IELTS Focus

Here is a new language lesson. It is about the verb "prevent." I think most of you already know the meaning, but it's important to know how to use as a word as well as what it means. When we say "prevent," we should say "prevent (someone) from (doing something)." For example: 🔸He prevented us from leaving. It's not always about people. We can also say "prevent (something) from (happening." 🔸The safety barrier prevents accidents from occurring. We should also think about passive form, which is the same but inverted according to the usual rules: 🔸He was prevented from leaving. 🔸Accidents were prevented from happening. A common mistake that English learners make is saying "prevent + to happen." That's why it's important to learn vocabulary by noting patterns (collocations) and grammar.

Here's some useful modern vocabulary. These are all words and phrases that have come into use recently to describe online problems.

The word "however" has several uses and these can confuse people. I made this simple lesson to explain the basics, and you can learn more in this video: youtu.be/oUbBLJJWEn0

I frequently see people misuse the word "several," particularly when writing IELTS essays. They don't realise that this word means something similar to "just a few." If there are several of something, there are probably 3 or 4 things. You should not use "several" to say that there are many things. Instead, use words like "many," "lots," and so on. ❌Several people live in my city. ✅Many people live in my city. Only use "several" when the number of things is quite small.