is useful in and then message me to get the link to the workshop @iraluts.